1h 46min | Musical | April 1956 | Color, WS
Director: Robert Lewis
Stars: Bing Crosby, Donald O'Connor, Zizi Jeanmaire, Mitzi Gaynor.
Nick Castle ... stager: musical numbers
Ernie Flatt ... stager: "Anything Goes"
Roland Petit ... stager: Jeanmaire ballet and "I Get A Kick Out of You"
In the Tap! Appendix (actually from Jazz Dance by Stearns, 1994) for Donald O'Connor.
Songs performed (15 chapters with useless menu for finding songs), all by Cole Porter except * by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn:
- ch2. Ya Gotta Give The People Hoke*, Performed by Bing Crosby and Donald O'Connor
- ch4. Anything Goes, Performed by Mitzi Gaynor
- ch5. I Get A Kick Out Of You, Performed by Zizi Jeanmaire
- ch6. You're The Top, Performed by Bing Crosby Mitzi Gaynor Donald O'Connor and Zizi Jeanmaire
- ch8. It's De-lovely, Performed by Mitzi Gaynor and Donald O'Connor
- ch10. All Through The Night, Performed by Bing Crosby
- ch10. Dream Ballet (Based on Let's Do It" and "All Through The Night")", Performed by Zizi Jeanmaire
- ch12. You Can Bounce Right Back*, Performed by Donald O'Connor with children & bouncing balls
- ch14. A Second Hand Turban And A Crystal Ball*, Performed by Bing Crosby Donald O'Connor
- ch15. Blow Gabriel Blow, Performed by Bing Crosby Mitzi Gaynor Donald O'Connor and Zizi Jeanmaire
This is all so bright and breezy that it avoids being very good.
The French woman ballerina with short hair reminds me a lot of Leslie Caron, but more sophisticated than naive (LC). Even she is a bright/breezy version of LC.
The good news: this film doesn't smack so much of sexism. Both women are coming to NYC to work (perform on B'way), and we get no hint that their budding romances will curtail that.
I like the Cole Porter songs here, but again, their presentation is somehow at arms' length, bright 'n breezy. For instance, You're the Top really is a love song, even though it's uptempo. The 2 couples sing it as mutual fans (MG & BC, DO & ZJ, which is not how the romances pair up), or maybe it's a number in the show? Emotionally, meaning-wise, it's thrown away. Ethel Merman & BC do it much better in '36.
The dancing is ok, nothing spectacular or different. I have formed the opinion that Nick Castle is a conformist, not a pioneer. MG is wonderful, and what a figure! At one point in her first number (the title song), she did a quick, subtle impersonation of Ethel Merman's singing. MG was an excellent mimic, among all her other talents. But ZJ gets more screen time, which contributes to my ennui.
The French woman ballerina with short hair reminds me a lot of Leslie Caron, but more sophisticated than naive (LC). Even she is a bright/breezy version of LC.
The good news: this film doesn't smack so much of sexism. Both women are coming to NYC to work (perform on B'way), and we get no hint that their budding romances will curtail that.
I like the Cole Porter songs here, but again, their presentation is somehow at arms' length, bright 'n breezy. For instance, You're the Top really is a love song, even though it's uptempo. The 2 couples sing it as mutual fans (MG & BC, DO & ZJ, which is not how the romances pair up), or maybe it's a number in the show? Emotionally, meaning-wise, it's thrown away. Ethel Merman & BC do it much better in '36.
The dancing is ok, nothing spectacular or different. I have formed the opinion that Nick Castle is a conformist, not a pioneer. MG is wonderful, and what a figure! At one point in her first number (the title song), she did a quick, subtle impersonation of Ethel Merman's singing. MG was an excellent mimic, among all her other talents. But ZJ gets more screen time, which contributes to my ennui.
Paramount, dir. Lewis; 7-
