High Society (1956)

In 1940 George Cukor directed the delightful screwball comedy, “The Philadelphia Story”, starring Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant and James Stewart.   That film gave us a wonderful mix of great acting, comedic timing and sparkling chemistry from its leads.

In 1956 Hollywood remade that film as a musical and replaced Hepburn with the ravishing Grace Kelly while pegging two of the greatest crooners of all time (Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra) to replace Grant and Stewart.     The result is some wooden stilted acting by the singers and a lack of real chemistry between the actors.

The film did however include Crosby and Sinatra belting out a few really fine and memorable Cole Porter songs.   Kelly for her part plays her part as if she is trying to copy Hepburn and does so fairly successfully, due to her immense lovely charm.    The movie is prominent in that it was the last role Kelly made before becoming the real princess of Monaco.

Another added pleasure in this version of the story is the great Louis Armstrong whose whole purpose of being in the film is to perform some nifty Jazzy interludes that serve as a form of musical narration.    There are some great musical numbers in this movie.

The story concerns a high society heiress Tracy (Kelly), preparing for her 2nd wedding, all the while being interfered with by her ex-husband (Crosby) and a charming singing reporter (Sinatra).   Both work in getting her to change her nuptial plans.   Kelly brings a bright and happy feel every time she is on the screen, but most of the dramatic or comedic elements of the film seem forced and come out very dry.

The songs however are something else.   There have been very few singers throughout the ages that have the range and silkiness of Crosby and Sinatra ,and having them sing a duet for “Well, Did you Evah!”, is a real treat.   Another high point is the Armstrong number, “Now you has Jazz”.

The musical numbers shown on their own make this film worthwhile, but as an interpretation of, “The Philadelphia Story”, the movie leaves a lot to be desired.