I don't know where to start. Of all three filmed versions of Cole Porter's stage show, this version is atrocious. It shouldn't have had the right to be titled Anything Goes. Viewers beware: there is nothing about this movie that's similar to the show, besides the use of a few songs. It's a completely different plot, and although the main characters travel on a boat, there's literally absolutely no similarities to the original.
In this version, Bing Crosby and Donald O'Connor play actors in search of a leading lady for their newest Broadway musical. There are more than a few jokes about Bing Crosby's age, which are only cute because eighteen years earlier, they were in Sing You Sinners when Donald was a child actor. Bing signs Mitzi Gaynor to the show, and Donald signs Jeanmarie, but while each one tries to break up the other's contract, they fall in love with the opposition team's girl. Very typical, but given the right script, it could have been turned into something cute. Still, the unfulfilled potential doesn't give the movie any reason to borrow Cole Porter's songs and stick them randomly into the story. Since this is mostly a backstage musical, the songs don't relate to the plot and are just performed onstage or in rehearsal.
As much as I can't stand Mitzi Gaynor, I ended up preferring her screen time to Jeanmarie, who annoyed me beyond frustration. I'll never understand Mitzi's popularity, or why she wasn't dubbed when given songs. Listening to her sing is as painful as listening to June Allyson warble. She and Jeanmarie might be talented dancers, but thanks to Roland Petit, Nick Castle, and Ernie Flatt's choreography, anyone who watches this movie will never know. I have a great love of dance, and of the musical genre, but I ended up fast-forwarding through the wacky, jazz versions of "Anything Goes", "Blow Gabriel Blow", and "I Get a Kick Out of You". Who thought it was a good idea to put all four leads in tuxedos and snap their fingers while syncopating, "Blow, Gabe, blow!" Who thought it was a good idea to slow the tempo of every single song so even Bing Crosby had a hard time singing them? Who thought it was a good idea to virtually copy Donald O'Connor's balloon dance from Call Me Madam and put him in a classroom of children singing, "You can bounce right back" while they throw balls at him?
Apparently, I did know where to start; the real trouble is knowing when to stop. Please, stay away from this version. I'd hate to get started again.
In this version, Bing Crosby and Donald O'Connor play actors in search of a leading lady for their newest Broadway musical. There are more than a few jokes about Bing Crosby's age, which are only cute because eighteen years earlier, they were in Sing You Sinners when Donald was a child actor. Bing signs Mitzi Gaynor to the show, and Donald signs Jeanmarie, but while each one tries to break up the other's contract, they fall in love with the opposition team's girl. Very typical, but given the right script, it could have been turned into something cute. Still, the unfulfilled potential doesn't give the movie any reason to borrow Cole Porter's songs and stick them randomly into the story. Since this is mostly a backstage musical, the songs don't relate to the plot and are just performed onstage or in rehearsal.
As much as I can't stand Mitzi Gaynor, I ended up preferring her screen time to Jeanmarie, who annoyed me beyond frustration. I'll never understand Mitzi's popularity, or why she wasn't dubbed when given songs. Listening to her sing is as painful as listening to June Allyson warble. She and Jeanmarie might be talented dancers, but thanks to Roland Petit, Nick Castle, and Ernie Flatt's choreography, anyone who watches this movie will never know. I have a great love of dance, and of the musical genre, but I ended up fast-forwarding through the wacky, jazz versions of "Anything Goes", "Blow Gabriel Blow", and "I Get a Kick Out of You". Who thought it was a good idea to put all four leads in tuxedos and snap their fingers while syncopating, "Blow, Gabe, blow!" Who thought it was a good idea to slow the tempo of every single song so even Bing Crosby had a hard time singing them? Who thought it was a good idea to virtually copy Donald O'Connor's balloon dance from Call Me Madam and put him in a classroom of children singing, "You can bounce right back" while they throw balls at him?
Apparently, I did know where to start; the real trouble is knowing when to stop. Please, stay away from this version. I'd hate to get started again.