“How to Succeed…” on film is not a total disaster. There are some very good moments in it, such as Rudy Valee hamming it up in “Grand Old Ivy” and Robert Morse doing the same in “Brotherhood of Man” and “I Believe in You”, but some moments in the film are completely uncalled for.
Michelle Lee singing “I Believe in You” as a romantic song towards the end of the Act I absolutley ruined the sardonic, unromantic tone of the show. This scene, while only lasting three minutes, ruins the entire story and concept.
Most of the songs sung by Lee’s Rosemary from the stage play are also cut from the film, ruining her characther, turning her into a sympathetic romantic lead, not a tough as nails broad.
Bud Frump is also given less to do here. His two big numbers are cut, making him more of a straightfoward antagonist than a comic villan.
While Morse, Sammy Smith, Valee and Ruth Kobart are preserved wonderfully on the screen, the rest of the film flops rather badly.