Customer Reviews

High Society

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've just finished watching "High Society" after having first seen "The Philadelphia Story" only a month ago. Both films are phenomenal, on their own and shouldn't be compared. They succeed wonderfully in very different ways. The cinematography of "High Society" is excellent and is one of the major factors of it's success. In many ways, it makes it a very, dare I say, 'modern' musical, not seeming at all fluffy or schmaltzy. The musical numbers are intimately filmed, and with Cole Porter's music and lyrics, it works amazingly well. Case in point..."Well Did You Evah". I believe this to be one of Sinatra's best roles, quite cool, charming, and thoroughly convincing. And then he sings...and all is well with the world. Bing is at his cool best and Grace Kelly is stunningly beautiful, even with her role's snobbery fully intact. It is a shame that Sinatra and Bing only had one other movie together "robin and the Seven Hoods" because their chemistry is unsurpassed. Add the jazz and personality of Satchmo, and what you have is one of the most enjoyable 107 minutes that you could spend in front of the tube. Highly recommended. Let's hope the DVD version is in the works!

High Society, starring Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby is a delightful musical. It is a remake of the big hit THE PHILADELPHIA STORY which starred Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant and James Stewert. In High Society Bing Crosby plays C.K Dexter Haven the "x" of Tracy Lord (Grace Kelly) who turns up suddenly when he hears that Tracy is being remarried. Tracy of course is furious and does not want him there. To add to her problems two reporters,(one of which is played by Frank Sinatra) show up. Tracy refuses to admit that she's still in love with Dexter and refuses to call of the wedding. Louis Armstrong toots out some great tunes by Cole Porter and Grace Kelly does an excellent job, especially in her drunk scene. This movie is an absoulute must!

'High Society', MGM's musical remake of Philip Barry's classic 'The Philadelphia Story', is a frothy, high-spirited joy! While it lacks the inestimable star power of Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and Jimmy Stewart, in replacing the male leads with the greatest crooners of all time, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, and offering Hollywood's Princess, Grace Kelly, in her last film role, MGM was NOT dropping the marquee value by much! Add to the mix the legendary Louis Armstrong, and one of Cole Porter's last great film scores (including the lushly romantic 'True Love'), and you have all the ingredients for a delightful movie experience!

Changing the film's locale from Philadelphia to Newport, the class distinction subplot of the story becomes, at best, a minor plot point, but it does provide the 'hook' of the Newport Jazz Festival to bring in Armstrong, and to add songwriting as a hobby of millionaire C.K. Dexter-Haven (Crosby). His ex, Tracy Samantha Lord (called 'Sam' in this version, so Cole Porter could recycle his tune 'Goodbye, Amanda', as 'Goodbye Samantha'), and played by the luminous Kelly, is remarrying, to boring, wooden George Kittredge (played woodenly by John Lund). An 'Enquirer'-type scandal sheet, 'The Spy', blackmails the family into allowing a writer and photographer (Sinatra and Celeste Holm) to cover the nuptials (in an improvement on the original story, where Cary Grant 'sells out' the Lords in an attempt to disrupt the wedding).

From this point on, the film follows the original version fairly closely, adding songs to 'spice up' the proceedings. Sinatra and Holm take potshots at the idle rich with 'Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?'; Crosby tosses off a sweet ditty for Sam's little sister ('Little One'), and attempts, with Armstrong, to explain contemporary music ('Now You Has Jazz'); Sinatra, smitten with Kelly, expresses his feelings ('You're Sensational' and 'Can I Make Love To You?'); Crosby and Kelly, in a flashback, recall their honeymoon ('True Love', which became a hit single, earning both stars a gold record). The film highlight is, understandably, the fabulous and funny duet between Crosby and Sinatra, 'Well, Did You Evah?' (rich with sly comments on Crosby's famous fortune, and Sinatra's 'new' style of crooning). The number is nearly always featured in MGM musical retrospectives, and is a show-stopper!

As all the pieces fall into place for a 'beautiful' wedding, (which concludes both versions of the story), Louis Armstrong provides a final coda that is both charming and a reminder that Hollywood just doesn't make 'em like this any more!

'High Society' may not be in the stratosphere of 'The Philadephia Story', but it certainly has a well-deserved place in the cosmos of its own! This one's a keeper!

I know it's a pretty tiresome phrase, but unfortunately it's true. THEY DON'T MAKE MOVIES LIKE THEY USE TOO! I doubt that they'll ever be as much talent involved in one movie ever again. First lets look at the cast. We have Frank Sinatra ( My favorite singer of all time!) next there's Grace Kelly ( One of my favorite actresses) and then there's Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong! And they're all singing to the Oscar nominated songs of Cole Porter (My favorite composer). This is a movie that will entertain anybody who watches it. It's filled with great music, great acting, and a sharp witty script by John Patrick , which is based on Philip Barry's " Philadelphia Story". There are many high points in this film which include Crosby's and Sinatra's duet of "Well, Did You Evah?". Then there's Sinatra's version of "Mind If I Make Love To You?" , which is one of my favorite songs written by Porter. Plus Crosby sings the Oscar nominated "True Love". A fun movie that the whole family can enjoy! Buy or rent it tonight.

