| High Society | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Charles Walters |
| Screenplay by | John Patrick |
| Based on | The Philadelphia Story 1939 play byPhilip Barry |
| Produced by | Sol C. Siegel |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Paul C. Vogel |
| Edited by | Ralph E. Winters |
| Music by | Cole Porter |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
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Running time | 111 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2.8 million[1] |
| Box office | $8.2 million[1] |
High Society is a 1956 Americanmusicalromantic comedy film directed byCharles Walters and starringBing Crosby,Grace Kelly, andFrank Sinatra. The film was produced bySol C. Siegel forMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and shot inVistaVision andTechnicolor, with music and lyrics byCole Porter.
The film is a musicalremake of the 1940screwball comedy filmThe Philadelphia Story, which was based on the 1939 playThe Philadelphia Story byPhilip Barry.High Society's screenplay was written byJohn Patrick and involves a successful popular jazz musician (Crosby) who tries to win back the affections of his ex-wife (Kelly), who is preparing to marry another man. The cast also featuresCeleste Holm,John Lund, andLouis Calhern, in his final film, with a musical contribution byLouis Armstrong. The film was Kelly's last professional appearance before she marriedPrince Rainier III and becamePrincess consort of Monaco.
Successful singer-composer C.K. Dexter Haven is divorced from wealthyNewport, Rhode Island,socialite Tracy Samantha Lord. Dexter, who lives next door to the Lord estate, remains in love with her but she is now engaged to socially prominent and snobbish George Kittredge. As Tracy prepares for her upcoming wedding, Dexter is busily organizing elements of theNewport Jazz Festival.
Meanwhile,Spy, atabloid newspaper, possesses embarrassing info about Tracy's errant father, Seth Lord, and has coerced the family into allowing reporter Mike Connor and photographer Liz Imbrie to cover the nuptials. Tracy, resenting their forced presence, begins an elaborate charade, including introducing her Uncle Willy as her father, while Seth is passed off as "wicked" Uncle Willy.
As a wedding gift, Dexter gives Tracy a scale model of their former sailboat, "True Love," which evokes her memories about their happy honeymoon aboard it. Tracy gradually realizes George knows little about her true self and has instead created an idealized image of her. When Tracy drives Mike around Newport, he notices some neglected mansions; Tracy explains many owners have been forced to board up or sell off their properties due to high taxes. Her Uncle Willy is selling his own estate. The two form a mutual attraction, leaving Tracy to choose from three very different men during a course of self-discovery. During the wedding-eve party at Uncle Willy's house, George catches a tipsy Tracy kissing Dexter on the patio. George leaves Tracy in an empty room to sober up but, still tipsy, she climbs out the window and runs into Mike. George finds her again after she and Mike have had a swim in the Lords' pool. The next day, Tracy has hazy memories of the previous night. She initially intends to go through with the wedding, then prods George into agreeing to call it off. While informing the waiting guests the wedding is canceled, Dexter suddenly proposes that he be the groom. Knowing she loves him, Tracy accepts. Liz and Mike, who now realize they love each other, tell Tracy and Dexter that they are not writing a story about the wedding or other events to protect the family's privacy.
Filming took place between January and March 1956. The location scenes were mostly shot in and around Clarendon Court inNewport, Rhode Island, which was then owned by Mae Cadwell Hayward,[2] and later purchased in 1970 byClaus von Bülow.[3]
The location, according toTurner Classic Movies, enabled them to take advantage of theNewport Jazz Festival, established in 1954, incorporating it into the film by giving Crosby's character a background as a descendant of a Gilded Age robber baron who became a jazz composer and friend of jazz starLouis Armstrong, who plays himself in the film, and patron of the Festival.[4] As name-checked by Crosby in the song "Now You Has Jazz", where each musician takes a small solo, Armstrong's band members wereEdmond Hall (clarinet),Trummy Young (trombone),Billy Kyle (piano),Arvell Shaw (bass), andBarrett Deems (drums).
This film featured Kelly's final role before she became Princess ofMonaco; it was released three months after her marriage toPrince Rainier III. In the film, Kelly wore the Cartier engagement ring given to her by Rainier.[5] Sinatra was 40 and Crosby 53 while playing the love interests of Kelly, who was 26 during the filming. Sinatra biographers George Jacobs andWilliam Stadiem claimed Crosby kept his distance from Sinatra during the production and remained strictly professional when Sinatra desired companionship, and that it "killed" Sinatra to think that Crosby considered himself a higher class singer. However, this is rejected by TCM, which states that "in spite of a rumored rivalry between Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, the two worked together very amicably during the shoot."[4]
They claim that Sinatra was fascinated with Grace Kelly – as were many of her previous co-stars – and would have loved to have an affair with her but feared rejection and embarrassment in front of Crosby, who had previously had an affair with Kelly.[6]
The sailboat used in the film, the True Love (originally the Venona II based on the Malabar design byJohn Alden built for racing), sails onSeneca Lake out ofWatkins Glen, NY as an excursion boat for Seneca Sailing Adventures, LLC.[7]
ProducerSol C. Siegel paid Porter $250,000 for his first originalfilm score in eight years;[8] it introduced a couple of pop standards, including "True Love" and "You're Sensational". Not only did Sinatra and Crosby collaborate for the first time,[8][9] but behind the scenes two master orchestrators –Conrad Salinger andNelson Riddle – melded their arrangements under the baton ofJohnny Green. Armstrong and his band get a couple of standout moments and Kelly has her only role in a musical.
