This is an all-new rendition of the 1934 play and 1936 Cole Porter musical play attributed to P.G. Wodehouse. It is a substantial rewrite of that product, which itself completely revamped the Wodehouse script. But the best of Cole Porter's songs from the play are intact. This isn't a matter of comparing versions of "Anything Goes," since each one must stand on its own for the musical performers and the specific scripts. The screenplay for this one is just so-so. By the 1950s, the formula for musicals was changing into plays with music written into them. This is in the order of the old form - mostly musical revues pieced together with a thin plot. And, on the basis of the performances and numbers, this is an excellent package of entertainment. Bing Crosby leads with the singing, and the two female leads and Donald O'Connor give out with the moves in dance numbers. This film has some terrific choreography for all three dancers. It's a good look at Zizi Jeanmaire, a great French ballet star and dancer. She really puts zing into a couple of her routines with ballet and jazz. Her husband of many years, and famous dancer and choreographer, Roland Petit, designed the dance numbers. Petit and Jeanmaire founded Les Ballet Champs Elysees in Paris. Mitzi Gaynor and Donald O'Connor are superb in their dances. Bing Crosby and O'Connor have some nice song and dance numbers. The better-known songs of the film include "Anything Goes," "I Get a Kick Out of You," "You're the Top," and "It's De-Lovely." Crosby is Bill Benson, O'Connor is Ted Adams, Gaynor is Patsy Blair and Jeanmaire is Gaby Duval. Phil Harris plays Patsy's father, Steve Blair. The comedy romance developments are hardly worth noting - not very well scripted or developed. The best of the comedy is in a scene with dialog between Steve Blair and a U.S. Treasury agent. Alex Todd, "I've handled a lot of income tax cases in my time, but yours is driving me crazy."Alex Todd, "We know you're a gambler." Steve Blair, "Ah, mathematical consultant." Alex Todd, "Yeah." Alex Todd, "We've followed your career as a mathematical consultant all the way from Saratoga to Santa Anita." Steve Blair, "Ah, Santa Anita."Alex Todd, "You had five straight bad years." Steve Blair, "Well, that's not my fault. Arrest the horses."Alex Todd, "On the sixth year you reported no income." Steve Blair, "That's right." Alex Todd, "The government can prove that you won over $100,000 that year." Steve Blair, "Sure, but that wasn't mine. I had to take care of the guys that took care of me during the five bad years." Alex Todd, "You had the money, why didn't you pay your taxes?" Steve Blair, "What do you think I am, a crook?" Alex Todd, "Now, look..." Steve Blair, "What have we got, a government full of welchers? It's not ethical to let your friends down. They lent me their money, so I paid them back. And I would've paid you too, but I had nothing left. So, I figured, why declare it and... and... and put you to a lot of trouble?" Alex Todd, "What do you suppose would happen if everybody felt the way you do?" Steve Blair, "The country'd be loaded with racetracks."

When the film "DeLovely" recently rekindled my love for Cole Porter's music, I encountered this DVD on sale and thought it would make a great addition to my collection. It didn't. For the most part, what a clunker.I realize that as great as the music is, "Anything Goes" is a bit dated as a musical, but this story, which has nothing to do with the original, is just dreadful.In addition to the uninspired plot, the songs that were added by Sammy Cahn and James Van Heusen are remarkably banal. Even more so, when one compares them to the Porter originals left in. It's sad that anybody watching might actually think they were Porter's own.Additionally, because of the prudishness of Hollywood, Porter's originals get censored too. An example of the lunacy is when, in a lyric, "4-letter word" becomes "3 letter-word." How trite can Hollywood be? 2 Porter songs in the beginning that get transformed into '50s-style jazz-dance numbers for the female leads lose all their charm from the butchery. The song "Anything Goes" has never been given a worse rendition.Bing Crosby, in his last Paramount picture, sleepwalks through it. Jeanmaire is not much better (especially her acting). It is no surprise that her career gravitated back to France after this.Mitzi Gaynor was her usual perky self, but the film gets saved somewhat by Donald O'Connor's presence and energy. The one Porter song that seems to have kept its charm is a nice Gaynor/O'Connor duet on "De-Lovely." While Porter purists will retch over this film (which was probably what his reaction was after seeing it, especially the added songs), it does offer up a period glimpse of Hollywood choreography from the mid-50s, along with the previously mentioned duet.Otherwise, it's the bottom, not the top.

