The Sisters (1938) User Reviews

Flynn and Davis in their youth

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 27 April 2005]

This is a charming movie featuring an nonmustached, gorgeous Errol Flynn and a young, lovely Bette Davis. Davis gives a wonderful ingénue performance as the less fortunate of three pharmacist's daughters who live and love at the turn of the century (with the action beginning with the election of Roosevelt and ending with the election of Taft). The Davis character marries Errol Flynn, who runs into trouble with employment and alcohol. The other two daughters stay closer to home and do better. Davis, however, is determined to stand by her man and make her marriage work.

It's delightful to see these stars in somewhat different roles than they would play later in their careers. They are ably supported by Anita Louise, Jane Bryan, Ian Hunter, Beulah Bondi, Lee Patrick, Dick Foran, Alan Hale, and Laura Hope Crewes.

The Warners film intended to be true to the book - however, the preview cards demanded another ending. I have to say, I like the changed ending as well.

Marriage on the Rocks

[wes-connors · 6/10 · 15 September 2007]

Bette Davis (as Louise Elliott) is a Montana woman who marries San Franciscan sports reporter Errol Flynn (as Frank Medlin). Her sisters Anita Louise (as Helen), and Jane Bryan (as Grace) marry at the same time; the three sisters find wedded bliss is short-lived. Supporting floozies Lee Patrick and Laura Hope Crews are a very well-matched mother and daughter tag-team who befriend the deserted "Louise".

Whatever the film's original intentions may have been, it is really about ONE sister; naturally, it's the sister played by Bette Davis, and HER marriage to the character played by Errol Flynn. The stars are in fine form as the love-struck young couple who hit on hard times. Ms. Davis is refreshing as a housewife who becomes ill in a smoke-filled boxing arena, and Mr. Flynn is convincing as the husband who drinks to heal his wounded pride. Flynn asks a significant question about his character: why did marriage make his wife strong, and himself weak? Similarly, the objective of "The Sisters" as a film is strong, and the story weak. Yet, the production level is high; and, historical events like Presidential elections (Roosevelt, Taft) and the San Francisco earthquake are used to great advantage.

****** The Sisters (1938) Anatole Litvak ~ Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Anita Louise

The young Errol Flynn is the whole point

[mik-19 · 6/10 · 18 February 2005]

Big sister Louise from small-town Silver Bow, Montana, falls in love instantly with dashing sports reporter Frank from San Francisco. The year is 1904, and Roosevelt is getting re-elected. The couple elope and try to eke out a living in the big city, but he is restless and nothing comes of his writing ambitions, and their marriage looks like it is failing ...

There is nothing great or everlasting about 'The Sisters', but you might want to watch it for its stars. Bette Davis is resourceful and unassuming as Louise, a far cry from her Jezebel of the following year.

So that leaves Errol Flynn, the very young Errol Flynn, but nevertheless an actor of such abundant charisma that you quite understand how Louise's heart skips a beat, and how her dancing gets out of sync, as she gazes at him at their first meeting. Frank is the quintessential reckless, impetuous and fundamentally enchanting man about town, earnest in love, but quick to give up on all he holds dear. It goes without saying that he looks stunning, with his exquisite bone structure and muzzled up hair. How could Ian Hunter ever hope to compete? Director Anatole Litvak does provide a few touches to redeem this otherwise quite pedestrian romantic melodrama. The earthquake was well done, and the cunning way the sisters conspire to rid the town of the local tramp by telling their menfolk, "We consider it a community problem". Point taken!

The Elliott Sisters of Broken Bow

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 13 September 2007]

Errol Flynn and Bette Davis did the first of two films together in The Sisters and curiously enough it followed landmark films for both of them, The Adventures of Robin Hood for Flynn and Bette's second Academy Award winner, Jezebel.

It was an interesting project for both, but fell somewhat flat at the box office. Still it's not a bad film at all and for Flynn it was an attempt to expand his range as player.

