True Love

High Society (1956) gives a look inside the glitz and glamour of the idle rich of Newport, Rhode Island. What strikes you from the very beginning is a long, good old-fashioned overture. It makes for a very theatrical opening and gives you a taste of the music to come.

The film, directed by Charles Waters, opens with Louis Armstrong and his band who update us on recent events through the song "High Society Calipso". Armstrong acts as a sort of narrator remaining outside of the story most of the time, but allows himself to comment and meddle just a little once in a while. He allows the story to begin by proclaiming: "End of song. Beginning of story." and finishes it by saying: "End of story." The film showcases his and his band's talent in a number of occasions and adds a little jazzy flavor to stuffy old Newport.

Tracy Lord, played by the elegant Grace Kelly, is a socialite, the daughter of a wealthy family. She is described by other characters as a cold goddess on a pedestal, a woman who has unrealistic expectations and demands perfection of the people around her. She doesn't have an understanding heart. As the film progresses, she lets loose and discovers herself. However, it's when she recognizes her own frailty and imperfections that she truly changes and finds her humanity. The role was originally offered to Elizabeth Taylor, but she was unavailable, so Grace Kelly took on the role. She gives a beautiful performance and even does her own singing in the film even though she is not particularly know for singing. Since she was leaving to be married, the film was rushed into production and had to go around her royal itinerary. This was Grace Kelly's last film before she became Princess consort of Monaco.

Bing Crosby plays C.K. Dexter-Haven the happy-go-lucky millionaire and composer. Still in love with his ex-wife Tracy, he shows up the day before her wedding to try to somehow change her mind about her new husband to be. However, his character is a little withdrawn during most of the film and interferes at lot less than would be expected. He does his meddling in a much more subtle way, such as giving her a wedding present that awakens fond memories of him and their honeymoon. Tracy is very frustrated with him since she sees the potential he has versus what he has done with his talent, disgustedly calling him a jukebox hero. This film marks the first time Crosby and Sinatra appear in a picture together. Both of them are much older than their shared love interest in the film, 26 year old Grace Kelly; at the time, Crosby was in his fifties and Sinatra in his forties. Even so, Crosby gives a youthful and charming performance.

Cue our humble reporters, Mike Connor and Elizabeth Imbrie, played by Frank Sinatra and Celeste Holm. Issued to write an article about the wedding, they follow the upper class characters around hoping to get a scoop. They are amongst the only lower class characters in the film and it is easily spottable in their attitudes, concerns and language. They have a fanatastic song "Who wants to be a millionnaire?" which mocks the upper class life style which to them seems overrated and ridiculous. It establishes these two characters very efficiently. They are very close even though Liz hesitates to really act on her feelings. It's very kind of her to want Mike to live life to the fullest before he gets married, but as the film shows, hesitating too much can cause you to miss your chance. Holm doesn't have a very traditional voice, but it's unique and interesting. As for Sinatra, well it is no secret that he has a great voice.

George Kittredge, the husband to be, is a man who worked for his fortune and status. He has his own form of snobbery by denigrating the rich for being lazy and taking for granted what they have. He is a rather bland gentleman and is just a little silly in his seriousness. Tracy's mother acts as a female contrast to her daughter. Tracy herself projects her mother as a strong woman who didn't stand for her husband's bad behavior, yet her mother is very attached to the traditional female roles and regrets not having a husband to, perhaps, give her life meaning and direction. Her father acts as a strange father figure. He has committed adultery and has been absent, but seems to feel it in his right to lecture his daughter on her character. He is surprisingly stern in such a comedic film. On the other hand, Uncle Willie is certainly there simply as comic relief to lighten more serious moments.

The dialogue is very witty and full of one liners. George Kittredge is particularly fantastic for saying brilliant things and provoking hilarious comments from others. The film is full of pleasant misunderstandings and ulterior motives, as well as loose ends. The mix up between the identity of Tracy's father and uncle is set up at the beginning of the film, but is never really fully explored. It's later explained with very little consequence and never really pays off. Tracy's little sister, Caroline, makes an appearance early on, but has very little to give to the story. She could have easily not been in the film without grave consequence. Towards the end of the film, some of the characters mention that Caroline made several phone calls the night before trying to convince her loved ones that Tracy should marry another. None of the characters take this seriously, so it is payed no attention.

The film is based on the idea of making a musical remake of the film The Philadelphia Story (1940) based on the play of the same name by Philip Barry. The two films are very similar in script and characters, but there are some modifications. In The Philadelphia Story, Dexter is much more bitter, devious and far less innocent in the situation. He is the one who allows the reporters from Spy magazine to attend the wedding. The Philadelphia Story explores a little more the relationship between Dexter and Tracy and why it went sour. You also get a more in depth look at Mike. Generally, some of the details have been dropped when it was adapted for High Society, but the essence of the story remains. At the same time, MGM Studios had been developping a project called "Jazz in Newport" about jazz musicians and the Newport Jazz Festival. They decided to combine the two projects and set the original story in Newport, Rhode Island and add some jazz playing characters to create High Society. From a musical stand point, High Society is Cole porter's take on The Philadelphia Story.

High Society is chock-full of brilliant songs written by the one and only Cole Porter. The film covers many different styles of music. We get a taste of jazz with the song "Now we has jazz" and a real feel for the balade with "Sensational". "Little One" is a slightly odd moment in the film, but the song is later reprised in partial French as Tracy's sister sings and plays the piano for the reporters. Generally, the French in that scene is surprisingly good. Although an other song was originally chosen, the existing song "Well, did you ever?" was utimately chosen for the first on screen duo of the two giants Crosby and Sinatra. This song gives a clin d'oeil to the two singers with a little banter. High Society marked the first on screen combination of the two and was treated as an grand event; it was a huge selling point for the film. This song, as many others do, lets shine the wit and cleverness of Porter's pen. Of all the songs, True Love was the real hit of the film. The enthousiasm for this song was partly due to the two great people who sang in it, Crosby and Kelly. It's possible as well that this song gained a boost from the media attention surrounding Kelly's royal wedding.

There is some rather diverse and skilled drunk acting in High Society. Kelly gives us a happy drunk, pleasantly swinging around, loving everyone and everything and generally having a brilliant time. Sinatra presents a slightly klumsy Mike slurring his text and some of the lyrics in "Well, did you ever?". All of this late night drinking inevitably leads to the next morning. I love the idea of following the idle rich, all dressed and primped for a wedding with a terrible hang over yelling at birds to shut up. The missing bits of the night before, the painful sunlight as well as the morning after remedies are all nice touches. 

The DVD has some extra features. It includes a behind the scenes documentary hosted by Celeste Holm, as well as a written text with information about the film that honestly resembles Celeste Holm's narration in the documentary. There is also a clip from the broadcast of the grand gala premiere of the film, radio ads, the trailer for High Society as well as for The Philadelphia Story, and for some reason, a Droopy cartoon. High Society was a box office hit at the time and still stands as a great film full of elegance, wit and memorable songs.