High Society
Directed by Charles Walters
Written by John Patrick from a play by Phillio Barry
1956/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Sol C. Siegel Productions, Bing Crosby Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental
#327 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
[box] DEXTER and MIKE: Have you heard? / It’s in the stars/ Next July we collide with Mars/ Well, did you evah?/ What a swell party this is! — Lyrics by Cole Porter[/box]
It would take quite some remake to match up to the delights of The Philadelphia Story. This isn’t it.
The plot follows the original closely. The story takes place in the run-up to the Newport Jazz Festival and Louis Armstrong provides a kind of musical commentary. Society beauty Tracy Samantha Lord (Grace Kelly) is marrying social climber George Kitteredge (John Lund). Her ex-husband, composer C.K. Dexter-Haven (Bing Crosby) is still in love with her and has shown up to throw some spanners in the works.
In the background, Tracy’s father has been involved in a scandal with a ballet dancer. Tracy wants nothing more to do with him, though her mother is more forgiving. A gossip magazine called Spy has gotten wind of the story and threatens to publish the dirt unless its reporter, Mike Connor (Frank Sinatra), and photographer, Liz Imbry (Celeste Holm), are allowed to cover the wedding. Tracy leads the magazine people on a merry chase until she starts succumbing to Mike’s charms.
Will Tracy make it to the altar? If you have seen the 1940 film you will know all the answers.
I like the entire cast of this movie. (It was a kick to see John Lund again after all those Bulldog Drummond movies!). But there’s just no way they could do anything but fall flat in comparison with Hepburn, Stewart, and Grant. I thought Grace Kelly was particularly off. The dialogue and acting just lacks the bite of the earlier movie. Comparisons are odious but they were invited here. My enjoyment was moderate.
High Society was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Music, Original Song (“True Love”) and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture. It was Grace Kelly’s final feature film before retiring from show business. It was also Louis Calhern’s last film.
Trailer
