Two Sisters from Boston

1946 ""Ladies an' Gents! The most inflammable damsels... the most terrific tenor... the most colossol schnozzle ...ever!""
6.6| 1h52m| NR| en
Details

Abigail Chandler has written her stuffy Boston relatives that she's a successful opera singer in New York. In reality, she works at a burlesque house and is billed as High-C Susie. When her sister Martha comes for a visit, Abigail tries to hide the truth from her.

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Reviews

Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast
Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.
Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.
Allissa .Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
adamshl 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.
jeffhaller125 I saw this movie for the first time about 40 years ago and loved it. It came on TCM today and I was afraid I was going to be disappointed. NOT AT ALL!!! If anything it is even better than I remembered. The script is really tight; no loose ends. Silly? Of course, but what wonderful silliness. And there is some pretty clever humor. Some serious laughs. The songs for it are pretty bad, but how much fun it was when MGM took classical music and used it as opera arias. Melchior is astounding in that the voice is so huge and so sweet and his diction in English, impeccable. Durante is lovable even when he gets a bit annoying. And Grayson really had a beauty that is unlike anyone else's; her singing style is a matter of taste. But as is often the case, June Allyson steals the show just by being herself. Her soubrette number near the end is adorable and in its own way very, very sweet! This is what they used to call a family musical. Thank God for Turner Classic Movies.
JLRMovieReviews Kathryn Grayson is an aspiring opera star and, trying to make it to the top, spends time and makes money in something like a burlesque show. (But, she keeps her clothes on, of course). I believe it's in Chicago. Her family is a prominent one, that's been part of the upper crust in Boston for generations now, which includes sister June Allyson, who is unhappy. When word gets back to the family that their daughter is in with the wrong crowd and not studying and/or performing in opera, they hightail it there and try to get her to leave. That is just the beginning.Costarring Jimmy Durante (who's great), Peter Lawford, and Lauritz Melchior as an opera star, this is a very funny and satisfying film, despite its relatively quiet and under-praised existence in the world of musical comedies. The only complaint I have is that, while Miss Grayson has a beautiful voice, she is never given any particularly great songs to sing, other than in the opera at the end of the movie.And, Miss Allyson has never been funnier. With her trying to be so proper all the time and going back and forth between fainting and being slightly intoxicated and hiccuping, she was hilarious. It seems more like June's movie than Kathryn's. And, there's a misunderstanding about the sisters to boot. If you want to have a good time with June and Kathryn, then this is for you.
daneldorado "Two Sisters from Boston" (1946) is an amusing mix of romance, comedy, and music. MGM's Pasternak unit skillfully hedged its bets by offering opera (Wagner and Liszt are represented, but in English), music hall ribaldry, and plenty of "cheesecake" -- i.e., feminine legs on display.Kathryn Grayson and June Allyson play two Boston sisters from an upright Back Bay family. The family isn't poor, but the paterfamilias (a suitably dour Henry Hayden) is notoriously stingy. One of the sisters -- Abigail, played by Miss Grayson -- is allowed to go to New York to study opera. But her skinflint uncle doesn't give her enough expense money to pay her rent, so Abby takes a part-time job in a Bowery saloon, where she stars as "High C" Susie, singing with Spike (Jimmy Durante) in low-comedy skits.Word gets out, and the outraged Bostonians travel south to New York to check out the rumors for themselves. There, the younger sister Martha (June Allyson) confronts Lawrence Patterson Jr. (Peter Lawford), son of the opera impresario, and demands to know what's happened to her sister. Lawrence Jr. is clueless, but he is instantly smitten with Martha, and from that point on he makes it his business to see that her sister Abigail gets an opera audition.There is a lot of sly humor involved -- Jimmy Durante, in probably the best role of his career, covers for both Abigail and Martha in between hilarious bits on the stage of his Bowery auditorium. Ben Blue, who early in the film shows up at the saloon and heckles Durante during his act, turns out to be a staid butler at the Patterson mansion. Durante recognizes him and discovers that he has amnesia except when he is drunk. In a hilarious scene, Blue slowly gets in his cups, then blurts out to the startled Patterson family: "She's High C Susie! She's the Belle of the Bowery!" and points directly at Abigail, who's about to audition for the opera. But Martha is standing right next to Abby, and she declares to the shocked gathering that SHE, not Abigail, is the true "Belle of the Bowery." Now she has to prove it.All this, plus at least three operatic arias by the great Danish baritone Lauritz Melchior, and a happy operatic debut by young Abigail. Lawrence Jr. attends Martha's game attempt to substitute for the Belle of the Bowery, sees through the artifice, and falls deeply in love with her. At the end, Abigail is seen singing gloriously on stage in full operatic regalia, while Lawrence Jr. and Martha are nuzzling in the box seats.And a great time was had by all.Dan Navarro -- [email protected]