(1956)
3
Michael Costello
Charles Walters' generally soporific musical version of George Cukor's classic Philadelphia Story (1940) is enlivened by Louis Armstrong and the musical camaraderie of stars Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. The second film based on Philip Barry's enormously successful comedy of manners, it centers on the aristocratic Tracy Lord (Grace Kelly) and her imminent second marriage. The final film of Kelly's career is a distinctly leaden affair in which the boredom of the participants seems palpable. Crosby, who appears old enough to be Kelly's grandfather, seems to bond better with Sinatra's tough-guy reporter than with the woman who he supposedly still loves. The more satiric aspects of Barry's witty dialogue seems to have been sanded away; perhaps not much of a loss, since Celeste Holm's society reporter is the only one of the principals who seems capable of handling it. Nevertheless, Sinatra and Crosby shift into another gear for the Cole Porter numbers, and Crosby's joy in working with the legendary Satch is evident on "Now You Has Jazz."
High Society on AllMovie
High Society (1956)
