TCM is running a mini-feature of programming for Louis Armstrong tomorrow afternoon, starting off with one of those movies that I've seen show up on TCM a bunch of times but have never before gotten around to watching, until the last time it showed up so that I could record it. That movie is High Society, tomorrow (May 8) at 2:30 PM.
If for some reason you don't know what High Society is about, it's a remake, with several songs added, of The Philadelphia Story. Grace Kelly takes on the Katharine Hepburn role of Tracy Lord. She's a society daughter, but one who's extremely high maintenance. She was married to C.K. Dexter-Haven, played here by Bing Crosby. That marriage ended some time in the past, and as the movie opens it's the day before Tracy is about to get remarried, to George Kittredge (John Lund, appropriately wooden in the role).
One way in which High Society diverges from The Philadelphia Story is that C.K. is a dilettante musician, living next door to the Lords in another big mansion in Newport, RI. Newport was and I think still is home to a big jazz festival, which is what enables C.K. to put up Louis Armstrong and have Armstrong be a part of the cast. Armstrong serves no real plot purpose, other than to sing a sort of prologue and epilogue, as well as his band to do a musical number at a party the Lords have the night before the wedding.
Tracy's father Seth (Sidney Blackmer) is having an affair with a chorus girl, and one of the gossip mags not only knows about it but is planning on doing a story on it. So Tracy's unvle Willie (Louis Calhern) imposes on the magazine not to run that story, in exchange for getting an exclusive about Tracy's upcoming wedding. To that end, the magazine sends a writer, Mike Connor (Frank Sinatra) and a photographer who's in love with him although he doesn't realize it, Elizabeth Imbrie (Celeste Holm).
C.K., living right next door to the Lords, is able to crash the place, much to the consternation of Tracy although not to her kid sister, who has always loved C.K. and is the one person who really understands that C.K. is the one man who really is right for Tracy. Tracy also gets tipsy the night before the wedding and goes off to the pool with Mike, but theirs is a relationship that could never last.
For fairly obvious reasons High Society is always going to be compared to The Philadelphia Story. Unfortunately, High Society never quite hits the heights of The Philadelphia Story, which I think is largely due to the casting. Katharine Hepburn's reputation as box office poision, which was shattered by The Philadelphia Story, imbues her Tracy Lord with something that makes you want to see her get her comeuppance; Grace Kelly never had that sort of screen persona. Likewise, Bing Crosby feels too old for the Dexter-Haven part; he was born before Cary Grant in real life but essaying the asame role 16 years later. Sinatra isn't bad but doesn't really sparkle; the only one who does is Celeste Holm who looks like she's having the time of her life getting to do comedy.
High Society isn't exactly bad; it's more that it's burdened by being a remake of an all-time classic.
No comments:
Post a Comment