Dolly Sisters

Essentially a more lavish Technicolor remake of the 1940 B&W film "Tin Pan Alley", including two of the stars of the original: John Payne and Betty Grable. Both films have their relative pluses and minuses. I enjoyed the many outlandish costumes of the female stars and of the various extras, a common feature of many 1940s musicals. Grable and June Haver are much more of a sister act than Alice Faye and Grable were in the original, when they mostly performed their own numbers. The troubled on again off again romances, which fill in between musical shows, get awfully tedious, more so than in the original. If Alice Faye had taken Haver's part, as originally planned, it would have been interesting to see if she were again cast as the dominant sister(I doubt it). To me, Faye has more charisma than Haver, but the later makes a more look alike sister for Grable. I really missed Jack Oakie in this one. Frank Latimore was simply not an adequate substitute for Oakie's cheerful comic relief from Payne's serious demeanor. Payne's character is much more of a heel than in the original. That poor foxy woman he led on to believe he cared more for than Grable, left alone in the audience in the final scene, when he was reunited with Grable on the stage!

This colorful musical directed with great style by Irving Cummings is a delightful way to spend some happy moments. This 1945 Fox film presents the life of two sisters that became a sensation in America at the beginning of the last century. The music is the best excuse to watch this happy movie.

We first meet the young Dolly Sisters, Jenny and Rose, as they arrive in America from their native Hungary. The girls are talented and soon, they are delighting the vaudeville circuit with their charm and talent. Their career soared after Harry Fox, who later became Jenny's husband, introduces them to the great Oscar Hammerstein, who sees in the women, an amazing capacity to entertain the public of the era.

As played by Betty Grable and June Haver, the Dolly Sisters are irresistible! The real sisters were not blond, but who could fault the stars with the disarming way they act in the musical? Ms. Grable and Ms. Haver are a sight for sore eyes!

As the man in Jennie's life, John Payne plays Harry Fox convincingly. Mr. Payne projects a virile figure and he is perfect opposite the gorgeous Betty Grable. His composition in the movie, "I'm Always Chasing Rainbow" was written by Harry Carroll and Joseph McCarthy whose inspiration is the Chopin's Fantasy and Impromptu in C Minor and it blends perfectly in the composition and in the subtext of the film. There are also appearances by that charming character actor, S. Z. Sakall, who plays the girl's uncle. Also Reginald Gardiner does good work as the Duke of Breck.

This is a fine musical that will delight fans of the genre.

The real-life Dolly sisters were brunettes but that didn't stop Fox from pairing Bette Grable and June Haver as the famous duo, in addition to fictionalizing their rise to fame in vaudeville and the legit circuit. Nevertheless, this is a typical 1940s charmer of a musical, with the talented John Payne for added appeal and good performances by S. Z. Sakall and Reginald Gardiner. Grable and Haver are seen in a good number of singing and dancing routines and there is even one new song ("I Can't Begin To Tell You") supposedly penned by John Payne. It's all very likeable technicolored entertainment in lavish style. Betty's role is a little more dramatic than usual and she does a good piece of emoting in the final scenes. If you're a Grable fan, you can't afford to miss this one! And she was never better than when she was teamed opposite John Payne--good chemistry and believable sparks.

There may be better film musicals out there than 'The Dolly Sisters', but it succeeds very well as colourful fun with enough to put a smile on one's face and clearly knows what it's trying to be and what to do with it.

A huge part of wanting to see 'The Dolly Sisters' was the cast. With the likes of Betty Grable, June Haver, SZ Sakall, Reginald Gardiner, John Payne, there are some talented people here. Also, foibles and all, there is an immense soft spot had for the "Golden Age Hollywood" musicals, a soft spot that has been lifelong held. A fair few of them are flawed in the story department but many are compensated by the music, production values, atmosphere and performances.

While 'The Dolly Sisters' has more merits than it has flaws, the story (if we are to forget that biographically it's very much fictionalised) is as flimsy and predictable as they come and some of the latter parts meander, such as a finale that could have had more oomph. Frank Latimore fails to pass the "remotely amusing" test and further fails to inject much charm or enthusiasm.

Lastly the black face routine is in pretty embarrassing taste now, with a lot of unsubtle and unfunny black stereotypes that feel out of date and not for the easily offended, with very gaudy make-up.

However, the merits that 'The Dolly Sisters' has are numerous. It looks lovely, with only the costumes and make-up in the black face sequence showing signs of cheapness, elsewhere the film is handsomely mounted and photographed beautifully and with such great use of colour. The songs are tuneful and a very pleasant listen, especially "I Can't Begin to Tell You" (Oscar-nominated and not hard to see why) and "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows". They are mostly staged with the right amount of entertainment and intimacy.

Scripting is suitably zesty, and Irving Cummings directs with much assurance. The story is not perfect but has such a cheery charm, a huge abundance of fun and heart that it is difficult to be too hard on it. Betty Grable and June Haver were tailor-made for their roles, and are endearing joys to watch. John Payne sings beautifully and looks more comfortable than in some of his other films, while SZ Sakall is so cuddly and funny and Reginald Gardiner is amusing.

All in all, colourful and cheery fun. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Betty Grable and June Haver are "The Dolly Sisters" in this 1945 film also starring John Payne, S.Z. Sakall and Reginald Gardner. Grable enjoyed an unparalleled run - 10 years in a row - in the Hollywood top ten box office, from 1941 to 1951, yet when Turner Classic Movies published their Unforgettable Leading Ladies of the Studio Era book, Grable was left out. For anyone who believes - erroneously - that Turner Classic Movies has any interest in film history, she was left out - just as Tyrone Power was left out of the leading men book - because TCM doesn't own their films.

Not realizing that for a huge audience later on, it wouldn't exist, 20th Century Fox spared no expense for this lavish color musical about two real-life Hungarian sisters (actually brunettes) who were big entertainers in the beginning of the century. The story focuses on Jenny Dolly (Grable) primarily and her romance and marriage to Ziegfeld performer Harry Fox (inventor of the "fox trot"), played by John Payne, and how World War I and career separations destroyed their marriage.

Grable and Haver look just like sisters and are marvelous together, wearing gorgeous costumes and looking fabulous and radiant throughout. Both bring a lot of energy to their roles. Payne does a good job as Harry, singing and acting well. A versatile actor, he could not only appear in musicals where he did his own singing, but he did plenty of drama and was also a hunk. He was invaluable to Fox during the war years.

This is a very entertaining film, but it's a shame that a film on the true story of the Dolly Sisters has never been made. Jenny and Fox were divorced in 1921. She was indeed involved in a car accident with an ex-boyfriend in 1933 and had to sell her jewels to pay for many surgeries, but unlike the film, she never really recovered. She never reconciled with Fox and in 1941, she hung herself. Rosie did marry a Chicago businessman; she attempted suicide in 1962, though it failed, and she died in 1970. The two women were huge gamblers, only hinted at in the film, and made a fortune: They won $850,000 in one season at Deauville and one evening in Cannes, Jenny won 4 million francs, which she converted to a collection of jewelry, and then went on to win another 11 million more francs.

I suppose during World War II, no one would have been interested in such a downer, so it's just as well that we have this film, which gives us vibrant entertainment in the best 20th Century Fox tradition.