A Film Canon

As a musical adaptation of The Philadelphia Story, High Society translates Tracy Samantha Lord's (Grace Kelly) brittleness into an unwillingness to sing, or be sung to, thereby distinguishing her fiancee George Kittredge (John Lund), who is unable, or unwilling, to sing, from her ex-husband C.K. Dexter-Haven (Bing Crosby), whose artful fusion of speech and song imbues conversation with a relaxed musicality that clarifies its distance from Cukor's frenzied screwball original. Similarly, intrusive reporter Mike Connor's (Frank Sinatra) role as Dexter's romantic surrogate is nicely clarified by their roughly equal division of musical labour, as well as Sinatra's more overt, less conversational, sensuality. That said, the sensual potential of music is fairly pervasive, thanks to the backdrop of the Newport Jazz Festival, personified by Louis Armstrong and his band who, despite being formerly introduced in the memorable "Now You Has Jazz", lurk around the edges of the film, in a largely ambient, atmospheric manner. The result is an unusually tight trajectory of musical numbers, especially those that relate to Tracy - "True Love", "I Love You, Samantha", "You're Sensational" and "Mind If I Make Love To You" - which take on a delightfully cumulative quality, each invoking and being inflected through the number that has preceded it, as she gradually discards her supposedly repellent, unwomanly attributes.