My Sister Eileen (1955)

To me, this movie is perfection.

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Everybody seems to be dissing the Jule Styne-Leo Robin score to this friendly little 1955 widescreen musical, so let me put in a word for it. True, Columbia might have had an even better movie had it shelled out for the Bernstein-Comden-Green "Wonderful Town" Broadway score. But this one works just fine. It's tuneful, witty, and to the point, and it gives the great Betty Garrett (a replacement for Judy Holliday, whom Harry Cohn originally cast, but she was trying to be seen as less of a plain-Jane) several wonderful opportunities. Her comic timing's expert, she has a natural warmth, and it's easy to buy her as the overlooked sister of the well-cast Janet Leigh. Columbia, trying Jack Lemmon out in a number of guises at the time, perhaps shouldn't have cast him as a playboyish editor; it's not a very likable part, and he's not a singer, though he did do two other musicals for the studio around that time. But there's a splendid supporting cast, notably Bob Fosse (also choreographing) and a hideously underused, under-billed Tommy Rall. The Blake Edwards-Richard Quine screenplay preserves most of the best lines from previous versions and adds a few of its own, and the location footage is almost indistinguishable from the backlot work. Most raters have this one right--it's unpretentious, clever, happy, and picturesque. But it may send you out humming, too.

I can't imagine a movie that has been more slandered on this website than "My Sister Eileen"! First of all, invidious comparisons to MGM productions should be flushed down the nearest public facility. Why would Leonard Bernstein/Comden and Green ever want to come near MGM again after what it did to "On The Town"? Wouldn't it be wonderful if they made a movie of "Wonderful Town"? Let's take a look: first of all, MGM casts Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra (or more likely, somebody like Troy Donahue or some other '50's crooner) in the roles of Bob and Frank, respectively. Then the obvious choices for the female roles would be Ann Miller as Ruth and Debbie Reynolds as Eileen, which would mean that most of the songs would be thrown out and replaced with half-arsed imitations by Roger Edens: the great "Conga" number would be replaced with--well, something like the "conga" number in "My Sister Eileen," which, BTW, is a terrific waste of Betty Garrett's talents, but this time, it would feature a lot of high-speed tapping! Gene Kelly wouldn't be right for the "What a Waste" number, so that would be scrapped, and replaced with something more pretentious, with Gene being muscular about magazine editing, and Eileen substituted for Ruth, because there were never two dancers more mismatched than Ann Miller and Gene Kelly. THEN, the Village Vortex numbers (including the "Wrong Note Rag") would have to be scrapped because while Debbie would be great in that number, Ann wouldn't, and neither would Gene; it would be replaced with a "beatnik" specialty starring Gene and Debbie dressed in berets and sweatshirts. Since Gene was to be the male lead, there would have to be a ballet number here, which would have made necessary more additions; perhaps a paste-in of a lesser Gershwin number like the "Second Rhapsody," which would require a giant Gershwin billing at the beginning of the movie--perhaps above the Bernstein/Comden/Green credit. Perhaps this would be the time to stick in a specialty number by some minor French singing star (not Aznavour nor Trenet).By this time, there would be three original numbers left: "Christopher Street," sung by Jules Munshin (or even by Kurt Kasznar!) as Appopolous, "O-hi-o," sung by Debbie and Ann, and "It's Love," sung by Debbie while Gene looks muscular, dancing on various pieces of office furniture. The rest of the score is by Roger Edens. Does this sound far-fetched? Count the Bernstein/Comden/Green numbers in MGM's "On The Town," one of the trashiest renderings of a great musical ever perpetrated on American moviegoers! Compare "on the Town" with the MGM travesty, and ask yourself, "If I were Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden,or Adolf Green, would I want to do this twice?" There is a certain resemblance to the urban courtyard of "Rear Window" to be found in "My Sister Eileen," but this is hardly theft. You might as easily have found it in "The Goldbergs". Yoo-hoo! While "My Sister Eileen" is not Bernstein/Comden/Green, it is also not Styne/Sondheim or Styne/Harnick. Leo Robin, the lyricist, was simply not in the same rank--although he certainly had a workmanlike Hollywood career. Betty Garrett suffered from a hairdo that made her look like a graying Rosemary DeCamp, which detracted from her natural sauciness. Jack Lemmon demonstrates that he could've had a great musical career (try his duets with Judy Holliday, elsewhere); Janet Leigh does what she did so well--being a perky dancer--and Bob Fosse is just what we'd expect him to be--in fact, I like him better as an ingenu. His work is fresh and vibrant.Please don't impose your expectations on this film: it is not an MGM musical (thank God!) and it's not a Hitchcock thriller. It is an ingenuous, unpretentious, delightful Hollywood musical, in the same Columbia tradition that gave us, almost by accident, "You Were Never Lovelier" and "You'll Never Get Rich", and it's a good rendering of the original stories.

