My Sister Eileen

I'm not sure what the story was with Harry Cohn and this film. Back in the early Forties My Sister Eileen was a big comedy hit for Columbia Pictures starring Rosalind Russell and Janet Blair about the two sisters from Ohio moving to Greenwich Village. So Cohn in fact did own the screen rights.

My Sister Eileen moved to Broadway in the early Fifties with Rosalind Russell repeating her role on stage in a musical adaption renamed Wonderful Town. Leonard Bernstein and Betty Comden and Adolph Green wrote a fine musical score.

So what does Harry Cohn do, he decides to remake My Sister Eileen, but does he shell out any money to Bernstein, Comden and Green for their songs. He does not and pays Jule Styne and Leo Robin to write yet another score. It was one of the weakest scores these two worthy song writers were ever associated. In fact it keeps this version of My Sister Eileen from being a great film.

Still it's not a bad one with Betty Garrett and Janet Leigh stepping nicely into the roles created by Russell and Blair. As before and as on stage the film is about the Sherwood sisters from Ohio, sensible and witty older sister Garrett and pretty Janet Leigh with a nice pair of weapons of mass destruction. Men just fall over themselves trying to do for her, two of them in this film are dueling dancers Tommy Rall and Bob Fosse.

Jack Lemmon has one of his early roles in My Sister Eileen as a publisher who is interested in both Betty Garrett who is an aspiring writer and the one story that he's interested in is the one she's written about her sister Eileen.

Garrett retains all the witty bite of Rosalind Russell and Leigh is guaranteed to get the hormones racing of the male population. My Sister Eileen misses being a great film because of the mediocre songs, but fans of the players shouldn't miss it. Look also for a great performance by Kurt Kaszner as the Sherwood sisters Bohemian landlord.

I had heard that this second musical version of "My Sister Eileen" (the first being the Broadway show "Wonderful Town") was very underrated. Well, it's not.

Columbia Pictures owned the movie musical rights to "Eileen" and when Leonard Bernstein wanted too much money for "Wonderful Town", Columbia passed on adapting the Broadway hit, and created its own musical film adaptation. Unfortunately, this version isn't just inferior to "Wonderful Town" - the score and script are truly mediocre in their own right. The songs are all forgettable, which is surprising given that the composer is the great Jule Styne who went on to write "Gypsy" and other shows. Either he and lyricist Leo Robin had very little time to write the score or inspiration took a vacation.

The two saving graces in this film are Betty Garrett, who plays the more tomboyish Ruth. Unlike Rosalind Russell who played Ruth both in the non-musical film and in "Wonderful Town," Garrett can really sing and she's less self-conscious about being the center of attraction - she's much more natural in the role.

The other occasional grace is Bob Fosse's choreography. In some numbers, especially one dancing "duel" between him and the terrific Tommy Rall, the film comes alive. Unfortunately, some of the other dances - particularly the climactic "Conga" sequence, fall flat, perhaps due more to director Quine than Fosse.

Janet Leigh plays Eileen and she's very charming, though not quite the kind of looker who would have men literally at her feet all the time. She sings fairly well, and dances rather better. And since she's top billed, the script gives her character more emphasis than the original play. Jack Lemmon plays a publisher on whom Ruth has a crush; Lemmon is good, though his one song is far from a highlight - he's no singer.

It's a pity that Columbia and Bernstein didn't see eye to financial eye - it would have been great to see Garrett do "Wonderful Town," though Leigh and Lemmon would never be able to handle their parts in that score.

"My Sister Eileen" has two great stars -- Bob Fosse and Betty Garrett -- stealing the show from two who turned out to be bigger stars -- Jack Lemmon and Janet Leigh. The story is pretty elementary and certainly predictable, but that doesn't matter. What makes this movie special is Garrett's incredible comic delivery (with and without the Brazilian navy!) and Fosse's fabulous choreography. When he and Tommy Rall challenge each other while waiting outside Eileen's "audition," you'll feel like you're in heaven.

The first time Fosse was given the job of choreography for an entire movie, he came up with "The Competition Dance", a terrific number for himself and Tommy Rall. But the movie should have made a star out of Betty Garrett. Who knows, if MGM had made the film it probably would have. The score, by the way, is far better than that of "Wonderful Town", the stage version that Columbia wanted to film until the producers asked too much for it. Rent it, buy it, enjoy it. By the way, there is a soundtrack recording, but you'll have to spend weeks tracking it down. It may be worth it just to hear Jack Lemmon's take on "It's Bigger Than Both of Us".

"On the Town"'s Betty Garrett and Janet Leigh play two sisters looking for romance from their slightly seedy flat on the wrong part of town.

Eileen (Leigh) is the pretty one who has all the attention, while her sister waits quietly for her talents and charms to be appreciated. In the cast are Jack Lemmon, Bob Fosse, and Tommy Rall (so some excellent dancing going on here).

There are a number of OTT moments, not least the all-inclusive conga number near the end, but this musical version of a 40s classic manages to add something new and showcase the talents of its cast well.