Half-price showgirl in New York, pining for a millionaire husband, marries lovestruck, underpaid Air Force Sergeant on the eve of his leaving for peacetime duty in Madrid; she follows, bringing misunderstandings, comic embarrassments, and a "car from the future" with her. Sex-based shenanigans for stars Glenn Ford and Debbie Reynolds is pleasant enough, particularly for the first forty or so minutes; after that, it deflates. Debbie, thinking she and Ford married for the wrong reason (sex), decides they should be platonic for a month--leaving Glenn to sleep on the sofa (when he's not taking cold showers). Movies based on misconceptions between characters have to be awfully smart to keep our interest (and keep us laughing), but this script by Charles Lederer, based on a Valentine Davies story, seems about ten years out of touch with the times. Ford thinks Debbie means she's pregnant when she writes that she has a big surprise, even though they've only been married for a month. When he meets her at the airport, she tells him the surprise could arrive the next day...and he STILL thinks she's talking about a baby! It's all in good fun, but these actors are much too smart to palmed off as dummies. ** from ****

This film did well at the box office, and the producers of this mess thought the stars had such good chemistry in this that they cast them in the much darker screwball farce, The Gazebo. Frankly, I am shocked to see all the positive comments on this ludicrously plotted unfunny comedy. Both lead characters have the maturity of seven-year-olds and are much less interesting to spend time with. A veteran supporting cast including Fred Clark, Harry Morgan, and Eva Gabor lend excellent support. And, the beautiful cinematography certainly makes the rich countryside of Spain seem lush. And, there are four or five truly funny scenes to go with two wise scenes and a whole bunch of recycled and unfunny clutter. I cannot recommend It Started With A Kiss.

Besides being a slightly better-than-average romantic comedy, this movie features several very familiar television supporting stars -- if you're an old coot like me anyway! -- including Eva Gabor ("Green Acres"), Edgar Buchanan ("Petticoat Junction"), Harry Morgan ("Dragnet" and "M*A*S*H"), Frances Bavier ("The Andy Griffith Show"), Richard Deacon ("The Dick Van Dyke Show"), Marion Ross ("Happy Days"), and last, but not least, the Batmobile!

I saw this film with my parents at a drive-in in 1959, and I was mesmerized by the fabulous Lincoln Futura, the best of the 1950s "dream cars".As a devoted sci-fi fan, this car was the very essence of the "future". The Futura implied predictions of a future similar to those presented in movies like "Forbidden Planet". It was an example of the kind of superior technological design which I eagerly anticipated in the decades to come.Predictions like this were why I loved to watch Disney shows like "Mars and Beyond", "Tomorrow the Moon", and "Magic Highway USA".