The Philadelphia Story - 1940 - And high society - 1956 - The classical review

#MGM Theme# [Lion Roars] #The Philadelphia Story Into# #High Society Intro# ‘The Comedy of Remarriage’ is a cinematic trope brought about by the Hays Code; the rules of moral decency self-imposed on the film industry from the 1930s to the late 60s. Following the code meant that the film industry could avoid outside censorship and police itself- although some of the rules were rather odd and finding ways around them became commonplace. According to the code not even married couples were allowed to be seen sharing a bed... ...and so began the trend for twin beds on screen- or separate bedrooms altogether! A man and woman could also not be seen lying horizontally together… so cheeky directors would arrange a couple snuggling on a sofa but make sure he kept one foot on the ground. Because, of course, nothing scandalous could ever happen with one foot on the ground! Infidelity of any kind was strictly forbidden, however you were allowed to knock your wife over... just as long as you did it with an open hand. So, how better to create that delicious tension between a firey couple that is the staple of the screwball comedy classic? Why, have them divorced, fighting, flirting and then remarried! Tracy: If you'd just face the facts squarely, as I did... Mrs Lord: We both might face the fact that neither of us have proved to be a very great success as a wife. Tracy: We just picked the wrong first husbands, that's all. Despite my parents still being married for over 25 years and my grandparents reaching 60 years together, I adore the frisson of the temporary divorce. From Hildy and Walter in His Girl Friday to Jordan and Dr. *** in Scrubs, I’m often drawn to these pairings- as are a large majority of the cinematic audience, obviously, as it has proved both so very popular and so very profitable! Tracy: Oh Dexter, are you sure...? Dexter: No, but I'll risk it if you will. -You're not just doing it to save my face? -You're not just doing it to save my face? - But it's such a nice old face... They know each other’s worst secrets and could destroy each other completely but hold back out of love. First love is fleeting but if it’s deep enough to return to then it really must be something… And I am a big romantic, waxing lyrical! Um... The films! Tracy: I want them out and you too! Dexter: Yes, yes, your majesty... But first, can I interest you in some small blackmail? Tracy: No. ] I am a fan of both The Philadelphia Story and its musical update High Society. There are many articles and reviews comparing the two but I think that it isn’t necessary to put one above the other- to say that one is more enjoyable. But, the story is essentially the same so I thought to recommend them both in one review. The presentations are what is different: one is a funny, black-and-white screwball with Katharine Hepburn being quirky and whip-smart against Cary Grant’s mile-a-minute reluctant revenge; The other is a glamourous, Technicolour marvel with an emphasis on star turns and the divinely elegant Grace Kelly being wooed by the all singing-all-dancing Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. Critics generally plump for Hepburn’s Tracy Lord, a socialite on the eve of her second wedding caught between a man of every class, but I think they both bring something to the role: Dinah: Tracy...! Tracy: Hello... Uhm... isn't it a fine day though... Is everybody fine...? That's fine. Uncle Willie: My boy, this is the sort of day history teaches us is better spent in bed...! (Overly cheery) Tracy: Hello everybody! Isn't it a fine day though...? Is everybody fine...? That's fine...! (disappointed) Oh. In The Philadelphia Story Tracy has divorced her social equal, Dexter, because he failed to live up to her exacting standards- although he blames her for exacerbating his alcoholism! Another essential of the trope is the exceedingly dull fiancé, who stands in the way, and Tracy has one of her own in the form of George, an up-and-coming self-made man who has yet to discover a personality. George: I don't get it... when I was a coal miner the idea was to get enough money to buy clean clothes, but now that I'm General Manager- say, Dinah, anything in there about the wedding? Tracy: What do you mean? - Well, I thought, maybe... you being one of the oldest families in Philadelphia and my getting fairly important myself it's- it's luck of course but I- what's the matter? Tracy’s father is unfortunately a bit of a cad- which explains an awful lot about her taste in men- and has seemingly left her mother for an inappropriately young dancer. A dastardly magazine editor is all set to print the scandal when Dexter steps in and suggests a friendly bit of blackmail; Tracy must agree to have her wedding covered by the gossip magazine in exchange for them burying her father’s indiscretions. I'm not sure whether that's nice of Dexter... or really mean! But it's a little like… I’m trying to think of a very private celebrity… Tom Cruise…? Were there pictures of Tom Cruise's wedding…? Regardless, pretend there weren’t. But ‘OK!’ magazine have pictures of Cruise doing something incredibly naughty and will trade for the inside scoop on his wedding. Dexter brings a photographer and a journalist, who just happens to be James Stewart, along with him and so Tracy’s