When the saucy lyrics of the title song are dumbed down ("four letters words" becomes "three letter words"), Reno Sweeney isn't even a character in the story, and additional (and lousy) songs are added in place of Cole Porter's music, what in hell was the point to this mess? Crosby and O'Connor are starring in a new show and each hires a leading lady (Gaynor and Jeanmaire). The cute "twist" is that each guys falls for the other's lady. It takes places on an ocean liner, but that's about all that's kept from the original Broadway show.
There's a lame subplot about a tax-evading daddy (Phil Harris) and other cast members gets credit but nothing to do (Richard Erdman, Dorothy Neumann, Kurt Kaznar) and other familiar faces can be spotted (Nancy Kulp, Ruta Lee, Bess Flowers, Marcel Dalio).
In its own terms, Crosby, O'Connor, and Gaynor are all fine but nothing really works. The storyline is a mess and Zizi Jeanmaire is a cold fish disaster, dancing some ballet stuff and faking the rest of the dances badly. She appeared in a handful of films and Broadway shows to no great success.
Stick with Merman and the original film version.
There's a lame subplot about a tax-evading daddy (Phil Harris) and other cast members gets credit but nothing to do (Richard Erdman, Dorothy Neumann, Kurt Kaznar) and other familiar faces can be spotted (Nancy Kulp, Ruta Lee, Bess Flowers, Marcel Dalio).
In its own terms, Crosby, O'Connor, and Gaynor are all fine but nothing really works. The storyline is a mess and Zizi Jeanmaire is a cold fish disaster, dancing some ballet stuff and faking the rest of the dances badly. She appeared in a handful of films and Broadway shows to no great success.
Stick with Merman and the original film version.