High Society (1955)
* 1/2 (out of 4)
After thirty-seven quality films, The Bowery Boys were finally shown respect by their colleges as this film was given an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay. True story. Apparently the Academy meant to give the nomination to the 1956 film HIGH SOCIETY and Bing Crosby and Grace Killy but that didn't happen. The writers of this film kindly turned down the nomination but it's still a funny bit of Oscar history. The "story" has Sach (Huntz Hall) being told that he is the heir to a rich fortune so he heads to the so-called family location where it turns out to be a crooked scheme. It was very kind for the writers to turn down the Oscar-nomination because this here is without question one of the weakest entries in the series. It's a real shame this "joke" couldn't have happened with one of the better films but there's simply no argument that could made to say this issue should have just remained. I think the biggest problem is the screenplay, which just seems to have been rushed. Another problem is that we've seen every cliché here several times before. The mistaken identity, the crooked family members, the dumbness of Sach and Slip and most of the comedy bits are items we've seen before. Another problem is that both Leo Gorcey and Hall appear to know they're working on a dud as neither one of them seem overly interested in their performance. Hall is over-the-top as usual but it's missing any of his typical passion. Gorcey just seems bored out of his mind and don't even get me started on any of the supporting players. Bernard Gorcey even seemed out of it. HIGH SOCIETY is without question one of the weaker entries in the series and the entire Oscar joke is a lot funnier than anything that actually happens in the film.
