Despite her retirement from Hollywood at age 26 to become the Princess of Monaco, Grace Kelly was ranked the 13th greatest female film star by the American Film Institute.
Because she retired so young, her public image was frozen as a young, beautiful woman and her marriage into royalty created a unique mystique among American celebrities. Add a tragic and unexpected death, and you have a recipe for a legendary career.
This is my ranked list of her films.
7) High Society (1956)
Successful jazz musician C.K. Dexter Haven (Bing Crosby) remains enamored with his ex-wife, socialite Tracy Lord (Grace Kelly), but she is about to marry George Kittredge. To complicate things even further, she develops feelings for Mike Connor (Frank Sinatra) a tabloid newspaper reporter covering her wedding.
This musical film is based on Phillip Barry’s 1939 play, The Philadelphia Story, which was adapted into a far superior 1940 non-musical film.
A romantic love triangle is one thing, but a “romantic rectangle” rarely works because the person in the middle comes across as hopelessly indecisive, and a two-hour movie is not enough time to develop three independent relationships. Katherine Hepburn, James Stewart, and Cary Grant pulled it off, but this movie could not.
It’s fascinating to watch Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra share a screen and feels like a passing of the torch, although Bing was allegedly icy to Frank during the film’s production.
It’s a noble attempt, which boasts some fun Cole Porter music and a cool cameo by Louis Armstrong and his band, but ultimately it falls flat.
6) Mogambo (1953)
Eloise “Honey Bear” Kelly (Ava Gardner) travels to a remote African outpost to meet her friend, but he doesn’t show up. While she waits for the next boat to return home, she meets big-game hunter Victor Marswell (Clark Gable) and married couple Donald and Linda Nordley (Grace Kelly). Both Linda and Honey Bear immediately fall in love with the charismatic Marswell.
Marswell is attracted to Linda, but when he realizes how much Don loves her, has a change of heart and concocts a plan to make her hate him with Honey Bear’s help.
Kelly does a fine job with what she’s given, but with no indication her marriage to Donald is unhappy, it’s difficult to understand why Linda falls for Marswell. We can only assume she was willing to throw away her marriage because he’s so unbelievably attractive.
John Ford directed a lot of good movies, but this remake of Red Dust (1932), also starring Gable, is not one of them.
5) To Catch a Thief (1955)
Former burglar John Robie (Cary Grant) comes out of retirement to clear his name when a copycat goes on a spree in the French Riviera.
He befriends wealthy socialite Jesse Stevens and her daughter Frances (Grace Kelly) anticipating they will be the next victims and exposes the real culprit, his friend and former associate Bertani with the help of his daughter Danielle.
Cary Grant is at his most charming as the unapologetic Robie who is nonetheless indignant anyone wouldn’t take him at his word he’s turned a new leaf.
The film sets up a false expectation Frances is involved in the crime, and much of its pleasure derives from defying those expectations. While Kelly is engaging in her final film with Alfred Hitchcock, it’s not the best pairing of the two legends.
4) High Noon (1952)
On the day Will Kane (Gary Cooper) retires as marshal of Hadleyville in the New Mexico Territory, he leans Frank Miller, a notorious criminal he arrested, was pardoned on a technicality and will arrive in town on the noon train to extract his revenge.
Kane stays in town to confront Miller despite the objections of his new Quaker wife Amy Fowler (Grace Kelly). After unsuccessfully asking the townspeople for help, including his former deputy (Lloyd Bridges), he confronts Miller and his gang alone. Kane would have been killed, but his pacifist wife arrives in time to shoot one of the gang members and provide Kane with an opportunity to kill Miller.
The film is often seen as an allegory for the House Un-American Activities Committee, but this beautiful and honest film is more than a political allegory, brilliantly demonstrating how lonely doing the right thing can be. Everyone knows Kane is right, and everyone wants to believe they would make a similar choice, but most of us would hide or run, but a great man does the right thing in spite of seemingly insurmountable odds.
3) Rear Window (1954)
After breaking his leg, professional photographer L.B. Jeffries (James Stewart) is confined to his apartment and spends his days spying on his neighbors out the back window. Observing their lives, he develops backstories for them; a dancer becomes “Miss Torso,” a solitary woman is renamed “Miss Lonelyheart.”
One night, Jeffries hears a woman scream and seeing Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr) behave suspiciously, is convinced he murdered his bedridden wife. To prove his suspicions, Jeffries employs his much younger girlfriend, Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelley), and home-care nurse Stella (Thelma Ritter). As they become his eyes ears, and legs, their danger becomes a vicarious thrill for him, until the investigation ends in a chilling confrontation.
Kelly doesn’t have a lot to do here but look pretty, but Stewart is excellent playing against his wholesome public persona as a sexually repressed voyeur.
The simple premise is augmented by some of Hitchcock’s most impressive cinematography. The camera sweeps from apartment to apartment like Fred Astaire, which obfuscates the invasion of privacy committed by Jeffries.
This is a brilliant movie about voyeurism and the way we create narratives to make sense of the world.
2) The Country Girl (1954)
Despite opposition from the show’s producer, director Bernie Dodd (William Holden) casts fading star Frank Elgin (Bing Crosby) in his new musical. Dodd believes Elgin’s recent career slide is because of his wife, Georgie (Grace Kelly) but, since the death of their young son, Elgin has become an unreliable alcoholic.
As Dodd realizes the truth, and the extent of Georgie’s patient, loving support, he falls in love with her. After the show is a success, Dodd assumes Georgie will leave her husband and begin a life with him, but the faithful, long-suffering Georgie stays with her husband.
Any movie with William Holden is guaranteed to be better than average. From Sunset Boulevard (1950), to Sabrina (1954), to Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), to Network (1976), he’s always the coolest guy in the room.
Bing Crosby is a long way from his work as Father Chuck O’Malley and Bob Hope’s sidekick. His willingness to play an unglamorous, washed up alcoholic adds a heightened poignancy to the film.
When Kelly defeated frontrunner Judy Garland for the Academy Award for Best Actress, there was a public outcry. Garland’s work as Esther Blodgett is one of the highlights of her incredible career, but this is a slightly better film, and Kelly’s work in it has been unfairly maligned because she defeated a sentimental favorite.
This is a beautiful film with much to say about grieving and loyalty. It’s one of the few films to demonstrate how difficult “happily every after” can be, portraying marriage as a grueling chore with no promise of anything but pain and misery. However, Georgie believes it’s worth the effort because for better or for worse means something to her, and despite her feelings for Dodd, she cannot abandon her vow.
1) Dial M for Murder (1954)
When Tony Wendice (Ray Milland) discovers his wife Margot (Grace Kelly) is having an affair, he plots to have her killed.
Ray Milland won an Oscar for his work in The Lost Weekend (1945), but his career is best understood as a slightly more celebrated version of Ronald Reagan.
In one of her most astounding roles, Kelly transforms an adulterous, duplicitous woman into a sympathetic victim. On paper, we shouldn’t like Margot, but we do because of Kelly’s vulnerability.
Based on a play, this film’s claustrophobic production design adds another layer of tension.
I love this film because it is the purest Hitchcock: a betrayal, an intricate plan, a murder, and a beautiful blonde. It’s certainly not profound and doesn’t offer any insight into the human condition, but these are not the prerequisites of greatness, sometimes being a well constructed thriller from one of the greatest directors is enough.