Maybe I liked it better because I haven't seen a stage production or most of the 1936 movie. (I just saw the "Ol' Man River" and "Can' Help Lovin' Dat Man" sequences from that movie.) But still, this version really wasn't so bad taken just by itself. Even if Ava Gardner is sexier than anyone intended Julie to be, she is still great and truly heartbreaking in the later sequences. Her renditions of "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" and "Bill," with th help of Annette Warren's dubbed-in vocals, manage to be sultry and yet very tender, too. (Indeed on the soundtrack, Ava herself shows us she didn't have a bad voice in outtakes of her singing those songs.) True, the romance between Katharine Grayson and Howard Keel isn't very interesting, and except for "Make Believe," you'll have to yawn through most of their numbers since you can't understand either one of them. But that's more than made up for by fine performances of the Kern-Hammestein score, (except those which are noted). "Ol' Man River" is still extremely powerful and moving, even if the man singing it has a non-existent role in the proceedings, even if he isn't Paul Robeson, and even if it's missing parts. Marge and Gower Champion are in fine form in their numbers, and you can't help but smile during "Life Upon the Wicked Stage," when Marge wears skirts hiked higher than Aly McBeal's... in the 50s! And then there's "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man," "Bill," and "Make Believe." Perhaps in comparison to its predeccesors it' horrible, but maybe it isn't so bad if you jus take it for itself.