Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: High Society (1956) - Diminished returns in glamorous MGM remake

2/15/2022

High Society (1956) - Diminished returns in glamorous MGM remake

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Bright, glamorous and joyous elements invite from this pleasant poster for Charles Walters' High Society

A loaded, beautiful young woman is remarrying a man who is as interesting as an ironing board.

High Society is written by John Patrick (Born Reckless (1937)), based on the 1939 play The Philadelphia Story by Philip Barry (Brights Star (1935)), and directed by Charles Walters (Good News (1947)). It is a remake of The Philadelphia Story (1940).

It is a shallow, almost trite musical comedy with Grace Kelly (High Noon (1952)) as the beauty in question; Bing Crosby (Variety Girl (1947)) as the ex-husband hanging around the palace, and Frank Sinatra (The Joker Is Wild (1957)) as a tabloid journalist, who complicates matters. Everything is quite predictable, and the dialog is not as snappy and funny as one would wish.

On top of that everyone seems to be drunk or hung over in this glamorous fluff about no one being perfect.

Charles Walters: Cimarron (1960) - A fine epic western settler adaptation (co-director)

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 2.8 mil. $

Box office: 8.2 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 2.92 times its cost)

[High Society was released 17 July (USA) and runs 111 minutes. Shooting took place from January - March 1956 in Rhode Island and California, including in Los Angeles. Cole Porter was paid 250k $ for his score for the film, his first in 8 years. The film was the 8th highest-grossing in North America in 1956 with 5.6 mil. $ (68.3 % of the total gross). The Eddie Mannix ledger recounts a profit of 1.1 mil. $. The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Song (True Love by Cole Porter), lost to Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera) by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans from The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Best Score (Musical) (Johnny Green and Saul Chaplin), lost to Alfred Newman and Ken Darby for The King and I. Walters returned with Don't Go Near the Water (1957). Crosby returned in Showdown at Ulcer Gulch (1956, short), The Phil Silvers Show (1957, TV-series) and theatrically in Man on Fire (1957); Sinatra in Johnny Concho (1956); for Kelly High Society was her last film; she retired to marry Prince Rainier of Monaco and be princess there after production finished. High Society is fresh at 82 % with a 7.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of High Society?

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

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Wolfgang Petersen has died

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Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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2/15/2022

High Society (1956) - Diminished returns in glamorous MGM remake

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