High Society (1956 film)
1956 American musical comedy film directed by Charles Walters
High Society is a 1956 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Charles Walters and starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, and Frank Sinatra. The film was produced by Sol C. Siegel for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and shot in VistaVision and Technicolor, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter.
The film is a musical remake of the 1940 screwball comedy film The Philadelphia Story, which was based on the 1939 play The Philadelphia Story by Philip Barry. High Society's screenplay was written by John Patrick and involves a successful popular jazz musician (Crosby) trying to win back the affections of his ex-wife (Kelly), who is preparing to marry another man. The cast also features Celeste Holm, John Lund, and Louis Calhern, in his final film, with a musical contribution by Louis Armstrong. The film was Kelly's last professional appearance before she married Prince Rainier III and became Princess consort of Monaco.
In 2025, High Society was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".
Plot
Successful singer-composer C.K. Dexter Haven is divorced from wealthy Newport, Rhode Island, socialite Tracy Samantha Lord. Dexter, who lives next door to the Lord estate, remains in love with her but she is now engaged to socially prominent and snobbish George Kittredge. As Tracy prepares for her upcoming wedding, Dexter is busily organizing elements of the Newport Jazz Festival.
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Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q719471. VIAF identifies the subject as 295800070. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1956, 1940, 1939 and 2025.
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This entry incorporates text from “High Society (1956 film)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.