Anchors Aweigh / High Society (Frank Sinatra Classics)

HIGH SOCIETY: The rich are generally different. But in matters of the heart, they're just as scatterbrained as the rest of us. Heiress Tracy Lord (Grace Kelly) is engaged to one man (John Lund) attracted to another (Frank Sinatra) and just maybe, in love again with her ex-husband (Bing Crosby) in this effervescent musical reinvention of Philip Barry's play The Philadelphia Story featuring an endlessly delightful Cole Porter score. Among High Society's high points: Sinatra and Celeste Holm ask Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Crosby and Kelly share True Love, Der Bingle and Ol' Blue Eyes swing-swing-swingle Well, Did You Evah? and Crosby and Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong jive with Now You Has Jazz. Yes, indeedy, we has!

ANCHORS AWEIGH: Given free rein in choreographing Anchors Aweigh, Gene Kelly was eager to do the unexpected. But what? "How about doing a dance with a cartoon?" collaborator and friend Stanley Donen asked. How about it indeed. Kelly's live-action fancy footwork with animated Jerry (of Tom and Jerry) remains a milestone of movie fantasy. Frank Sinatra and Kathryn Grayson also headline this wartime tale of two sailors on leave in Hollywood. Sinatra's 'I Fall in Love Too Easily', the exuberant Kelly/Sinatra 'We Hate to Leave' and other highlights helped Anchors Aweigh weigh in with an Academy Award for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture, plus four more Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Actor (Kelly).