Asoundtrack album was released the year of the film's release and was a major success in both America and the United Kingdom. It has been said[citation needed] that one of the main reasons star Sinatra was drawn to the film was a mock-tipsy duet with his boyhood idol Crosby on "Well, Did You Evah!", a song from an earlier Porter show,DuBarry Was a Lady (1939), re-adapted and added at the last minute when it was noted that the two singers did not have a duet to perform in the film.
The title of the song "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" gained new significance a half-century later as the title of aglobal game show franchise. "I Love You, Samantha" has also become a jazz favorite for improvisations.[citation needed]
Opening on July 17, 1956,High Society garnered mixed reviews, often being compared as a lesser offering toThe Philadelphia Story, a previous adaptation in 1940 of the same play starringCary Grant in the Crosby part,Katharine Hepburn in the Kelly role, andJames Stewart in anOscar-winning turn as the reporter played in the remake by Sinatra.Variety observed: "High Society should spell high finance business all over. It's a solid entertainment every minute of its footage. Fortified with a strong Cole Porter score, film is a pleasant romp for cast toppers Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra who, tactfully, get alphabetical top billing. Their impact is almost equally consistent. Although Sinatra has the top pop tune opportunities, the Crooner makes his specialties stand up and out on showmanship and delivery, and Miss Kelly impresses as the femme lead with pleasantly comedienne overtones. This is perhaps her most relaxed performance ..."[11]
Bosley Crowther ofThe New York Times described it as "flimsy as a gossip-columnist's word", missing "the snap and the crackle that its un-musical predecessor had." The movie premiered at theRadio City Music Hall.[12] According toTime, in spite of its "Who's Who cast" the film is "simply not top-drawer"; a "good deal of the screenplay seems as dated today as the idle rich ... [Kelly] lacks the gawky animal energy that Katharine Hepburn brought to the 1939 play and the 1941 movie, [Crosby] saunters through the part rather sleepily, without much of the old Bing zing [, and] Sinatra plays the reporter like a dead-end kid with a typewriter."[8]
At the North American box-office,High Society was a success. It was one of the10 highest-grossing films of 1956 in the US and Canada earning $5,602,000, and $2,656,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $1,148,000.[1]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 87% of 23 critics' reviews are positive.[13]
High Society received twoAcademy Award nominations, and nearly received a third. The film was initially nominated in the 1956 Academy Awards forBest Motion Picture Story, even though it was based on the 1940 filmThe Philadelphia Story and thus was not eligible in that category. Moreover, the nominated writers,Elwood Ullman andEdward Bernds, had written not this film, but a1955 Bowery Boys film also titledHigh Society.
According to the bookInside Oscar,Steve Broidy, president ofThe Bowery Boys home studioAllied Artists, told the press, "This just proves what we've known all along – that the Bowery Boys series couldn't have lasted this long if not for the fine writers." The joking in the press aside, Ullman and Bernds sent atelegram to the Academy Award Board of Governors, acknowledging the error and requesting that their names be removed from the final ballot.[14][15]
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | Academy Awards | Best Scoring of a Musical Picture | Johnny Green andSaul Chaplin | Nominated | [16] |
| Best Song | "True Love" Music and Lyrics byCole Porter | Nominated | |||
| 1957 | Writers Guild of America Awards | Best Written American Musical | John Patrick | Nominated | [17] |
More than 40 years following the film's release,High Society was adapted for the stage as aBroadway musical with several Porter songs from other sources added to the score. Thestage version ofHigh Society opened on April 27, 1998, at theSt. James Theatre, starringMelissa Errico as Tracy Lord,Daniel McDonald as C.K. Dexter Haven,Stephen Bogardus as Mike Conner,John McMartin as Uncle Willie, and, in her Broadway debut, a 12-year-oldAnna Kendrick as Dinah Lord. Kendrick and McMartin receivedTony Award nominations for their work asBest Featured Actress in a Musical andBest Featured Actor in a Musical. The show ran for 144 performances.[18][19][20]
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