DKosty123 It's big, it's Technicolor. June Haver and Betty Gable have great legs. The staging and the music are top. The movie made lots of money. What's wrong? This Biographical picture is so fictionalized that it does not do the Dolly sisters the correct way.Granted doing it better might have to depict suicide which both sisters attempted quite graphically. The real story does deserve more than it gets here. The script is way too Hollywood to give an audience a feel good story and not anywhere near the truth. To me the real sisters are more like the Gabor sisters than depicted here. In real life they are Brunettes and short, not tall and blonde. The best depiction in the movie is Harry Fox.Neat to see Elmira, NY, mentioned early in the film. Not sure about any real event there as that location does not seem to be in any internet account of any of these folks. It is possible though Elmira has more to do with Mark Twain and later Ernie Davis than the Dolly Sisters or Fox.Mila Kunis would be the brunette I'd choose to be a Dolly Sister in a remake. She is short and would definitely light up the screen. I am not sure who her twin co-star would be. Aston Kutcher as Harry Fox? I think there are male actors who would be better. It would be a fun film to do a costume remake of with this generation trying to recreate the past. This old one is a Grable formula remake. Though it is pretty, I think it could be done even better. I am sure the real story and a more real script would benefit this material.

moonspinner55 Fictionalized, romanticized tale of the real-life Dolly Sisters, Hungarian siblings who arrived in the States as little girls in 1904 and grew up to be international showgirls. Story reconfigured as a star-vehicle for Betty Grable, who looks terrific and gives one of her better, less unctuous performances. June Haver, as kid sis Rosie, matches up well alongside Grable, yet the two actresses are rarely in sync during their musical numbers; worse, the character of Rosie is under-developed, and her actions in the final reel are unclear. The tacky color production doesn't help but the supporting players do, with John Payne well-cast as songwriter Harry Fox who marries Grable's Jenny before leaving for duty in WWI. The picture's time-line is fuzzy, and the reunion finale is limp, however several of the stage numbers have spirit, particularly a Cotton Club-styled production and a batty Ziegfeld extravaganza. Twentieth Century-Fox did a paste-up job on most of the picture, undercutting the drama with winking camp, but Grable works hard and makes it worthwhile. ** from ****

JLRMovieReviews Two sisters and their grandfather come to America from their homeland of Austria and by way of entertaining the diners at a little restaurant, the sisters ultimately become stars on the stage, based on a true story of the real Dolly Sisters who lived in the early part of the 20th century. Here they are played by Betty Grable and June Haver. A love interest for Grable is supplied in the form of John Payne, who helps a lot with his humble disposition, despite the fact his character is quite boastful at the beginning of the film, and the grandfather is portrayed by S.Z. Sakall. Supporting players also include Reginald Gardiner and Sig Ruman.Their story is given grade-A treatment with a budget big enough for clothes galore and the numbers on stage are extravagantly shown. The songs throughout the film are good, but they are mainly the old ones they sang in the time they lived.If I had any problems with it, it tends to lose one's interest about a hour into it, with not much real humor (or punch) or any real heart to it. While it may have some sincere performances, it tends to meander, losing its focus from the beginning. It may be trying to be true to certain facts, but ultimately it becomes somewhat uneven.A more positive thing to say is that it did have a nice closing line and it makes you feel some closure for Grable and Payne. But, in real life, the fate of the Dolly Sisters is too sad to really get into here. At the time of this movie's production and release, one Dolly sister had already died.So, all in all, you may be pleased from its opulent treatment and the company of good-looking people like Grable, Haver, and Payne, but it's basically a Hollywood bio-pic made in the 40s, and truly not one of the best.

writers_reign No one ever accused a Hollywood biopic of sticking slavishly to the facts and after beginning by blatantly casting two leggy blondes (Betty Grable, June Haver) to portray the real-life short, stocky brunette eponymous twins this biopic fits where it touches. Of course in 1945 no one went to the movies accompanied by a fact-checker, they went to be entertained by a permutation of spectacle, color, song and dance and if there were a few laughs thrown in for good measure so much the better. In those terms this could be counted a hit but those with a more discerning palate would balk at John Payne who was assigned the 'hit' of the score, I Can't Begin To Tell You. Payne was a graduate of the Dick Powell Academy of Joke Singers though in his defense Powell began warbling in the early thirties before there were guys like Sinatra, Haymes and the Eberle Brothers (Ray and Bob) to show how it should be done and it's probably not just coincidence that Powell stopped singing around the time Sinatra established himself. Grable was current Queen of the Fox lot having usurped Alice Faye, who was intended to co-star but wasn't prepared to come out of retirement so instead the role went to newcomer June Haver, who'd had a bit part as a hat-check girl in Faye's last musical, The Gang's All Here, only eighteen months before. Grable was uneasy by this casting as befits the head that wears the crown but it's a testament to her acting skills that none of this comes over on the screen. Perhaps a tad twee for the 21st century but otherwise pleasant and undemanding entertainment.