The Hendersonville Film Society will show High Society on Sunday, June 4, at 2 p.m. in the Smoky Mountain Theater at Lake Pointe Landing Retirement Community, 333 Thompson St., Hendersonville.
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? This excerpt was taken from a review by Ken Hanke originally published on Jan. 12, 2016.
| Score: | |
| Genre: | Musical Comedy |
| Director: | Charles Walters |
| Starring: | Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Grace Kelly, Celeste Holm, Louis Armstrong, John Lund |
| Rated: | NR |
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