Generally disappointing

Bing phones this one in. He looks pretty bored and under utilized, which is sad after having seen him in so many very enjoyable films. We don't get to hear his super rich toned voice put to any great use in this.

Donald O'Connor is more youthful and energetic in contrast to Bing, but he's an awful singer, and he doesn't get to dance enough. His character was very annoying, as the cocky, brash upstart. Some guys could run with this but O'Connor just sounds like he needs to be slapped around. I couldn't buy him as the romantic interest for the Mitzi Gaynor character. No chemistry whatsoever. O'Connor should be playing her nosy, irritating little brother or something.

Zizi Jeanmaire was interesting though a bit out of her league, I'd say. Her big dance number was quite good. She oozed great gobs of that certain je ne sais quoi of French sex appeal, but it was hard to buy her and Der Bingle as a couple. Her biggest number, the Dream Ballet, was quite interesting in good and bad ways. Her dancing was terrific. Her reading of I Get A Kick Out Of You was actually quite good. I'd give her a grade of B on that one.

Mitzi Gaynor was the nice surprise of this film. She looked stunning, mega-watt smile that lights up the screen, a figure to stop traffic, and her musical numbers were terrific especially her Anything Goes number. For some bizarre reason, we see more of her in the front half of the story and then the action shifts more to Zizi Jeanmaire's character and the story arc loses a lot of steam.

Phil Harris had a very nice small role as the father of the Mitzi Gaynor character.

The musical numbers were mostly weak or bad. I don't know why they even bothered to display P.G. Wodehouse's name on the opening titles as the script was badly mangled by Sidny Sheldon and Cole Porter's wonderful music is shouted down by some unbelievably irritating schlock from Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen. The Cahn/Van Heusen numbers are jarring in that whenever one starts up, we suddenly and abruptly find ourselves yanked from the swell world of Cole Porter's erudite charm into a brash cacophony of Catskill's Borscht Belt noisy old show routines. What were they thinking????

I don't think that I could sit through this awful film again, except maybe to FF to a couple of the better musical numbers and to see any scene with Mitzi Gaynor shimmering across the screen in form fitting garb.

If anyone wondered why or when there was a Golden Era of Hollywood films, this would be a perfect example of where things went horribly wrong in tinsel town.