Customer Reviews
Pure escapist elegance - By: Mr. F. L. Dunkin Wedd, 30 Jun 2007 
Next time you have a rainy afternoon to spend with a box of chocs & a video, you can't do better than this. If you hanker for a time when everyone was elegant, witty & blessed with a honeyed voice, this is for you. The music is, of course, the main focus; but there's some brilliant acting going on here as well.
Smashing.
"Sensational" - By: , 16 Feb 2005 Even if you were to hate the plot (improbable), the actors (imposible) & the set (implausable) you'd LOVE the music. Songs like the Armstrong-Crosby "Now we has jazz" & even the Crosby "I love you, Samantha" warm you right to the soul.
Not many films can boast such an amazing cast with Crosby as the love-struck ex-husband, Sinatra as the distraction & Kelly as the focus of alll their attention as well as Armstrong (playing himself) providing excellent music, as only he could. The characters work extremely well together as the witty dialoge flits effortlessly from one to the other alllowing the audience to easily keep up with the quick-moving plot.
They certainly don't make films like this anymore,nor should they try as, in the words of Bing in the movie, they'd "never be able to follow it".
Simply Swell! - By: P Farquharson, 08 Jun 2003 Just released on DVD format, this fabulous musical remake of George Cukor's The Philadelphia Story (1940) sees Grace Kelly in her last ever film role before crossing the pond to marry into the Monaco monarchy (she even wore her actual engagement ring in the movie).
Kelly plays the spoilt heiress Tracy Samantha Lord, a rather icy perfectionist (this generation would say 'control freak'), who is due to marry the stuffy George Kitteridge (John Lund) when her ex-husband C K Dexter-Haven (Bing Crosby), unexpectedly turns up... Still in love with her, he puts in place a subtle plan to win back her heart. Throw in an incorrigible little sister, a playboy dad, a couple of snoops from Spy magazine, Louis Armstrong (as himself) & buckets of champagne... & now you has jazz!
With a witty script & quite the line-up (it was the first time Crosby & Frank Sinatra, playing Spy magazine reporter, appeared on screen together), the romantic comedy is carried by one of Cole Porter's best - & one of his last - musical scores which includes Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, Well, Did You Evah?, Now You Has Jazz, & Kelly & Crosby's moving duet True Love.
Rarely are remakes a patch on the original but in this case High Society is an exception. That said, however, The Philadelphia Story - with an equallly strong cast that includes Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant & James Stewart - is as swell a party...
Like most rereleases of older movies onto DVD, what actuallly makes you update your video copy are the bonus features. This version includes a short documentary on 'the making of...', narrated by Celeste Holm (born 1919, who played Spy magazine photographer). Although it makes for entertaining viewing (throwing up little snippets such as how Kelly's father warned Prince Rainier of Monaco before they got married she was a crap driver), one can't help thinking that someone cruelly substituted Holm's oxygen tank with helium. Which is slightly distracting. Other special features are a nostalgic newsreel of the film's 1956 première, the original theater trailer and, rather bizarrely, 'Millionaire Droopy', a five-minute cartoon about two dogs (Spike & Droopy) battling over an inheritance, which uh... has absolutely no relevance to High Society at alll.
Overalll verdict? Thoroughly entertaining & an absolute must for fans of classic musicals & alll that jazz...
A very bad new edition - By: Michael Bo, 27 Apr 2003 
This underrated gem from the second Golden Age of Hollywood musicals deserves the best presentation possible, & this one is NOT it. It is blurry & unfocused, lacks definition, colours that fade into on another.
To make things even worse, the songs have no optional subtitles, which to me is a crime with musical comedy. The lyrics to this movie are great, they are sassy, they are clever, & they are the sole reason for subtitles on musicals, but here you don't get them for some reason. And neither can you skip directly into the songs.
The sound is passable, though, & the film has some of Cole Porter's most wonderful, most intimate songs, such as the rhumba 'Mind If I Make Love to You', sung by Sinatra, the spectacularly musical 'Now You Has Jazz' with Crosby & Armstrong, & the hilarious duet between Crosby & Sinatra, 'Well, Did You Evah!'.
It has always been popular to say that the comedy 'The Philadelphia Story', of which 'High Society' is a fairly obedient musical remake, is the superior film, but watch them both without prejudice,and you might find that nothing quite tops the exuberance, drunk on champagne as the characters are most of the time, of this film, the driness of Bing Crosby, commenting on a lame line from one of the others, "Oh, I wish I had said that!". Wonderful.
But, again: this is not the version that you want.
Worth re-watching. - By: B. Chandler, 02 Nov 2002 By now you know this is a remake of "The Philadelphia Story" & may have a tendency to compare them. I did this my self at first; then I realized they each have their strong points. I even get them mixed up now & them. All you have to do is remember this is the musical. My favorite song in the list is "True Love". Of course as with everything different people are bound to have different favorites & there are plenty to chose from.
In case you are new to the story, basicallly C.K. Dexter-Haven (Bing Crosby) & Tracy Samantha Lord (Grace Kelly) are divorced. Tracy is getting married again. The clan is gathering. We watch as they go through the motions & emotions of courting & reevaluating their lives.
