Anything Goes (1956)

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."

'Anything Goes' has always been one of my favourite Cole Porter musicals. The songs are some of his most memorable and catchy (with a title song that almost everybody knows most likely) and the lyrics some of his cleverest.The first screen adaptation, from 1936 also featuring Bing Crosby, wasn't perfect and wasn't a completely faithful treatment of the stage musical, with the risqué naughtiness of the lyrics being toned down. There was plenty to enjoy however, as the cleverness of the script wasn't lost and the performances across the board were terrific. While there were liberties taken with that version, they were nothing compared to this second adaptation from 1956 which is so loosely adapted that it's almost unrecognisable.It is watchable certainly. Apart from the over-reliance on medium shots, the Technicolor is ravishing and visually in terms of editing it is slicker than the earlier version. Production values generally are more lavish without being overblown. The Roland Petit-choreographed ballet danced by Jeanmaire is very impressive. Of the performances, the standouts are Donald O'Connor and Mitzi Gaynor. O'Connor plays his role with such endearing zest and Gaynor is even more of a joy. Phil Harris makes the most of a thankless role that doesn't add as much as it had potential to.Bing Crosby however, despite singing an absolute dream, looks nowhere near as relaxed as in the earlier version and seems disinterested and like he'd rather be someplace else. Jeanmaire dances impressively, but shows her limitations as a singer and plays her role far too coldly. The direction is heavy-footed and really does lack the lightness of touch needed, while the script, which is actually very clever and funny in the source material, is as flat as the soggiest of cucumber sandwiches.One will say that nobody watches a musical for the story. In some way, that is true, because there are a lot of musicals where the stories are the weak point and are more than compensated by everything else. In this case however, it is not so easy to forgive due to very leaden pacing, a too long and over-stretched length and too many pointless additions, even thinner, sillier and flimsier than in the 1936 film. The last thirty minutes feel rushed and the ending on the tacky side.While film musicals and anything should be judged on their own terms, the treatment of Porter's timeless songs with the updated arrangements making the songs lose some of their infectiousness and the lyrics are even blander and even less naughty than in the earlier film adaptation to the extent that it doesn't feel like Porter at all. The songs themselves are great, it's just that the arrangements don't do them justice (with the sole exception of "De-Lovely") and there should have been much more of them. The additional songs not written by Porter are too at odds with Porter's style and are nowhere near as inspired, "Ya Gotta Give The People Hoke" in particular is an embarrassment and should have been left chopped up on the editing room floor.All in all, flat second adaptation of a classic Cole Porter musical. Before seeing this, 'Can-Can' was the weakest screen adaptation of any of Porter's work, as of now this dethrones it for that dubious distinction. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Musicals are not generally renowned for sophisticated plots, but this one isn't bad. Old hand Bing Crosby and the new television star played by Gene Kelly contemporary Donald O'Connor are putting on a new show. The only problem is they have each signed a leading lady, so who is going to deliver the bad news and to whom?That's about all you need to know, aside from that there are some decent wisecracks, one or two passable comedy scenes, the music largely from Cole Porter, and not least some fantastic dancing particularly by O'Connor, but also by Mitzi Gaynor and French ballet star Zizi Jeanmaire. Although Crosby has long departed this Earth and O'Connor has been dead for over a decade, the two ladies are still with us; Gaynor is 84, and Mademoiselle Jeanmaire a sprightly 92. They would probably agree that "they don't make them like that anymore".

As far as the golden age of musicals were concerned, the back trackers were always Paramount and Warner Brothers, who never quite achieved the magic that MGM created, despite their most valiant efforts to produce MGM-esquire musicals.One such film that could have been a great deal more magical had MGM been at the helm is Anything Goes.Bing Crosby stars in his second big screen version of the Cole Porter Broadway smash, although this plot has been modified slightly and brought up to date 50' style..it therefore tells a completely different story to Crosby's first version twenty years earlier.Donald O'Conner, who in my humble opinion was one of the most underrated performers Hollywood ever had, provides the dances and comic turns whilst he romances the beautiful Mitzi Gaynor.O'Conner was a natural at almost everything he did. He was a superb comic, a gifted actor and a dancer of extraordinary talent on par I think with Fred Astaire and his 'Singing in the Rain' co-star Gene Kelly, yet his contributions to film, have on the whole been overlooked. He was therefore demoted to 'B' movie comedies like the god awful "Francis" films.Bing sings his way through Porters songs in his usual effortless way, as he tries to discard, appease and finally woo a French Ballet star played by ZiZi Jeanmaire, billed here simply as 'Jeanmaire' Another pleasant appearance is made by 40's band leader Phil 'Balloo in Jungle Book' Harris, and he is a welcome addition although regrettably he is not given an opportunity to perform some of those comic southern songs like 'Woodman, Spare that Tree' or 'The Dark Town Poker Club' with which he made his name.The plot is scratchy too with Crosby and O'Conner forming an effortless partnership whilst collaborating on a new Broadway show.The clash of styles and the obvious comparisons of youth and novice against age and experience are hinted at in the beginning, leaving you wanting more of the same, but alas these differences trail off into nothing and they are not exploited to full effect. It would have made this film a lot more enjoyable to see the two male leads spar more together and therefore classic entertainment is unfortunately denied us.One of the previous reviewers said that there was something missing from this film that they couldn't put their finger on....I think that this was it.But despite the bad script and leaky predictable plot, the performances are great and the songs as ever are timeless. Porter, Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen were three of the best song-smiths in the business.Watch this one when you can, but don't cancel anything important in order to do so.