Grace Kelly: TO CATCH A THIEF, HIGH SOCIETY, THE SWAN
Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra in High Society
Turner Classic Movies‘ Grace Kelly series comes to a close with a screening of the actress’ last three films: Alfred Hitchcock’s comedy-adventure To Catch a Thief (1955), co-starring Cary Grant; Charles Walters‘ musical High Society (1956), a remake of The Philadelphia Story (1940) with Kelly as the woman between Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby; and Charles Vidor’s romantic drama The Swan (1956), in which Kelly has to make up her mind between plebeian Louis Jourdan or blue-blooded Alec Guinness.
I wouldn’t call any of those three films a masterpiece, but both To Catch a Thief and The Swan have their own particular charms. In the former, Grace Kelly is at her most relaxed as a young woman pursuing Cary Grant (who was old enough to be her father) throughout the French Riviera. Kelly has a blast as the predatory female (as moralists, prudes, and the pathologically correct crowd would put it), while Grant is quite funny as her prey. Though not one of Hitchcock’s best, To Catch a Thief is perfectly watchable all the same.
The Swan, Kelly’s last film before leaving Hollywood for Monaco, is a little too stately for its own good. That said, this adaptation of a Ferenc Molnar play boasts the presence of Alec Guinness (right), who’s always worth watching even when not at his best, in addition to Jessie Royce Landis (Kelly’s mother in To Catch a Thief) and Estelle Winwood, who liven things up whenever they’re on screen. As a plus, the production values — cinematography by Joseph Ruttenberg and Robert Surtees; production design by Cedric Gibbons and Randall Duell — are superb.
High Society, like other sacred Hollywood cows such as The Wizard of Oz, the 1959 Ben-Hur, and It’s a Wonderful Life, simply doesn’t do it for me. I find the film’s exuberance as forced as Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby’s "effortless" crooning or Kelly’s stilted imitation of Katharine Hepburn in the original.
I’d have enjoyed this color musical much better had they cast, say, Cary Grant (the star of The Philadelphia Story) and Gary Cooper vying for Kelly’s hand, or William Holden and Glenn Ford, or Tyrone Power and Errol Flynn, or even myriad second-rank leading men, from Steve Cochran to Steve Brodie, regardless of their vocal-chord abilities.
Or better yet: Grace Kelly, Lizabeth Scott, and Rita Hayworth — with Cary Grant in the Celeste Holm role — all under the direction of Luis Buñuel or perhaps Henri-Georges Clouzot, working from a screenplay by Jean-Claude Carrière. Now, that would have been a subversive masterpiece on gender relations and upper-class mores and marriages. And like so many great subversive films of years past, it would have been a total flop upon its release and today it would be all but forgotten.
A curiosity: High Society both was and wasn’t nominated for an Oscar in the best motion picture story category. I mean, High Society did get a nomination, but not this High Society. Enough Academy members — film experts all — voted for the 1955 grade Z Bowery Boys production thinking they were selecting the 1956 grade A MGM musical. Never mind the fact that High Society was a remake of The Philadelphia Story to begin with. But then again, those are the people who two years earlier gave Broken Lance a best motion picture story Oscar even though that was a Westernized remake of the 1949 crime-family drama House of Strangers.
By the way, the Bowery Boys screenwriters, aware that the Academy couldn’t really mean to give them an award, withdrew themselves from the balloting.
And to end this article on a positive note. Best original story or no, Kelly, Crosby, Sinatra, and Holm fans shouldn’t miss High Society on Thanksgiving evening. All others should watch The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie.
Photo: Courtesy of Turner Classic Movies
Schedule and film info from the TCM website:
5:00pm To Catch a Thief (1955)
A retired cat burglar fights to clear himself of a series of Riviera robberies committed in his style.
Cast: Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis, John Williams Dir: Alfred Hitchcock C-106 mins Letterbox7:00pm High Society (1956)
In this musical version of The Philadelphia Story, tabloid reporters invade a society wedding.
Cast: Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Celeste Holm Dir: Charles Walters C-107 mins Letterbox9:00pm Swan, The (1956)
On the eve of her marriage to a prince, a noblewoman falls for her brother’s tutor.
Cast: Grace Kelly, Alec Guinness, Louis Jourdan, Agnes Moorehead Dir: Charles Vidor C-108 mins Letterbox11:00pm Wedding in Monaco (1956)
Exclusive footage captures the wedding of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier.
Cast: Grace Kelly, Prince Rainier of Monaco. Dir: Jean Masson. C-32 mins
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Tags: Alfred Hitchcock, Bing Crosby, Cary Grant, Charles Vidor, Classic Movies, Frank Sinatra, Grace Kelly, High Society, The Swan, To Catch a Thief, Turner Classic Movies
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