It has all the trappings of an entertaining musical, but the chemistry is not there. A few of the musical numbers are worth seeing, but many are mediocre at best. The most peculiar thing about the movie is its substitution of boring, pedestrian new songs to take the place of Cole Porter's songs. Although Jimmy Van Heusen certainly composed some good songs in his day, the present "Ya Gotta Give the People Hoke," "Bounce Right Back," and "A Second-Hand Turban" are embarrassing. The producers couldn't find 3 more Cole Porter songs to use instead? Adding to the embarrassment is the bowdlerization of the song "Anything Goes," in which Mitzi Gayner is not even permitted to refer to authors' "four-letter words." Instead, we are nonsensically told that authors nowadays use only "three-letter words." Of course, such censoring of the lyrics of this song negate the entire premise of the song, which is that anything is permitted nowadays.Donald O'Connor has a very nice dance routine with children and a lot of bouncing balls in "Bounce Right Back," which is the most original number in the film. The comedy duos by O'Connor and Crosby fall flat, as does the vocal by Jeanmaire. Indeed, after hearing the mangled arrangement of her trying to sing "I Get a Kick Out of You," I actually stopped the movie and played a Frank Sinatra version in order to get the bad taste out of my ears. Mitzi Gayner is lively and attractive and does a good job in belting out her songs. Crosby is always good, although the arrangement and photography of his performance of "All Through the Night" were so anemic that one might doze through it, without danger of anything happening to wake one up.The plot is actually a very good basis for a musical comedy (a mix-up in which both Gayner and Jeanmaire are hired for the same part), but the writing is corny and stilted, there is little real humor, and the comic potential of the situation is simply not realized. Although the drama is of course not the most important part of a musical comedy, if it does not help to motivate the songs and does not create any suspense about what will happen, then the audience is just tapping its feet waiting for the next musical number.I think that if someone were to edit the film to include five or so of the best musical numbers only (no plot, no weaker songs), one might have 20 minutes of decent entertainment. But to watch the film for 106 minutes to get those 20 minutes of entertainment is not that pleasant.

In 1956 Bing Crosby wound up his 25 year old contract with Paramount pictures. It remains the second longest contract for any star with any studio, only exceeded by Robert Taylor with MGM. This second version of Anything Goes was his farewell film for the studio.Bing should have quit with White Christmas.Again, Hollywood under the Code was to squeamish about filming any of Cole Porter's musicals. As they did in 1936 with that version of Anything Goes, it was censored heavily. Cole Porter's original score did not make it intact to the screen again. Other Porter songs were used and a few numbers written by James Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn.As for the plot the only similarity is that it takes place on an ocean liner. In this one we have recent partners Bing Crosby and Donald O'Connor each signing a leading lady for their new Broadway show. Both of their finds, Zizi Jeanmaire and Mitzi Gaynor are on the ocean liner with them. Mix the inevitable romantic complications and if you're any kind of a movie fan you'll figure what the result will be.Phil Harris is also on hand as Mitzi Gaynor's father. One of the little known facts of Hollywood was that Harris was one of Bing Crosby's best friends in the motion picture capital. Harris had appeared with Bing previously in Here Comes the Groom, but that was only in one musical number. He has a nice turn here as a professional gambler that the IRS is looking to nail.Usually Bing Crosby movies are just that, Bing is normally partnered with non-musical talent. Here he has three talented performers to share the spotlight with. All have some good numbers. I particularly liked Donald O'Connor and Mitzi Gaynor singing and dancing to It's DeLovely. This was a reunion film for Crosby and O'Connor. Donald O'Connor got his first big break as a child actor in Bing's Sing You Sinners back in 1938. But that one was a far superior film.If you like the talented performers involved, this is a good film. But Paramount should have done better by Bing in his farewell film for them.