Tracy Lord is a society woman with an inflexible sense of propriety: not only has she divorced her socially liberal first husband C.K. Dexter-Haven, she has forced her mother to separate from her father over the latter's questionable behavior with a chorus girl. Now she plans to marry George Kittredge, a social climber with a sense of propriety as inflexible as her own--only to find her wedding suddenly beset by her first husband, two pesky reporters, the possibility of a paternal scandal, and a local jazz fest. If all this sounds a bit familiar, it should be no surprise. Originally written for the stage by Philip Barry under the title THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, it proved a smash hit during the 1940s on both stage and screen, and this remake follows the original very closely, only fiddling with the story and characters to the extent of introducing and rationalizing Cole Porter's musical elements.

The original non-musical film cast included Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and James Stewart--a hard act to follow, to say the least. But while they don't best that teaming, stars Grace Kelly (Tracy), Bing Crosby (C.K. Dexter-Haven), and Frank Sinatra (Mike Connor, one of the reporters) carry off the roles with considerable charm. But the real strength of this film is the guest appearance of Louis Armstrong and the Cole Porter score. Only Porter would be brazen enough to write lyrics that rhyme Circe with Mercy, and while this is one of his lesser efforts it is still pretty impressive stuff, including such memorable tunes as "True Love," the satirical "Well, Did You Ever?," and such throw-away charmers as "Little One." As for Louis Armstrong, his star quality is powerful enough to put even Sinatra in the shade.

The failure of the film is the fact that every one in the cast seems to play a bit too casually, and although they are all clearly having a good time they never really achieve the sparkle a truly great musical comedy requires. Even so, musical fans--particularly those of Cole Porter, Armstrong, Crosby, and Sinatra--will find it quite enjoyable, and Grace Kelly fans will find the actress as lovely as ever. Recommended.

The story is set amid the mansions of Newport, where we meet the beautiful Tracy Lord (Grace Kelly) who's about to be married. Her first husband, wealthy song writer and general all-round great guy Dexter (Bing Crosby) still loves her, but this time she's chosen a stiff, dull groom. A tabloid reporter (Frank Sinatra) and photographer (Celeste Holm) move in for the weekend to cover the wedding and all goes swimmingly until Tracy has a bit too much bubbly the night before the nuptials.

This is an easy movie to like. The stars are all lovely and at the height of their careers, the sets and gowns are gorgeous, and the story is witty and upbeat with lots of laughs. A few wrong turns didn't keep me from enjoying it, but if you've seen the Cary Grant/Katharine Hepburn original ("The Philadelphia Story"), this version pales in comparison. Grace is certainly a treat for the eyes, but she tries way too hard to imitate Hepburn in early scenes, complete with masculine posturing and exaggerated speech. At 27, she looks too young for the 53-year old Crosby who sails through the story playing an über-cool hepcat. He makes the most of Cole Porter's songs, but with one or two exceptions, they are forgettable. Sinatra is stuck playing a drunken fool and Louis Armstrong is featured in several scenes for no clear reason except that he was big at the time.

These quibbles didn't spoil the movie for me though; it's a beautiful, feel-good celebration of wealth and romance and I was smiling and tapping my toes the whole time. 4.5 stars.

High Society

Wonderful Musical/Romance movie starring Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Grace Kelly, and others with the jazz great, Louis Armstrong and his band. Grace is having a party celebration at her Mom's mansion for a pre wedding to John Lund. SDhowing up at the celebration is Crosby who was her ex-husband and who is still in love with Grace.

In addition, to get a story for their magazine, Frank Sinatra and Celese Holmes show up to interview how the rich live and ask incisive questions to Grace.

There is great music in this movie, plus comedy. With Sinatra and Crosby you get great singing of great Cole Porter songs. Interworven into the story is the timeless song with Crosby and Kelly singing, "True Love". Sinatra and Crosby sing a song together which is a real treat by the two crooners. Among the highlights of this movie is a great jazz performce with Armstrong and his band, accompanied with Crosby and his singing.

But, the storyline is great as Grace has a romantic interest now at the party with Sinatra, but also has risen feelings with her ex-husband, Crosby. And Celeste Holmes has a thing for Sinatra.

Grace kelly gets smashed at the party with hilarious consequences and her fiance is not amused at all.

Who ends up with who is the climax of the movie which, if you have never seen it before, is worth seeing, and I will not reveal it. The wedding takes place, but who is getting married to whom is the question to be answered.

This movie, in my opinion, is a time capsule from the golden age of American Culture. Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Grace Kelly, Louis Armstrong, Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter, arranged by Nelson Riddle. This combination only happened once. Riddle was house arranger for Capital Records, and can be found on the most enduring music from that era (Sinatra, Ella (Gershwin Song Book), Nat King Cole). Celeste Holm also very impressive. Movie is relaxed, funny, and the cast make it look easy.

I was almost dumb founded when I read the notes from the "official" note provider and couldn't find the mention of the one, and only one song, that was a standard contained in this movie.....

If you've ever seen "High Society" you couldn't help but remember the song "True Love" sung by Bing to a woman he wanted to marry, Grace Kelly....it is so obvious that they are "friends", indeed, the movie is worth watching just for Bing's "True Love" song.....

And while this isn't "The Philadelphia Story" which is a great all time film, this is one of those FEW, VERY FEW, remakes that carves out a place in time for itself......enjoy

"High Society" ranks high among my all-time favorite movies and the DVD does an acceptable job of presenting it. The color and sound quality do the movie justice. The "matted" widescreen format was a bit unpleasant and disappointing. It, perhaps, works well on a widescreen TV. On my standard screen it causes the scene to be somewhat squeezed together. The extras that give some insight into the making of this classic were somewhat enjoyable.