Rarely, if ever, have I seen a movie with as many, and as naughty, sexual innuendos as Cry for Happy. In the few years following the demise of the Hays Code, Hollywood specialized in making sex comedies featuring jokes, words, and entire situations they were forbidden to feature in the 1950s. Cry for Happy is a comedy about US sailors in Japan who stay in a geisha house, and can't "get" any geishas. That verb is used frequently, as are countless euphamisms and blatant phrases. Donald O'Connor is described as "frustrated". Glenn Ford tells Miiko Taka, "He's been warming up for eight innings, and he's not even gonna get to pitch," when she tells him her girls are innocent and won't sleep with his sailors. At one point, Chet Douglas suggests thinking of something very cold, like an iceberg, when trying to go to sleep. Donald says, "I tried that. It melts."
Mixed into the hilarious raunchy one-liners is a rather silly plot involving a fake orphanage and a botched attempt at Japanese filmmaking. There are a few politically incorrect jokes thrown in, but for the time period, it's not that bad. James Shigeta is expected to speak Japanese, and it's supposed to be a laugh line when he whips out a Japanese for Beginners pocketbook.
The girls, Miiko Taka, Miyoshi Umeki, Michi Kobi, and Tsuruko Kobayashi, are adorable and endearing. Not once does the audience doubt their innocence and sweetness. The boys are another matter, but even though they're despicably bawdy, the audience hopes there's time enough in the movie for them to shape up, fall in love, and treat their geishas with respect. And with nearly two hours of humor and romance, there just might be time.
