Movie of the Week II

This week is a double feature:

The Philadelphia Story (1941) and its musical remake

High Society (1956)

Two different people mentioned High Society to me in the last week--fate! But I couldn't just talk about High Society...had to bring in The Philadelphia Story, too.

So...some background. Philip Barry wrote the play "The Philadelphia Story" with Katherine Hepburn in mind. At the time, she was labelled "box office poison" because her last few films had flopped--including Bringing Up Baby (1938) which might be my very favorite. (Isn't it odd to think of the uber-legendary Katherine Hepburn being an unpopular actress?) Since her film career wasn't going so well, she went back to the stage and starred in the play. She knew she might not get to star in the film version because of her recent movie misfortunes, so to make sure she got the part she bought the film rights to the play and exercised a nice amount of control over the production. Originally, Hepburn wanted Clark Gable to play her ex-husband, and Spencer Tracy to play the reporter, but both were unavailable. (Cary Grant got the husband role and James Stewart the reporter). This film erased Hepburn's reputation as box office poison--it was a popular and critical success. James Stewart won a Best Actor Oscar, and George Cukor was nominated for Best Director, Hepburn for Best Actress, Ruth Hussey for Best Supporting Actress, and the film for Best Picture.

Now for the basic plot. Tracy Lord (Katherine Hepburn then Grace Kelly) is a socialite who is getting married for the second time. She does not get along at all with her first husband (Cary Grant then Bing Crosby) but he still loves her and wants her back. So there is that drama. Tracy's father has left her mother for his mistress, and a tabloid threatens to publish a story complete with pictures about the affair--unless the extremely private Tracy allows a reporter and a photographer to document her wedding for the paper. Tracy's fiance is clearly not right for her, and we know that her first husband is the one she should be with...but it takes a while for things to sort themselves out. Meanwhile, the reporter (James Stewart then Frank Sinatra) starts to fall for Tracy. Everyone wears fabulous clothes, drinks a lot of champagne, dances, and argues attractively. In the musical version they sing, too.

These movies have amazing casts. Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, and the great character actor Roland Young as Uncle Willie--in one movie!

Same with Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra. Celeste Holm and Louis Armstrong also appear and are wonderful. Sidenote: Grace Kelly and Bing Crosby had worked together in 1954's The Country Girl, for which Kelly won a Best Actress Oscar.

I like this publicity still because the dress that Grace Kelly is wearing is a "joke" dress. She only wears it in the movie while she is pretending to be an empty headed and slightly insane spoiled rich girl to play a trick on the reporter and photographer. But they used the costume in a lot of publicity materials.

The films are visually stunning, too. The costumes and sets are fantastic.

Now for a brief comparison between the versions. For lack of a better term, The Philadelphia Story is just more 1930s. It is a little darker and a little deeper than High Society. In The Philadelphia Story there is more discussion of Tracy's "issues" that keep her from being a true "woman" and not a statue made of bronze--her "goddess" complex and her impossibly high standards. She is punished for these qualities and must release them before her happy ending. It is a little unsettling, to be honest. Also, there is talk of her first husband's alcoholism, (for which he blames Tracy), and the newspaper plot is resolved through blackmail. There are some almost cruel moments, though it does not descend too far into seriousness. It is a romantic comedy, after all. But there is some dirt beneath the shimmering black and white.

High Society is more 1950s Technicolor musical. Which I adore, by the way. The alcoholism has vanished and the blackmail scheme is also gone. Tracy still has her goddess complex, but she isn't so humiliated in this movie. I suppose it would be hard for Bing Crosby to sing about alcoholism, or for Frank Sinatra to croon a song of blackmail to Grace Kelly...

Oh, the songs in this movie! Cole Porter, baby. Personal favorites include a semi-sloshed rendition of "Well, Did You Evah?", a duet between Crosby and Sinatra over society gossip, and "Who Wants to Be A Millonaire?" between Sinatra and Celeste Holm as they browse through Tracy's wedding gift rooms. Clever songs with clever lyrics and fabulous singers.

So, to grossly over-simplify, I think that The Philadelphia Story is a more interesting version of the story. But I love both, and I highly recommend both.

High Society has some interesting backstory, especially about Grace Kelly. Elizabeth Taylor was the first choice, though I can't imagine anyone besides Kelly in the role. She was only 26, but it was her last film, as she married Prince Rainier of Monaco right after filming. The movie was actually released after the wedding.

In one scene, Kelly has too much champagne (her significant moment of "letting go" of the perfect goddess image) and her annoying fiance takes her away from the party so she can "rest." She fiddles with her engagement ring--the monstrous emerald cut diamond is her real life engagement ring from the Prince. So that is sort of neat.

Here ends this week's movie suggestion. Hope you enjoyed it!

And aren't you curious about what is happening in this picture?