Anything Goes

"Anything Goes"....Hollywood-style
ANYTHING GOES was Bing Crosby's final film with Paramount, and was perhaps an attempt to capatalise on the huge success of WHITE CHRISTMAS (but more about that later). Donald O'Connor, Mitzi Gaynor and lithsome ballet star Zizi Jeanmaire appear alongside.

The film really bears no similarity to the Broadway "Anything Goes" save for the wonderful Cole Porter score (and even that has been somewhat ransacked with several inferior additions from Sammy Cahn and James Van Heusen). The original production of "Anything Goes" was written by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse, with later revisions by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The film ditches the entire original story in favour of a Sidney Sheldon-penned screenplay.

The story concerns a suave Broadway star (Bing Crosby) who is paired with a brash TV personality (Donald O'Connor) in a new Broadway show. Whilst on separate vacations, they each hire who they believe is the ideal leading-lady for the upcoming show: a...

Anything Goes--up to a point, that is...
Anything Goes boasts a great cast. Bing Crosby and Donald O'Connor play two entertainers called Bill Benson and Ted Adams respectively; and Mitzi Gaynor and Zizi Jeanmarie play dancing actresses named Patsy Blair and Gaby Duval respectively.

The plot revolves around the world of entertainment. Bill and Ted are going to perform in a Broadway show together; and with their terribly fat egos both men simply assume that they have the exclusive prerogative to choose the leading lady for the show. On the bright side, both Bill and Ted choose very talented young ladies to play the leading female role. Bill chooses American dancer Patsy Blair; and Ted chooses the French starlet Gaby Duval. However, trouble heats up fast when neither man can get up the gumption to tell one of the two ladies that she is not needed for the show after all. When all four of them are on a ship headed from Europe to New York where the show will open things only become more complicated. How will Bill and...

Anything Goes 50's Style
While MGM was soaring to new creative heights with their screen adaptations of Cole Porter's Kiss Me Kate (1953) and Silk Stockings (1957) and originals High Society (1956) and Les Girls (1957), Paramount produced this watered-down completely new version of his Anything Goes. Paramount filmed Porter's Anything Goes twice, in 1936 and 1956, both versions starring Bing Crosby. They didn't get it right either time, but if you forget the source material the 1956 version represented here, while not a classic, is still an enjoyable movie in its own right.

This is a musical and what's most important are the songs and dances which are handled very well by the talented cast headed by Crosby and co-starring Donald O'Connor, Zizi Jeanmaire and Mitzi Gaynor. When the plot gets a bit stale which is often it's interrupted by a lively song or dance. Five of Porter's songs from the original stage production are represented here:

1) Anything Goes- a very colorful number with a...

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