The Asheville Film Society will screen High Society Tuesday, Jan. 19, at 8 p.m. in Theater Six at The Carolina Asheville, hosted by Xpress movie critic Ken Hanke.
High Society
Movie Information
In Brief: No, this musical version of The Philadelphia Story is not a great film by any means. Charles Walters' direction is at best workmanlike, at worst pedestrian. It has the air of canned theater in many scenes, along with that typical 1950s overlit look of most MGM musicals. But it does combine the talents of Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Grace Kelly, Celeste Holm and Louis Armstrong with some terrific Cole Porter songs. And, when it hews closely to the original play and 1940 screenplay, High Society has much to recommend it. I admit, there's a certain nostalgia value for me since it (or at least its soundtrack album) was my introduction to the movie musical. I don't know if we saw the movie in the theater. It came out in 1956, before I was quite two, and my first memory of the the movie itself is from the 1967 ABC television broadcast. But that album sold me (it still does). In fact, by the time I was four, I had somehow gotten it away from my parents. Seriously, how far wrong can you go with that cast and those Cole Porter songs?
| Score: | |
| Genre: | Musical Comedy |
| Director: | Charles Walters (Easter Parade) |
| Starring: | Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Grace Kelly, Celeste Holm, Louis Armstrong, John Lund |
| Rated: | NR |
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