working class suitor joins the fray. Tracy: These stories are beautiful... Why Conner, they're almost poetry! Mike Conner: Don't kid yourself; they are. - Can't make you out at all now... - I thought I was easy. - So did I, but you're not... You- you talk so big and tough... and then you write like this. The Philadelphia Story is much darker than High Society, not just in looks but in tone. Granted, things are certainly more opulent in the remake- this is Grace Kelly’s final film before she became the Princess of Monaco and she wears her real engagement ring- the tone is also decidedly brighter. #Who Wants To Be A Millionaire# Whilst, on the eve of the wedding in both films, her father lectures Tracy for having destroyed her parents’ marriage by not showing him enough affection... A hideous comment if ever there was one! ...in High Society it is reiterated with an ironic tone- for whom could ever not want the warmth of the lovely Grace Kelly? Uncle Willie also has less of a penchant for pinching girls’ bottoms: Uncle Willie: I'm a wicked old man! and there is very little talk of alcoholism or domestic abuse in Dexter and Tracy’s past. Rather, it just seems, they fell out of love… The Tracy Lord in High Society more finds herself accidentally on a pedestal rather than being proud of it the way Hepburn’s Tracy is- seen best in her determined nature, even when she decides to climb down and ‘join humanity’. The Philadelphia Story began as a semi-satirical play, written by playwright Philip Barry, and born from Katherine Hepburn’s unpopular public image at the time. She was seen as something of an ice queen and had left RKO, her previous studio, on bad terms. For a time she was considered ‘box office poison’ and Barry wanted to tempt her back onto the stage to give Hollywood a chance to calm down... and so she could redeem herself after terrible reviews for her previous Broadway play ‘The Lake’. It worked; the critically acclaimed play ran for over a year and made a million dollars at the box office before going on tour. It was not, therefore, too hard to convince MGM to turn the play into a film and it was shot in just eight weeks. Dexter: Now take Tracy for example; never a blow that hasn't been softened for her, never a blow that won't be softened. It’s easy to see from the film why The Philadelphia Story made such a great production on stage. 'Stage.' It may be the fault of the director, editor or studio- because goodness knows it isn’t the cast!- but the film looses its momentum in the more serious middle section. The snappy pace of acid tongues keeps the first and last thirds zinging but the deeply figurative scrutiny of Tracy’s stone-like character- quite obviously Hepburn’s- in the middle, seems as if it has been accidentally chopped in from a different film. It’s brilliantly acted and scripted, just out of place. It’s also very interesting to note the number of references to Tracy’s continued virginity, despite her marriage to Dexter. A subject that is under no doubt whatsoever in High Society! #True Love# Here we see the Original Couple in love, and very much so, aiding the audience in their longing for a reunion. Dexter is also the first main character we see on screen and much easier to identify with. Tracy left him because he sold a song he had written about her, rather than throwing him out for drunkenly hitting her back. ‘Mike the reporter’ is also much less of a threat in High Society, despite being played by Sinatra and having possibly more screen time than Stewart (who won an Oscar for his role). #Well, Did You Evah!# Sinatra/Mike: #don't dig that kind of crooning, chum!# Cosby/Dexter: You must be one of the newer fellas. The original Mike connects with Tracy through a book he has written whilst the later one goes for a drive with her as an excuse to slot into the film a strange soliloquy about how horrible taxes are for the rich. In an age of the Occupy protest it really does seem awfully strange to watch a princess complain about taxes… Do royalty even pay taxes? Surely they don’t? Another rather ‘meta’ aspect of the second film is Louis Armstrong’s narrator, who fabulously breaks the fourth wall with aplomb and keeps the pace jumping. Armstrong: What goes on here? There's a dark horse in this here race and my boy is running a slow third! What we need is a little 'change of pace' music, Junior. Aside from the creepily perfect casting of the younger sister- whose name is changed, though that that’s neither here nor there… aside from the perfect recasting of the younger sister, the films are so dissimilar in tone that I find I enjoy them most in entirely different moods. When I want to watch The Philadelphia Story I’m not in the mood for High Society and vice versa. High Society is one of my ‘ill films’ actually- the ones you watch tucked up with a bowl of soup. I accidentally watched Million Dollar Baby through a fog of flu and have never quite recovered… I would therefore advise that if on watching these films (which of course you’re now going to do), you find that one doesn’t suit you, I suggest you wait a while. Try it again in a different mood and enjoy how utterly fabulous they both are! Mrs. Lord: Dinah. Dinah: I can tell there's something in the air because I'm being taken away... #Well, Did You Evah!# Tracy: the time to make up your mind about people... is never.