Review of High Society (1956) by Mike V — 31 Aug 2015

I don't want to compare this film to The Philadelphia Story for the entirety of my review, but damn, that will be hard. In summary: no, High Society isn't as good as The Philadelphia Story. Yes, it's pretty good in its own right.

Extrapolating...

If I watched High Society without ANY knowledge of TPS, I might have enjoyed it a little more than I did. But it was hard to watch it in a bubble. What was comparable to TPS? Better, even? The staging probably - I loved the lavish society home sets. What wasn't? Everything else.

The cast, for starters. Grant vs Crosby. Well, they are both the apex of their epochs in urbanity, and cool. But Grant perfectly balanced this urbanity with vulnerability and fire in TPS, something Crosby would (could?) never do. Crosby has always been far too narcoleptic for my taste, too cool for ANY school. And here, in HS, he once again looks like he could take it or leave it. The film, and the leading lady.

I didn't buy that romance, and not because of the quarter century age gap. Crosby just didn't seem to care that much about Ms Kelly. Few sparks, minimal chemistry, no fire. Nothing like Grant and Hepburn in TPS.

Speaking of which...

Well, look. No one is disputing Grace Kelly is a stunner. The epitome of class. Ice cool. But SO hot. But she's no Katie Hepburn. No one is, granted. Ms Kelly tries hard. Her drunken scenes are excellent. I was actually surprised by how good she WAS. She's by no means bad. But she doesn't essay a Tracey Lord HALF as vulnerable and desperate and REAL as Ms Hepburn - who really was the lynchpin and the heart of TPS - her scenes with everyone resonated more comedically and dramatically than any scene in HS.

Except for a couple of times. Frank Sinatra surprised me here. Later in his career, Frankie seemed to take too many pages outta Crosby's too-cool-for-school playbook - but here, I thought he was great. Lacking the dramatic chops of (even a young) James Stewart - and the romantic angle with Mike and Tracey here is utterly unconvincing. But Sinatra is great in his earlier scenes playing the cynical journo line - especially when he's reacting with Celeste Holm to the inane, insane high society around them. In fact, their duet to Cole Porter's "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" is the absolute (non-Louis Armstrong) highlight of the film - toe-tapping, and funny.

Otherwise the songs (apart from Louis, of course, and the Bing/Frank duet "Did You Ever?" while they are getting sloshed) are quite disposable - mostly Bing crooning or Grace trying her best.

Sigh...it sounds like I'm being hard on this film. I didn't mean to be.

It's light and frothy and disposable and fun, and occasionally funny. I loved the eye-raising that goes on about the alcoholic idleness of the filthy rich. I loved the excessive drinking. I hated (much like in TPS) the cringe-worthy justifications tossed about for Tracey's father's cheating. Grrr.

So, it's a fun, mostly forgettable Hollywood product. But one element in unforgettable. Louis Armstrong. His voice, his smile. His awesomeness. He's only onscreen for maybe ten minutes all up, but he makes the film for me.

"Can you dig old Satchmo swingin' in the beautiful High So-ci-yu-tee!".

I certainly can, Louis.

I can dig, very much.