Two Girls and a Sailor

TWO GIRLS AND A SAILOR (1944) is mindless fluff featuring a string of guest stars and musical acts, meant to cheer audiences up while WWII raged on overseas.

In the tradition of many other wartime musicals, the film is almost like sitting through a concert. A simple plot serves as an excuse for a parade of musical numbers that aim to entertain the cinema-goers as much as the in-movie club patrons. It's pure escapism. Throw in some romance, some comedy, and a dash of patriotism and you have a very pleasant movie indeed.

And TWO GIRLS AND A SAILOR is a very pleasant movie. Fluff, yes, but it's fun. June Allyson and Gloria DeHaven play showbiz sisters who sing at a nightclub and entertain servicemen at their apartment. Thanks to the generosity of a mysterious admirer, the girls are able to open their own canteen to put on shows for the men in uniform. But what happens when both sisters start falling for the same guy (Navy sailor Van Johnson)?

Both actresses are charming and do a nice job. Gloria DeHaven is very beautiful, but it is June Allyson as the protective older sister who wins us over. I've never considered myself much of a June Allyson fan, but she certainly was talented and her performance here (singing, dancing, acting, comedy) is great.

Jimmy Durante provides solid comic relief and even sings his hit "Inka Dinka Doo". Van Johnson plays an all-American good guy, a sailor who happens to be a multi-millionaire. Tom Drake is Johnson's rival for DeHaven's affections, an Army sergeant who's really kind of a jerk.

MGM showcases many of its top musical acts throughout the film, including popular trumpeter and bandleader Harry James, the exotic Xavier Cugat Orchestra, jazz vocalist Lena Horne, deadpan singer Virginia O'Brien, the singing Wilde Twins (sisters Lee and Lyn), and piano maestro Jose Iturbi. Even Gracie Allen shows up for a comedic piano number.

Thinly plotted musicals aren't always my thing, but there's something very likable about this production. Allyson, DeHaven, Johnson, Durante, and Henry Stephenson (as Johnson's grandfather) are all great. The musical acts serve as a 1940s time capsule. The story is sweet and innocent. Just sit back and be entertained.

This slight musical comedy from 1944 was a blockbuster of its year. Its one of those Stage door canteen where G.I.s are entertained by hit musicians of their including the popular band and orchestra leader Harry James and Xavier Cugat. The big hit "Young man with a horn" is featured prominently. The songs are lovely and generally feel orchestrated and operatic as this is a Joe Pasternak production. Like a Bruckheimer, a Selznick, a Freed or a Ross Hunter, you know a Pasternak when you see it. That is, slight plots with certain scenes that are written and play better than the whole movie and make you wish they were in another movie. There is usually a love plot involving dueling sisters, mother and daughter, or jealous daughters to their dads. The actresses are pretty and young. The songs, hits of their day but taken out of their time and the situations, they lack the oomph for classic appreciation unlike the movies of Arthur Freed. Take note, there is a dream sequence in this movie that is begging for one of those Freed musical numbers but instead we get Jimmy Durante shenanigans that lifts the weight from the scene. Thorpe, the journeyman director at MGM who made a lot of hits, directs in his usual flat and placid style that gets the job done and not much more. If only Pasternak aimed higher, varied the formula a little, he could have been a champion, not just a contender.

I was nine in 1944, living in Cincinnati during WWII when this movie came to RKO Royal Theatre.I saw it twice then. Later, when we had moved back to Tennessee, I saw it again the Roxy Theatre in Clarksville, Tenn. About 1995 I read that "Two Girls And A Sailor" was released on VHS,I rushed to have my video store order me a copy. Now I have it, and watch it every couple of months. It's almost like being 9 years old again ! (And I'm still mad about June Allyson !)

With the basic plot element taken from Great Expectations, the two girls of the title try throughout most of the Two Girls And A Sailor to figure out what did they do to become the benefactors of such incredible generosity by person or persons unknown.

June Allyson and Gloria DeHaven are the singing Devo Sisters who come from an old vaudeville family and who now sing and dance for money and then after the show hold their own informal cabaret at home. In 1944 there wasn't anything one didn't do for the service men and women.

One night they mention about that they'd really like to get a hold of an old warehouse down the street to open a really swanky nightclub/serviceman's center and the next thing you know there is Donald Meek knocking on their door with a deed in hand, signed over to them by a mysterious benefactor. And after that every time they need to pay a bill for construction, Meek's there with the money.

In between all this are a whole bunch of musical and comedy acts with songs from a variety of sources. Two Girls And A Sailor got an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay and if there's nothing terribly original in taking the plot from Great Expectations, the really creative part of the script was getting all that talent in and not disturbing the story too much.

This wartime musical was MGM's launching pad for Van Johnson where he was given billing over the title. He's the sailor in the title. In fact the film was a showcase for Allyson, DeHaven, and Johnson all of whom were among the newer stars in MGM's shimmering firmament.

The film also featured one of the best of the swing era bands led by Harry James featuring one of the best singers from the Forties, Helen Forrest. Latin American music has periodically invaded mainstream America from the Tango to the Macarena and here it's represented by Xavier Cugat with Carlos Ramirez and Lina Romay doing the vocals. Comedy is supplied in ample measure by both Jimmy Durante and Gracie Allen. Durante had a featured part as an old vaudevillian that the girls remember from their childhood who is actually living in the warehouse they are gifted with. I only wish MGM had the sense to put him and Gracie Allen in a scene together.

Gracie was put in a scene however with Jose Iturbi. Louis B. Mayer always considered himself a bit more highbrow than the other Hollywood moguls, hiring opera and concert performers. Still having Jose Iturbi and his equally talented sister Amparo playing double piano is always a treat in any film.

As for who the benefactor is, the identity shall remain nameless. It's not an escaped convict like in Great Expectations. But take a look at the character names the cast has and remember the times and I think you can figure it out. Actually a mammoth size clue is given almost at the beginning of the film. But see the film for the clue and the identity.

Saw this delightful musical, filled with great performers: James, Durante, Cugat, Iturbi, and many others, when I was eleven while in New York with my mother in 1944, and never saw it again until today 14 Feb, 2006 in TCM... easy going plot, well articulated with good acting, fine music and mainly everlasting songs... All in all, just great fun all the way... the fine start of June Allyson brilliant career...

What a great feeling to live back those far gone days when even though in war, America was united as ever, with natural sorrow and hardships, but full of dreams, commitment, proud of itself, with high hopes for a better world... Made me nostalgic? Yes indeed!