Too much of everything

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

'Ruggles does a blatant and bad impression of Vistor Moore (who played the part on Broadway'. One must suppose that the reviewer who 'wrote' this actually attended the Broadway show. And saw Victor Moore's performance... it's hard to imagine that the one dimensional Moore could have been better in the role than Ruggles, had anyone still living possibly have seen him in it.In any event, the best I could do to see this was watch a poor quality version with Spanish subtitles on youtube. I was entranced from the get-go and laughed all the way through this delightful film. It's true that there are continuity problems, particularly at the start of the film, and it is surprising that a stalwart director like Lewis Milestone could be responsible for these brief but confusing problems. But the film is lively, heartfelt and highly entertaining despite these lapses, and the musical numbers are wonderful. The comedic wit displayed throughout kept surprising me with its unexpected diversity and irreverence. It is remarkable that much of the original score of the Broadway hit was discarded in favor of new songs, but Hoagy Carmichael's Moonburn almost makes up for it.

Fans waiting for the ultimate film version of Broadway's greatest 1930's musical comedy will have to pray for a miracle or recall the 1987 Lincoln Center Production (with Patti LuPone) or the 2010 revival with Sutton Foster. There has not yet been the definitive movie or TV production of that tap-happy show, this production truncating the score down to four songs, the classic title song (seen on the Tony Awards for both revivals) heard only over the credits, albeit briefly. Ethel Merman repeats her Broadway role of Reno Sweeney, and shines with the material she is given, somewhat overshadowed by Bing Crosby in screen time, but every inch the leading lady as she would only do one more time with her screen version of "Call Me Madam". Crosby, as Billy Crocker, is an above average choice for the role, and adds a lot more zest than he did with most of his laid-back acting during this time. Cast mostly in forgettable formula musicals, he shows off a skill as a comic that would have to wait until he started on the "Road" with Bob Hope.Crosby and Merman shine with the altered lyrics for "You're the Top", but it is Merman's repeat of "I Get a Kick Out of You" that is the musical highlight here, not the newly written "Shanghai De-Ho" production number finale. Of the non-Cole Porter songs written for the film, only "Sailor Beware" holds any interest. Cutting out the phenomenal "Blow Gabriel Blow!" was a drastic mistake, as was Billy's ballad, "All Through the Night", and a lively chorus number, "Buddy Beware!", although "Bon Voyage!" is heard briefly as an orchestral interlude as the ship Crosby is on sails.Broadway's lovable Victor Moore has been replaced here by the much different Charlie Ruggles as Moonface Martin, and as much as I would have liked to have seen the chubby Moore in the part, I truly adored Ruggles in it. Grace Bradley and Ida Lupino (much different than her 1940's drama queen) are the supporting females, the essence of loveliness, yet not standing out. An assorted group of familiar character actors play the passengers and crew, most recognizably Margaret Dumont as a wealthy philanthropist passenger whose Pomeranian aids Crosby in his search for a disguise, Jack Norton as (of course) a drunk, and Robert McWade as a Bishop who is mistaken for Moonface Martin after an amusing exchange with Ruggles that includes the gem of a gag about Indo-China.

Even though only four or five (depending on how you count) of Cole Porter's great songs were retained ["I Get A Out of You," "There Will Always Be A Lady Fair" (the sailor's quartet with reprises ), "You're The Top" (with reprises and bizarrely done up as the chorus to a "Shanghai-De-Ho" finale number"), "Anything Goes" (all too briefly in the opening credits and background score) and the haunting "All Through the Night" (sadly, surviving only in the overture in the TV print seen!) several of them with altered lyrics and the song cues very much in place for "You Do Something To Me"] and a passel of not bad others for crooner Crosby ["Steer By The North Star/Sailor Beware," "I'll Get a Moonburn," "My Heart and I"] added in typical Hollywood know-it-all fashion (Cole Porter was a particular victim of this syndrome) this essentially plot faithful, and decidedly all-star preservation of one of Porter's greatest hits is required viewing for anyone interested in "golden age" musicals and jolly good fun for anyone else, even in its lamely TV retitled and apparently badly edited "Tops Is The Limit" version.Ethel Merman recreating her Broadway Reno Sweeney is at her best (possibly outshining even her later, smoother Broadway recreation in the film of CALL ME MADAM) and amply demonstrates why she (along with Mary Martin) was at the top of most lists of 20th Century musical theatre stars.More than ample support is provided by Bing Crosby in the William Gaxton role of Billy Crocker (who Reno is attracted to but who hankers after runaway socialite Hope), Charlie Ruggles in the Victor Moore role of "Public Enemy #13, 'Moonface' Martin - on the lamb from the FBI, Ida Lupino as Hope Harcourt, Arthur Treacher as Lord Evelyn Oakleigh who is trying to bring Hope home to England to marry her, Margaret Dumont briefly seen as Mrs. Wentworth the owner of a kidnapped Peikinese, Charlie Chan's "Number One Son" Keye Luke & Philip Ahn as a pair of gambling Chinese and Grace Bradley as Moonface's moll Bonnie.All are blissfully gathered (and some farcically hiding) on a ship crossing from New York to London. The original pre-Broadway rehearsal script had the cast shipwrecked, but the well publicized burning of the actual cruise ship Morro Castle off New Jersey while the show was in preparation made shipwrecks decidedly unPC for musical comedy so all the action was kept on board.Few shipboard films (certainly not the bland and UNfaithful 1956 remake with Crosby and Mitzi Gaynor) have as much fun capturing an Atlantic crossing OR a Broadway show.

The 1936 "Anything Goes" is another example of Hollywood's mishandling of what could have been a classic film version of a classic Broadway show. All the opportunities were there-Bing Crosby as the male lead, Ethel Merman (who did make her songs famous, even if you can't stand her singing style) repeating her stage role, Charlie Ruggles a perfect and hilarious replacement for Victor Moore, and one of Cole Porter's two greatest scores-the other being "Kiss Me Kate". So what do the filmmakers do?They throw out all but four of the original songs and turn the film into a Bing Crosby vehicle by getting a group of songwriters to write several new songs especially for him, one of them reportedly at his request. Then, they rewrite the lyrics to "You're the Top" (one of Porter's most clever songs), retain only the first verse of the title song, "Anything Goes", make a minor change (required by the censors of the time) to the lyrics to "I Get A Kick Out Of You", keep the original plot line (notice that the filmmakers considered the ridiculous plot sacred enough to leave alone, but not Cole Porter's songs), and release this flat, unfunny mess. At least Ethel Merman fans get to see her sing two of her biggest hit songs on film.