Anything Goes film on DVD

Can you still call this film Anything Goes if the title song has been excised from the score? (See correction in comments below) Well, the film has little to do with the stage version of the show which preceded it by almost 20 years.

Donald O'Connor makes his second appearance in a week of my Year, playing the younger leading man to Bing Crosby's older leading man. Mr. O'Connor impresses again with a tap number in an on-ship children's playroom (don't ask). O'Connor and Ms. Gaynor are well-matched as dance partners, but have to suffer through some mediocre choreography. Perhaps the greatest disappointment is the crooning of "Blow, Gabriel, Blow" by Crosby and O'Connor at the end of the film. It needs a voice as blaring as Gabriel's horn--like Ethel Merman in the original stage cast.

Still, there's one nice addition from the pen of Sammy Cahn, a comedy song for Crosby and O'Connor near the top of the film. And Edith Head gives good costume to the two women.

Anything Goes
Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter
Additional songs by Sammy Cahn
Book for the film by Sidney Sheldon
Based (loosely) on the play by Guy Bolton and PG Wodehouse
Released by Paramount Pictures in 1956
Cast: Bing Crosby, Donald O'Connor, Mitzi Gaynor, Zizi Jeanmaire