Du burlesque à l'opéra

Nice turn of the century film where Kathryn Grayson comes to N.Y. to sing in a joint. Her presence there threatens a scandal in her native Boston as her uncle is the Republican candidate for mayor of the town.

He comes with his wife to investigate and the fun starts. June Allyson is her sister and Jimmy Durante, the owner of the place where Grayson is singing. To save Grayson, Durante arranges for her to sing at the opera with the established Lauritz Melchior.

Peter Lawford, falls for Allyson but thinks that Grayson is having an affair with his father.

The picture becomes funny at times but needed technicolor to brighten it up.

Ben Blue is funny as a drunken waiter and Melchior shows some comedic gift here.

A pleasant film capturing the turn of the century musical traditions in America.

A huge hit for MGM and Kathryn Grayson, the black-and-white film features a lot of classical music, Liszt and Wagner among others, with Jimmy Durante for comic relief. The always fresh-as-a-daisy June Allyson plays the other sister and balances Grayson's rebellious side, as she defies her puritanical family and shows her limbs on a turn-of-the-century vaudeville stage. Grayson has never been funnier than when she is disrupting the opera sequence from "Lohengrin" as the great Lauritz Melchior fumes his way through the aria. Musicals of this period may not be profound, but they are still a lot of fun to watch, especially when Melchior's dog hears "his master's voice" in a recreation of the earliest recording session. --from Musicals on the Silver Screen, American Library Association, 2013

Two Sisters From Boston is one of those comedies that will probably have less and less appeal since the coming generations might not know about the peculiar foibles of Boston, that were still operating in some quarters in 1946. The story is set at the turn of the last century in the time of what could be labeled George Apley's Boston.

Scandal is about to break when it is discovered that one of the Chandler sisters, Kathryn Grayson, is discovered to be the notorious High C Susie who headlines at a Bowery nightclub. The explanation is real simple, Kathryn's uncle Harry Hayden has been real stingy even though he's financing her voice lessons, the money for living just isn't there, so Kathryn is singing for her supper. In most places even in 1900 that would raise no problems, but not in Boston where coincidentally enough Hayden's running for mayor.

In rushes the other Chandler sister, June Allyson, to help save the family honor. In the process her little schemes manage to involve the family with Peter Lawford and his parents who are opera patrons, tenor Lauritz Melchior and Bowery theater entertainer Jimmy Durante. This film must have been a bit of nostalgia for Durante, it was at clubs like these where High C Susie headlines that Durante got his start during this same period.

Peter Lawford plays his part like a young George Apley in training. It might have been interesting casting if instead of Thurston Hall to play his part they could have gotten Ronald Colman albeit for a small role.

Both Grayson and Allyson get show their respective styles as singers and Lauritz Melchior is fine as the egotistical Wagnerian tenor. His was a limited casting potential so Melchior only made a few films over at MGM. The score written by Sammy Fain and Ralph Freed provided no big hits, but managed to accommodate Grayson, Allyson, Melchior, and Durante an eclectic group of singers if there ever was one.

Enjoy Two Sisters From Boston while you can while jokes about Boston's puritanical standards are still understood.

Reviewing this film during its first run (for the New York Times), Bosley Crowther called it "joyous, melodic and romantic". That is a fair assessment.

All the actors feel like they are in their element, and they deliver very enjoyable performances that make this an extremely entertaining film.

The story is about a young woman, Abigail Chandler (Kathryn Grayson), from an upper class Boston family who works in burlesque, though her family believes she performs in opera. Miss Grayson, who is both beautiful and talented, gets to perform with two MGM stars and she makes the most of it. Not surprisingly, they pair her with opera tenor Lauritz Melchior, and they are great together. She also performs some burlesque numbers with Jimmy Durante. It is an unexpected joy to see and hear her perform these very non-operatic songs alongside The Schnoz.

Her sister, Martha, is played by June Allyson. She is paired romantically with Peter Lawford, who plays a young man from an upper crust family. He is perfectly suited to the role of an earnest traditionalist.

The main story of the film holds everything together, but the musical performances are most of the best scenes. I plan to rewatch this film in the future.

Here's a film that's a pleasure to view and hear. All departments work together, as does the talented cast, to make this a fun-filled experience.

Jimmy Durante ties the various comedic elements together with spunk and verve. Katheryn Grayson sings her operatic selections beautifully, yet it's her skill in the honky-tonk numbers that surprises and delights. Likewise June Allyson works smoothly on several levels, as does Peter Lawford.

The musical team has skillfully crafted operatic arias and montages for Lauriz Melchoir that shows off his glorious heldentenor marvelously. The entire production is fun-filled and thoroughly pleasant. It may seem like a modest effort, but there's a lot of solid craftsmanship at its core.