marcslope Everybody seems to be dissing the Jule Styne-Leo Robin score to this friendly little 1955 widescreen musical, so let me put in a word for it. True, Columbia might have had an even better movie had it shelled out for the Bernstein-Comden-Green "Wonderful Town" Broadway score. But this one works just fine. It's tuneful, witty, and to the point, and it gives the great Betty Garrett (a replacement for Judy Holliday, whom Harry Cohn originally cast, but she was trying to be seen as less of a plain-Jane) several wonderful opportunities. Her comic timing's expert, she has a natural warmth, and it's easy to buy her as the overlooked sister of the well-cast Janet Leigh. Columbia, trying Jack Lemmon out in a number of guises at the time, perhaps shouldn't have cast him as a playboyish editor; it's not a very likable part, and he's not a singer, though he did do two other musicals for the studio around that time. But there's a splendid supporting cast, notably Bob Fosse (also choreographing) and a hideously underused, under-billed Tommy Rall. The Blake Edwards-Richard Quine screenplay preserves most of the best lines from previous versions and adds a few of its own, and the location footage is almost indistinguishable from the backlot work. Most raters have this one right--it's unpretentious, clever, happy, and picturesque. But it may send you out humming, too.

writers_reign This is one of those properties which yield incredible mileage in a relatively short time-span. It started life as a series of short stories about two sisters from Ohio. The stories became a film which in turn became a Broadway musical and when Columbia ran into trouble securing the rights to the Broadway musical they simply made their own smaller scale musical and tapped Jule Styne for the music and Leo Robin for the lyrics, both more than able to stand comparison with Lennie Bernstein and Comden and Green, arguably the most overrated lyricists of the forties and fifties. Janet Leigh struggles to reach ho-hum as the (on paper) irrestible Eileen whilst Betty Garrett leaves Leigh dead in the water. It remains a pleasant enough movie for one viewing.

Neil Doyle A musical remake of the original Broadway play, MY SISTER EILEEN is a little-known gem from Columbia in the mid-'50s, produced in lively Technicolor and starring JANET LEIGH as Eileen and BETTY GARRETT as her writer/sister, both newcomers to the Greenwich Village scene. And naturally, the story and the film are very dated when viewed today.But for light entertainment, it passes inspection beautifully. BOB FOSSE and TOMMY RALL are excellent ingredients as singer/dancers and both of them have more screen time than usual here. JACK LEMMON doesn't have much to do as the publisher in love with Garrett and gets to sing the film's most undistinguished song--unfortunately.The "Conga" number that comes near the end of the film is a treat, the Brazilian soldiers bursting into dance at the drop of the word "Conga," with some imaginative choreography by Bob Fosse. KURT KAZNER is the Greek landlord who actually joins in the number, as do most of their Greenwich Village neighbors.A bright, unpretentious and sunny film, it's long on charm but short on inspired musical numbers. It's a wonder Columbia decided not to use the Comden/Green Broadway score but hired Jule Styne and Leo Robin to write a new one. Watch for DICK YORK as "Wreck," the husky neighbors who looks out for the girls.Passes the time pleasantly, but is easily forgotten.Trivia note: Director Richard Quine was featured in the original MY SISTER EILEEN starring Rosalind Russell in the 1942 film version.

david-1976 I can't imagine a movie that has been more slandered on this website than "My Sister Eileen"! First of all, invidious comparisons to MGM productions should be flushed down the nearest public facility. Why would Leonard Bernstein/Comden and Green ever want to come near MGM again after what it did to "On The Town"? Wouldn't it be wonderful if they made a movie of "Wonderful Town"? Let's take a look: first of all, MGM casts Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra (or more likely, somebody like Troy Donahue or some other '50's crooner) in the roles of Bob and Frank, respectively. Then the obvious choices for the female roles would be Ann Miller as Ruth and Debbie Reynolds as Eileen, which would mean that most of the songs would be thrown out and replaced with half-arsed imitations by Roger Edens: the great "Conga" number would be replaced with--well, something like the "conga" number in "My Sister Eileen," which, BTW, is a terrific waste of Betty Garrett's talents, but this time, it would feature a lot of high-speed tapping! Gene Kelly wouldn't be right for the "What a Waste" number, so that would be scrapped, and replaced with something more pretentious, with Gene being muscular about magazine editing, and Eileen substituted for Ruth, because there were never two dancers more mismatched than Ann Miller and Gene Kelly. THEN, the Village Vortex numbers (including the "Wrong Note Rag") would have to be scrapped because while Debbie would be great in that number, Ann wouldn't, and neither would Gene; it would be replaced with a "beatnik" specialty starring Gene and Debbie dressed in berets and sweatshirts. Since Gene was to be the male lead, there would have to be a ballet number here, which would have made necessary more additions; perhaps a paste-in of a lesser Gershwin number like the "Second Rhapsody," which would require a giant Gershwin billing at the beginning of the movie--perhaps above the Bernstein/Comden/Green credit. Perhaps this would be the time to stick in a specialty number by some minor French singing star (not Aznavour nor Trenet).By this time, there would be three original numbers left: "Christopher Street," sung by Jules Munshin (or even by Kurt Kasznar!) as Appopolous, "O-hi-o," sung by Debbie and Ann, and "It's Love," sung by Debbie while Gene looks muscular, dancing on various pieces of office furniture. The rest of the score is by Roger Edens. Does this sound far-fetched? Count the Bernstein/Comden/Green numbers in MGM's "On The Town," one of the trashiest renderings of a great musical ever perpetrated on American moviegoers! Compare "on the Town" with the MGM travesty, and ask yourself, "If I were Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden,or Adolf Green, would I want to do this twice?" There is a certain resemblance to the urban courtyard of "Rear Window" to be found in "My Sister Eileen," but this is hardly theft. You might as easily have found it in "The Goldbergs". Yoo-hoo! While "My Sister Eileen" is not Bernstein/Comden/Green, it is also not Styne/Sondheim or Styne/Harnick. Leo Robin, the lyricist, was simply not in the same rank--although he certainly had a workmanlike Hollywood career. Betty Garrett suffered from a hairdo that made her look like a graying Rosemary DeCamp, which detracted from her natural sauciness. Jack Lemmon demonstrates that he could've had a great musical career (try his duets with Judy Holliday, elsewhere); Janet Leigh does what she did so well--being a perky dancer--and Bob Fosse is just what we'd expect him to be--in fact, I like him better as an ingenu. His work is fresh and vibrant.Please don't impose your expectations on this film: it is not an MGM musical (thank God!) and it's not a Hitchcock thriller. It is an ingenuous, unpretentious, delightful Hollywood musical, in the same Columbia tradition that gave us, almost by accident, "You Were Never Lovelier" and "You'll Never Get Rich", and it's a good rendering of the original stories.