Movie Review: Anything Goes (1956)

A flighty musical, Anything Goes enjoys a few good moments but runs out of plot early and never recovers.

Established Broadway star Bill Benson (Bing Crosby) agrees to team up with rising television star Ted Adams (Donald O'Connor) for his next big musical. With rehearsals due to start, the search is on for a leading lady. Bill and Ted travel to Europe separately. In England, Bill is impressed with stage performer Patsy Blair (Mitzi Gaynor), and signs her up. In Paris, Ted is enchanted by cabaret performer Gaby Duvall (Jeanmarie) and signs her up for the same role.

The two ladies don't know about each other, and neither man gives way. Patsy has the added complication of her father Steve (Phil Harris), a gambler wanted on tax evasion charges. All of them board the ship back to the United States, and during the long journey, romance blossoms as Bill and Ted try to extract their way out of the awkward situation without insulting either Patsy or Gaby.

Adapted from a 1934 stage play by Cole Porter, Guy Bolton, and P.G. Wodehouse, Anything Goes does feature a couple of decent musical numbers: Anything Goes, performed by Gaynor, is filled with seductive energy, while It's De-Lovely by Gaynor and O'Connor, is a playful celebration of budding romance.

Unfortunately, there is little else to generate excitement. Once the cast get onto the so obviously studio-created ship, the plot drops anchor and is pronounced dead in the water. To prolong the frivolous misunderstanding, everyone avoids saying what needs to be said, and the characters are stuck with not much to do except contrive their way to the next bland musical number.

Robert Lewis directs with a distinct absence of inspiration. A dreamy ballet is thrown in for Jeanmarie, Crosby warbles a nondescript ballad, and romance blossoms with predictable speed under the moonlight. O'Connor kills more time with a childish musical number performed with, yes, children. Memorable moments are few and far-between, and the 106 minutes of running time drag on.

Bing Crosby glides through the film with a vague sense of disinterest and discomfort, with more than 20 years of age difference between him and his designated romantic partner. Donald O'Connor is his usual animated self, while Mitzi Gaynor emerges with the most credit thanks to a glowing performance.

Anything Goes seeks lighthearted entertainment, but anything does not always amount to something worthwhile.

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Movie Review: Singin' In The Rain (1952)

A classic celebration of song, dance, and Hollywood history, Singin' In The Rain has an infectious positive energy, and a young, celebratory attitude. The film recalibrated musical genre expectations, respecting the old while creating the new with a burst of colour, energy and sheer bravado.

In the late 1920's, Hollywood is transitioning from silent to talking movies. Celebrated but studio-manufactured screen couple Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) are the biggest stars of the silent era, and they face contrasting fortunes. Lockwood has the talent to continue his career, but Lamont's screechy voice is a deathblow to her future as a movie star. In the meantime, Lamont believes the studio hype that she and Lockwood have a real-life relationship; in reality, he is falling in love with young struggling actress Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds).

With the latest Lockwood and Lamont film release facing financial disaster unless it can be quickly turned into a talkie, Lockwood's sidekick Cosmo Brown (Donald O'Connor) comes up with the idea of having Selden provide the voice-over for Lamont. Lockwood builds on this and converts the film into an all-singing, all-dancing extravaganza. But the jealousies between Lamont and Selden threaten to side-swipe all their careers.

The plot is funny, interesting and romantic, but it is just a side-show. Singin' In The Rain is a collection of terrific, innovative song and dance numbers, transitioning the Hollywood musical into a new era, and in many ways setting the stage for what would become the high-energy music video in decades to come.

Gene Kelly, who co-directed with Stanley Donen, injects larges doses of artistic creativity and innovative choreography. Kelly also projects a winning self-depreciating persona while infusing the dance numbers with unbridled joy and enthusiasm. He finds the perfect partners in the impossibly rubbery and quick-witted O'Connor, as well as the spunky and willing Reynolds.

Make 'Em Laugh, Singin' In The Rain, and Good Morning are just some of the classics re-imagined and revived in vivid colours and with creative props, Kelly, O'Connor and Reynolds attacking physically demanding numbers with conviction and a smile.

Late in the movie, Kelly inserts the long Broadway Melody Ballet scene, with Cyd Charisse putting her endless legs to excellent use, in a sequence which has nothing to do with the plot but that at the same summarizes everything about Singin' In The Rain: brash, modern, and vivacious.

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