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High Society (1956)

You can see this movie as one of the last of the great silver screen musicals —and running out of originality and verve. Or you can enjoy Cole Porter brought down to a middle class sensibility (never mind the wealth of the characters here). Or you can just marvel at some great footage of Louis Armstrong, and at the inclusion a black jazz band as a centerpiece in a big budget movie.

So there are reasons to give this movie a try, even though it is fairly slow going, and a pale shadow of the original, the truly great 1940 "Philadelphia Story." Grace Kelly plays the leading woman about to be married, and she lacks the cool stony quality that Hitchcock wisely taps and instead tries to be a lively, witty, physically lithe leading lady. Just like Katherine Hepburn? Yes, except she's no Katherine Hepburn, and it all feels a bit striving.

Likewise for Bing Crosby, who plays a laid back guy who happens to have a jazz band (and who does a good swinging song with Louis and crew alongside). He isn't quite screen magic—that is, he's no Cary Grant. Frank Sinatra is fine, but he has a smaller role. Alas.

And so it goes. Brightly lit, with big flashy Technicolor set design, the mood throughout is upbeat and fun and funny. And so it's not a bad thing to view.

But if you take at all seriously the contention of one man interceding on the groom for his ex-bride, whatever the Hays Code strategy, it just lacks edge and conviction. Cole Porter doesn't let us down, so there's always that!

Something wrong happened as MGM tried to update the much more original "The Philadelphia Story". Some of the blame should go to the uninspired direction of Walter Charles, who can't overcome what the great George Cukor achieved in the original movie version. Part of the blame is shared with John Patrick's screen play that might have been based on the Philip Barry play, but what one sees on the screen is a dull attempt of movie making. Donald Ogden Stewart, who adapted the original play gave that film a light and fun touch, which in Mr. Cukor's hands and brilliant direction came alive throughout the picture.

It's not fair to make comparisons, but unfortunately, the creators of "High Society" leave themselves wide open for it. Right off the start, these stars can't compare with the magnificent performances by Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant, James Stewart, Ruth Hussey and the irresistible Virginia Weidler.

Grace Kelly was an elegant actress who as Tracy Lord gives the role another interpretation but doesn't capture the spirit of the no-nonsense socialite she is supposed to be. Bing Crosby, as Dexter, has some good moments, especially in the "True Love" segment in the yacht with Tracy. Frank Sinatra's Mike Connors is all right, although we can't just imagine how he can be in love with Liz Imbrie. Celeste Holm who appears as Liz gave a tamed reading of her character.

The best thing in the film is the prologue and the finale with the incomparable Louis Armstrong, whose presence would have been used to put some sparkle in this subdued version of Philip Barry's wonderful play.

MGM was pretty lucky to secure the talents of Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Grace Kelly, Celeste Holm, and Louis Armstrong to get involved in this great musical adaption of The Philadelphia Story.

Cole Porter contributed a great original score for this film with songs very specifically written to suit the talents of High Society's players. I do wish Celeste Holm had been given more to do than just the duet with Frank Sinatra, Who Wants To Be a Millionaire. On Broadway Celeste Holm was a musical star with Oklahoma and Bloomer Girl to her credit, but MGM didn't want to recognize that.

For this film, the story is reset from Philadelphia to Newport, Rhode Island to bring in the famous Jazz Festival. Philip Barry's social commentary is toned down and a very partisan Greek Chorus is added in the person of Mr. Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong. Satchmo tells you right up front who he's pulling for to win Grace Kelly and he helps musically along the way.

Satch and Bing have that classic Now You Has Jazz duet, so successful was it that they did an album together a few years later. Bing Crosby during his life was crazy about jazz musicians and there was no one he liked better than Louis Armstrong. No one on the planet could resist that man's joy for living.

Grace Kelly got a chance to bat 1000 in the recording industry. She was no singer as she would have freely admitted, but Cole Porter wrote True Love specifically to accommodate her limited range and when she does the last two bars of True Love with Der Bingle she got a million selling record for her one and only platter. As for Bing he got his 20th Gold record and the only one not with Decca records.

