Starring: Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra
Co-Starring: Celeste Holm, Louis Armstrong, Louis Calhern
Modern-Day Counterpart: My Best Friend's Wedding (1997) - both have a strong, central female character with a lesson to learn and good use of music.
Directed by: Charles Walters
Other notable contributors: Cole Porter - music, Helen Rose - costumes
Favorite scene: Pre-wedding party. Grace Kelly's character, Tracy, has a little too much champagne and funny lines follow.
Favorite line: "I'm sensational. Everybody says so!" - Tracy
Raves: While I love films in black and white, High Society was made for Technicolor. The brightly colored sets and rich costumes add to the sprightly tone. The Cole Porter songs are lighthearted, hummable little ditties that move the film along at a nice pace. My favorite one, "Well Did You Evah?" features Frank and Bing duetting and dancing in the library. A line in that song makes reference to the real-life changing of the guards in popular music:
Bing ad-lib: "buh bum bum bum"
Frank: "Don't dig that kind of crooning, chum"
Bing: "You must be one of the newer fellas"
Rants: Very few. Can be a little silly at times.
My take: Grace Kelly, Cole Porter tunes courtesy of Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, vibrant Technicolor, the plot of The Philadelphia Story - what's not to love? While the original 1940 non-musical version has better actors in the three leading roles (Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and Jimmy Stewart) High Society is more fun. I watch this film about once a month.
Recommended if: you're looking for a fun, lighthearted movie for a sunny afternoon and you don't mind musicals.
As Louie Armstrong says, "end of story!"
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