DOUBLE BILL! The Philadelphia Story & High Society

Dec 17th
The Philadelphia Story***
US 1940. MGM. 112m. bw

A reclusive socialite about to remarry is tempted away by the arrival of her first husband and a humdrum but passionate gossip magazine journalist.
After a decade of being branded "box office poison", Katharine Hepburn struck gold with this carefully tailoured vehicle (adapted from her own stage success) alongside two eligible but very different leading men; Stewart steals most of the attention, although with Cary Grant around the ultimate outcome is rarely in doubt. Good, sparky entertainment, made with top talent.

Written by: Donald Ogden Stewart, Waldo Salt, from the play by Philip Barry.
Producer: Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
Director: George Cukor.
Starring: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, James Stewart, Ruth Hussey, John Howard, Roland Young, John Halliday, May Nash, Virginia Weidler, Henry Daniell.
Photography: Joseph Ruttenberg.
Music: Franz Waxman.

High Society**
US 1956. MGM. 106m. Vistavision

Enjoyable and lavish but also surprisingly sloppy musical remake, where the plot of the original sits uncomfortably with some of the numbers, and Crosby and Sinatra are miscast in each other's roles. The singers are generally more memorable than their songs.

Written by: John Patrick.
Producer: Sol C. Siegel.
Director: Charles Walters.
Starring: Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Celeste Holm, John Lund, Louis Armstrong and his band, Louis Calhern, Sidney Blackmer, Margalo Gilmore.
Photography: Paul C. Vogel.
Music/Lyrics: Cole Porter.
Musical Direction: Johnny Green, Saul Chaplin.
Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Hans Peters.