True Love was nominated for Best Song at the Oscars but lost to Doris Day's Que Sera Sera which boomed all over the charts in 1956. It was sadly Cole Porter's last opportunity to win an Oscar for one of his movie songs.

Frank Sinatra got a couple of good ballads in You're Sensational and Mind If I Make Love to You, but what he's best remembered for is that classic Well Did You Evah duet with Bing. Today's fans can't possibly appreciate the screen meeting of the two best and best known singers for the previous generations. A musical summit conference.

High Society's tone is a lot lighter than the Philadelphia Story. The cast in terms of acting ability are not in the same league as Grant, Stewart, Hepburn, and Hussey. But folks it is a musical. I doubt those stars could have carried off the Cole Porter score.

You can't miss with a cast like this, in either film for that matter.

Plush MGM musical remake of "The Philadelphia Story" (with a switch in locale to Newport, Rhode island) looks great but falls flat--and is miscast to boot! Grace Kelly stars as a society beauty and divorcée who is planning to remarry but gets mixed up again with ex-husband and neighbor Bing Crosby, who is in the middle of organizing a jazz festival (!). Meanwhile, tabloid reporter Frank Sinatra and photographer Celeste Holm arrive to cover the impending nuptials--and to get the scoop on Kelly's misbehaving father. A by-the-numbers fantasy-version of romantic interplay, one requiring principals who match up well and sparkle with chemistry. Unfortunately, Crosby and Kelly are more like brother and sister, while journalist Sinatra gives an aw shucks-styled, loner performance (his eventual love-match with Holm is yet another mistake). The good-natured Cole Porter songs are jovial, but director Charles Walters seems afraid to deviate from the story's stage origins, presenting this whole thing as if it were a play. The action is so encumbered, one spends much of the running time admiring the sets; elsewhere, the starchy wisecracks have been preconceived to tickle theater audiences in need of a guffaw and a yawn. Two Oscar nominations, both in the music department: Porter for Best Original Song, "True Love", and Johnny Green and Saul Chaplin for Best Scoring of a Musical.

"If my wonderful, beautiful, marvelous virtue is still intact, it's no thanks to me, I assure you."

High Society is an irreverent, star-studded, music infused lite-romance set amongst the idle rich of Newport, Rhode Island. Quite funny and rarely serious for long, High Society revolves around wealthy and gorgeous Samantha Lord (Grace Kelly), and the three men competing for her affection as her wedding day draws near. 

Bing Crosby stars as her ex-husband, John Lund as her current fiancé, and Frank Sinatra as a visiting reporter come to cover her wedding for a gossip rag. Most of the entertainment from the film comes from Sam bouncing around between the three men, as she goes from a frosty goddess to a warm, fun woman truly ready to marry. I'm sure her behavior in the movie seemed a bit risqué at the time, but it's all ultimately innocent in the end. And of course by the finale, (almost) everyone is happy. 

There are quite a few songs sprinkled throughout the movie, with Crosby, Sinatra, Kelly, and Celeste Holm all getting a chance to belt out a tune or two. Louis Armstrong serves as something of an on-screen narrator, and also plays occasionally with his band. The songs are pleasant, with more than one or two likely to have you humming along.  

Grace Kelly fans will be quite pleased with this, as she rarely looked more stunningly beautiful and gets to show off both her comedic skills and singing talents. She's quite funny, here, and carries a large share of the comedic burden as the movie goes on. Her chemistry with all the other leads is solid, and she carries off Samantha's mini- transformation quite well. Basically, if you weren't a fan of hers before seeing this, I'd be pretty amazed if you weren't smitten with her by the time the credits roll. This was her last role before leaving Hollywood for Monaco, and she definitely went out on a high note (pun not intended).

High Society is a charming, fun movie that should appeal to fans of classic films, musicals, or any of the cast. It's hard not to smile as you watch it, but why would you want to avoid it, anyway?