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Anything Goes (1936 film)
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Wikipedia article
'Anything Goes' is a 1936 American musical film directed by Lewis Milestone and starring Bing Crosby, Ethel Merman, Charles Ruggles and Ida Lupino. Based on the 1934 stage musical 'Anything Goes' by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, the stage version contains songs by Cole Porter.
The film is about a young man who falls in love with a beautiful woman whom he follows onto a luxury liner, where he discovers she is an English heiress who ran away from home and is now being returned to England. He also discovers that his boss is on the ship. To avoid discovery, he disguises himself as the gangster accomplice of a minister, who is actually a gangster on the run from the law. The film required revisions of Porter's saucy lyrics to pass Production Code censors. Only four of his songs remained: "Anything Goes", "I Get a Kick Out of You", "There'll Always Be a Lady Fair", and "You're the Top". "You're the Top" contained substantially revised lyrics, and only the first line (sung by Ethel Merman during the opening credits) was retained from the song "Anything Goes".
Bing Crosby's influence was used to gut most of Porter's score and obtain four new songs from several new songwriters, Richard A. Whiting, Hoagy Carmichael, Leo Robin, Edward Heyman, and Friedrich Hollander, but other than "Moonburn", written by Hoagy Carmichael and Edward Heyman, which temporarily became a hit for Crosby, it is usually agreed that most of the replacement score was forgettable. Some, including movie musical expert John Springer, have criticized Paramount for substituting new songs by other composers for the originals. (This was a common policy in Hollywood during the 1930s, when film studios owned music publishing houses and hoped that songs written especially for films would guarantee extra profits for the studio.)
When Paramount sold the 1936 film to television, they retitled the movie 'Tops is the Limit' because the 1956 film version, also from Paramount, was currently in theaters.
Cast
* Bing Crosby as Billy Crocker
* Ethel Merman as Reno Sweeney
* Charles Ruggles as Rev. Dr. Moon
* Ida Lupino as Hope Harcourt
* Grace Bradley as Bonnie LeTour
* Arthur Treacher as Sir Evelyn Oakleigh
* Robert McWade as Elisha J. Whitney
* Richard Carle as Bishop Dobson
* Margaret Dumont as Mrs. Wentworth
* Jerry Tucker as Junior
* Matt Moore as Capt. McPhail
* Edward Gargan as Detective
* Matt McHugh as Detective
* Budd Fine as Pug-Ugly
* Jack Mulhall as Ship's Purser
* Jack Norton as Drunken passenger
* The Avalon Boys as Quartet
Production credits
* Lewis Milestone - director
* Benjamin Glazer - producer
* Cole Porter - music and lyrics
* Karl Struss - photography
* Lindsay and Crouse - screenplay
* LeRoy Prinz - staging of dance ensembles
* Farciot Edouart - special photographic effects
* Hans Dreier - art direction
* Ernst Fegt - art direction
* Eda Warren - editor
* Jack Goodrich - sound recording
* Don Johnson - sound recording
* Travis Banton - costume design
* A. E. Freudman - interior decorations
* Vinton Freedley - production advisor
Soundtrack
*"Anything Goes" sung by Ethel Merman
*"You're the Top" sung by Bing Crosby and Ethel Merman
*"I Get a Kick out of You" sung by Ethel Merman
*"There'll Always Be a Lady Fair" (Cole Porter) sung by the Avalon Boys and Bing Crosby
*"My Heart and I" (Frederick Hollander/ Leo Robin) sung by Bing Crosby
*"Sailor Beware" (Richard Whiting / Leo Robin) sung by Bing Crosby
*"Moonburn" sung by Bing Crosby
*"Shanghai-De-Ho" (Frederick Hollander/ Leo Robin) sung by Bing Crosby and Ethel Merman
Crosby recorded three of the new songs for Decca Records. and they were also included in the Bing's Hollywood series.
Reception
'The New York Times' wrote "Paramount uncorked its pent-up version of 'Anything Goes' at the Paramount Theatre yesterday and instead of an exuberant pop and a merry fizz, there was merely a gentle sigh...Bing Crosby is an acceptable substitute for the shows William Gaxton in almost every subdivision except that in which he joins Miss Merman in Youre The Top. It doesnt seem possible but Mr. Crosby croons it."
'Variety' wrote "Cole Porters lyrics, which were the original essence and chief asset of the original stage 'Anything Goes' have been sacrificed for and replaced by plot motion in this Paramount film adaptation...Ethel Merman comes from the original cast and her job in the picture equals her job in the stage version, which means aces. Crosby in the Billy Gaxton juve lead makes it more important than the latter did, because of the extra territory taken in by his singing...As directed by Lewis Milestone everything moves along swiftly. On the whole, as screen entertainment and as musical adaptation, Pars Goes will do."
Writing for 'The Spectator' in 1936, Graham Greene gave the film a poor review, specifically criticizing Bing Crosby's slow and "moony methods" of singing in "a picture which should rattle quite as fast as a sub-machine gun". Greene found that the song "You're the Top" had been "murdered". (reprinted in: )
References
*Green, Stanley (1999) Hollywood Musicals Year by Year (2nd ed.), pub. Hal Leonard Corporation page 52
Further reading
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