Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

DipitySkillful an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

lasttimeisaw A musical treatment of Philip Barry's warhorse play THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, HIGH SOCIETY is ingenuously ensorcelling in its aural and ocular extravaganza and conceivably modest in the sharp- tongued sparring, because when you have two top-drawer crooners at your disposal, plus a showstopper Mr. Louis Armstrong and his band as the icing on the cake, no one would blame director Charles Walters for veering into a different lane from George Cukor's acerbic gender politics, not least because it is Princess of Monaco, Grace Kelly's celluloid swan song, a germane valediction where her glamour and pulchritude would be forever engraved in its apotheosis. The story is a cheesy romp in its vein, on the eve of the wedding between socialite Tracy Samantha Lord (Kelly) and a lower-class but upstanding gentleman George Kittredge (a dead-serious Lund), Tracy's ex-husband C.K. Dexter Haven (Crosby), a jazz musician, feels compelled to woo her back because he still loves her deeply. And the advert of reporter Mike Connor (Sinatra) and photographer Liz Imbrie (Holm) from a tabloid magazine, who are assigned to cover the wedding in exchange of keeping a disgraceful skeleton in their family's closet, arranged by Tracy's uncle Willie (a tricksy Calhern in his curtain call), further muddies the waters while Tracy is deviled by the reminiscence of the happy days (in a yacht called "True Love") in her first marriage and a "made of bronze" reproach from her two-timing father (Blackmer), which is a flea in one's ear. Whereas she is self-aware of her "putting-on-a-pedestal" standing - "I want to be loved, not be worshiped", but facing an embarrassment of riches, can she choose the right husband from the one her heart swoons, the one her mind dictates or the one her soul enchants? Her final say is a safe bet, but here, arguably at her most relaxed and animated, Grace Kelly aptly channels a more ethereal iteration of Katharine Hepburn's Tracy with sheer candor and allure. But ineluctably, a supreme frisson of elation and wonderment is amply purveyed by the music artistes, a smorgasbord of Porter's pop standards and Armstrong's jazzing skiffle, highlighted by a jingle novelty WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE? between Sinatra and a phenomenal Holm, a tipsy Crosby-Sinatra duet WELL, DID YOU EVAH! and a central piece where Crosby introducing Armstrong and co. in the NOW YOU HAS JAZZ improvisation. It is all glitz and pomps, but one feel hard to resist its charm and strains, at bottom, what a menagerie of lollapaloozas to behold and hark, just surrender to it, the quintessential Golden Hollywood nostalgia and pizazz!

kz917-1 This movie hits all the right high notes with Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, and Frank Sinatra starring, singing, & dancing. The icing on the cake is Louis Armstrong musical skills interpreting Cole Porter's soundtrack.The story is a bit of the I think you did something improper the night before our wedding with another man. He said, she said and I think I saw something that I ought not have... Blah, Blah, Blah. But the singing and dancing covers over any irritations.Worth the rental!

Hitchcoc Correct, it is not "Philadelphia Story." No Hepburn. No Grant. But it does have the beautiful Grace Kelly and Bing Crosby at his peak. It is a silly movie with non-stop interactions between characters, people still carrying torches after divorce, and some beautiful Cole Porter songs. One of the most gorgeous songs ever written is "True Love" done as a duet with Crosby and Kelly. She actually sings and the song is just plain pretty, with one of the most touching messages of any song ever written. Of course, everything goes haywire for a while, all the participants running into each other. And in the end it gets worked out.

Catharina_Sweden It is painfully obvious that this musical was only created to somehow get four giants of the era: Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Grace Kelly and Louis Armstrong, together in a palace-like mansion. The story is very thin, the jokes are silly, the ending is altogether predictable, and even the music is mediocre (in relation to the talent we have here, I mean - it is not BAD music).Grace Kelly is over-acting as so often. I have never understood her fame and success, because she was not that very beautiful either - more wholesome (in her image - her reality was another thing) and pretty than gorgeous. Frank Sinatra is wooden as so often - his talent was singing really, not acting, and he did not have the looks of a leading man either. It is difficult for me to have an opinion of Louis Armstrong in this movie, as I simply do not like his sort of music at the best of times.Bing Crosby carries it all, really, as with so many movies and shows that he is in. He has a healthy distance to all the silly things he has to say and do, and the insipid songs he has to sing. He makes his own joke on them, and he is always his easygoing and likable self!