Starring Ethel Merman, Bing Crosby, Ida Lupino, and Charlie Ruggles
Directed by Lewis Milestone
Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter and others
This week, we're going on an ocean cruise with two very different versions of this beloved Cole Porter show. Anything Goes debuted on Broadway in 1934 and was an instant sensation, thanks to one of Porter's best scores and the performance of Ethel Merman as belting evangelist Reno Sweeney. Merman carried over to this lavish movie version, joined by Crosby and Oscar-winning director Milestone. How does this shipboard story of girls, gags, and gangsters fare nowadays? Let's begin at a nightclub with Sweeney (Merman) and Wall Street broker Billy Crocker (Crosby) as she explains she's ready to take a cruise and find out...
The Story: Billy is supposed to get off the ship and return to work, but he's smitten by the beautiful heiress Hope Harcourt (Lupino) and stays onboard. Hope, however, is a runaway who is being returned to her father by her hopelessly naive English fiance Sir Evelyn Oakleigh (Arthur Treacher). Even worse than that, Billy learns that his boss Mr. Whitney (Robert McWade) is also on the cruise. Reno helps him find increasingly outlandish disguises to avoid being discovered.
Meanwhile, Billy and Reno also befriend the Reverend Dr. Moon (Ruggles) and his assistant Bonnie LaTour (Grace Bradley). Dr. Moon is actually "Moonface," the 13th most wanted criminal in America, and Bonnie is the wife of Snake Eyes, the #1 most wanted. When they're discovered, everyone thinks Billy is a gangster, too. Reno tries everything she can think of to make Captain McPhail (Matt Moore) believe that Billy's no gangster, but it takes the big finale for everything to really come to light.
The Song and Dance: I do give them credit for more-or-less adopting the story as it was in the original show, with only a few minor details changed. That didn't always happen in early Broadway transfers. Milestone manages some nice touches, including the unique ending with Moonface looking through the Paramount camera with Evelyn and Reno on one side, Hope and Billy on the other. Merman's having the most fun by far repeating her Broadway role as the brassiest evangelist on the high seas; Crosby also has fun with the many changes and wacky disguises he ends up in. Treacher has a few good gags as the good-natured nobleman, too.
Favorite Number: Merman opens things with the title song, or at least the first line, over the credits, then reminding Crosby that "I Get a Kick Out of You" coming out of the ceiling on a swing at the nightclub. Four sailors play musical instruments together, reminding each other why "There'll Always Be a Lady Fair" in a charming routine by The Avalon Boys Quartet. Crosby joins them - or tries to hide among them - to help them paint portholes and remind in a reprise. He sings "Sailor Beware" from the crow's nest. He's definitely getting a "Moonburn" as he shows off for Hope on deck. The lyrics may be different, but Crosby and Merman still have a blast mugging their way through "You're the Top" anyway, even with Crosby's home-made beard.
Trivia: Anything Goes debuted on Broadway in 1934 and was an instant sensation, running over a year. It did four months in London in 1935. The show's been back to New York three times, as an off-Broadway version in 1962 and two smash-hit revivals in 1987 and 2011. A London revival in 2021 did so well, it's returned after touring and is running at press time. It's also extremely popular with regional theaters on both sides of the Atlantic looking for something light-hearted and naughty.
One of two times Ethel Merman repeated her Broadway role on film. (The other was Call Me Madam from 1953.)
WC Fields was replaced by Charlie Ruggles just before filming began.
Most TV copies now run it under the title Tops Is the Limit, which is what Paramount called it when they released it to television while their 1956 Anything Goes was in theaters.
What I Don't Like: The soft-spoken, effeminate Ruggles does seem like an odd choice for a gangster, even a harmless one. He's a bit miscast, as is Ida Lupino in an early role. With all of Hope's ballads eliminated, Lupino has nothing to do but look haughty and play the damsel in distress. Only four songs were retained from Porter's classic score, and two of them were heavily rewritten. The lovely ballad "All Through the Night" is only heard as underscoring. Crosby did have a minor hit with "Moonburn" at the time, but to tell the truth, none of the replacement songs are anywhere near as memorable. There's also the two young Chinese students whom are easily duped by gangsters and Moonface, and Reno's big Chinese-themed finale "Shanghai-de-Ho" in outrageously stereotyped Asian costumes.
The Big Finale: Worth taking a cruise for if you love Merman, Crosby, or Porter and can find it.
Home Media: At press time, this rarity can only be found on YouTube.
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