Where has this film been all these years? What a completely charming piece of entertainment with a nice score by Jule Styne (Gypsy, Funny Girl, Bells Are Ringing). OK, so it's no Singin' In The Rain or Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. But it's equally as good as a lot of the other lesser MGM musicals of the 1940s and 1950s such as Summer Stock and On The Town. Based on the 1940 play of the same name (Book by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov;) Betty Garrett and Janet Leigh are perfect as the Sherwood sisters. They both shine in their performances. And top it off, the film highlights some wonderful choreography by none other than legendary Bob Fosse. His work is, as it always was, stylish and pure class. The only glitch in the casting is that of Jack Lemon. He tries to be a slick, man-of-the-world New York publisher. But his performance just falls a bit short of his usual standards. And sadly there was very little chemistry between Garrett and Lemon, making the blossoming romance of their characters somewhat hard to believe. Still, even with this small weak link in the chain, overall the film really works.It does seem strange that just the year before this film was released, Broadway produced their own musical version of the original 1940 non-musical version of My Sister Eileen, called Wonderful Town (Music by Leonard Berstein; Lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green). While Wonderful Town wasn't a huge Broadway smash, it did run 559 performances, which was respectable for 1954. With a musical stage version of the play already existing as a part of the world of musical theater, I tend to wonder why Columbia started from scratch with this film and didn't film the Bernstein, Comdon & Green musical. But still, it's nice to know that there are two different musical versions of this charming play to enjoy.

I first saw "My Sister Eileen" years ago as a kid. In the early 90's, I saw the film at a tribute to Betty Garrett at which she was present to answer questions. I found her to be a wonderful person full of humor and warm remembrances of her co-stars and experience in Hollywood. She talked candidly about the blacklist that kept her and husband Larry Parks out of films for several years until she made this film, but did not show any signs of bitterness over the experience. What a wonderful lady!Anyway, the film still holds up 46 years later as a fresh and entertaining remake of the Rosalind Russell film of the 40's which I have yet to see. Russell had done the Broadway musical version, "Wonderful Town", which was also done as a TV special some time during the 50's as well. Since Leonard Bernstein was not willing to let his music go without a huge price, Columbia instead hired Jule Styne to write the music. I have seen the TV version of "Wonderful Town" which is enjoyable, but this film brings the story to life in color and with beautiful location footage of New York's Greenwich Village. Shots of the surrounding area including the famous Washington Square make this a must for lovers of the Big Apple. Having visited Greenwich Village several times in the past couple years, I was amazed by how much it has NOT changed! This aspect alone makes "My Sister Eileen" seem as fresh today as it was during its initial release.As Eileen, Janet Leigh is perky and lovable, but it is Betty Garrett who steals the scene as Ruth with her wonderfully likable personality. The not-so-plain jane, Garrett is a struggling writer who comes to New York from Ohio with her pretty sister (Leigh) whom all the boys go gaga over, making Ruth feel unattractive. Before you know it, Eileen has the attentions of sweet Bob Fosse and scoundral Tommy Rall, while Ruth finds herself attracted to publisher Jack Lemmon. In only his third year in Hollywood films, Lemmon had proved himself to be a versitile actor. This was one of three musical remakes he did at Columbia during the mid 50's. The other two were "Three For the Show" (a remake of "Too Many Husbands") and "You Can't Run Away From It" (a remake of "It Happened One Night"). He sings one song ("It's Bigger Than You or Me"), and doesn't do too badly!Then, there are two other characters who fit into the storyline: shyster landlord Kurt Kasznar, and athlete neighbor Dick York (of "Bewitched" fame). Kasznar, Rall, and Fosse had all appeared together in MGM's "Kiss Me Kate". Rall and Fosse's rival dance shows the potential of the future Broadway legend Fosse who went onto create the dances in such memorable musicals as "Pippin" and "Chicago" (as well as direct several classic musical films). Fosse's creative touch is clearly visible here.The musical highlight is the "Give Me a Band" number with a tipsy Garrett leading Leigh, Rall, and Fosse in a dance number with invisible musical instruments. The other songs are hardly classics, but in this film, that just doesn't matter; the shear magic of New York's Greenwich Village and the wonderful stars make this an all-time classic.In comparing this to "Wonderful Town", I can say listening to the Original Broadway Cast and viewing the video of the TV special, I would like to have seen Bernstein's songs in the film as compared to Jule Styne's. The production number of "Christopher Street" (which is not even mentioned in this film) is ironic considering that 15 years after it was written, Christopher Street would become part of another legend: the Stonewall riots for Gay and Lesbian rights. Then, there are two other production numbers lead by Russell: "Swing" and "Conga", which is done in "My Sister Eileen" as a non-sung dance number. Eileen, as played by Edie Adams, comes off as unknowingly selfish, while Leigh's Eileen is a seemingly goody-goody miss perfect. Russell and Garrett are both perfect as Eileen, and I am glad that Garrett had the chance to play the part which Russell had already done on film the decade before.