Bette's usual shtick is held firmly in check my director Anatole Litvak. She's one of three daughters of Henry Travers and Beulah Bondi of Broken Bow Montana and the action of the film takes place between Election Day of 1904 and 1908. Shortly after the first election where all three encounter the men they would marry.

For Jane Bryan it's Dick Foran, a proper young man of business who soon becomes president of the bank and they settle down to a nice middle class existence. It's only threatened when Foran falls victim to the town tart briefly, one of many men in the area.

For Anita Louise, she's a naughty flirt who likes romance, but also likes her creature comforts. She marries Alan Hale who's the wealthiest guy in town, who's also a widower looking for a trophy wife. She lucks into the best of both worlds when he dies leaving her well provided for and free to pursue love in comfort.

But the main plot revolves around Bette Davis who marries newspapermen Errol Flynn, a charming, but essentially weak character. He likes to drink and carouse and even impending fatherhood doesn't put a damper on that. He leaves her, purely coincidentally right in the middle of the San Francisco Earthquake.

Some don't like Flynn's performance, but I think he did fine in the role. The problem was that the brothers Warner filmed two different endings and gave into public opinion in the one you see. Flynn, by the way thought they did the wrong thing. Without giving it away, the ending should have resembled one they gave Four Daughters which was also produced by them in 1938.

Despite the fact that Errol and Bette hated each other they got through the film and it's not bad. Look also for good performances from Donald Crisp as Flynn's sportswriter friend and Ian Hunter who gives Bette a job after Flynn leaves her and loves her as well.

The Three Sisters, not by Chekhov

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 28 April 2005]

"The Sisters" is not seen often these days. It is a curiosity piece because it's a minor Bette Davis film in which she plays an ordinary woman, a departure from some of her other more intense dramas we are more accustomed to seeing. As directed by Anatole Litvak, the film doesn't show anything new.

The story about the Eliott sisters from Montana, is mildly interesting. The Eliott household is a happy one. We see them at the beginning of the film as they are preparing for the election night ball in their small town in which Theodore Roosevelt is the winner in the presidential race. The three sisters make a quite an attraction among the young male population because their good looks.

What appears to be a nice family when we first meet them, suddenly fades into memory as the three sisters go in different directions, as life intervenes along the way. Louise, the older sister, proves to be a survivor, if only she has to experience a lot in her own life before real happiness can be achieved. Helen, the beautiful middle sister, marries an older man who offers her security. Grace, the younger one, is the only one to stay in town and marries Tom.

Louise experiences the worst fate of all the sisters when she finds herself abandoned in San Francisco by her husband Frank. He wants to get away from the scene of his failure in order to prove himself worthy of Louise's love. By going overseas as a merchant seaman, he wants to see if he can make any good out himself. Louise is in the middle of the 1906 earthquake and loses all she had.

At the end, all sisters are back home on another election night ball as they watch Willliam Taft being proclaimed as president of the nation. Their lives come together at the end, as all find peace.

The most exciting time in the film centers around the vivid scenes of the San Francisco earthquake. It's done in a realistic manner. Louise is helped by the next door neighbor, a woman of easy morals, who turned out to be a real friend.

The performances are good, but don't expect any sparks from the subdued Louise of Bette Davis. Ms. Davis gives a nuanced performance. The problem is, one expected an over the top star turn by the actress, and her Louise is the epitome of common sense and kindness. Errol Flynn, as Frank, the deserting husband, is seen in a different role as well. He is not as dashing and debonair as in his signature performances, but in spite of playing against type, his take on Frank gives another dimension of his acting range.

The beautiful Anita Louise makes an interesting contribution to the film. Ian Hunter as the kind Mr. Benson, also adds to the picture. The wonderful Lee Patrick plays Flora, the good neighbor, with conviction. Donald Crisp makes another great appearance as Frank's friend. Henry Travers and Beulah Bondi are seen as the Eliott sister's parents. Jane Bryan, as Grace has some good moments, but she is eclipsed by the more interesting older sisters.

This is a film to watch Bette Davis and Errol Flynn playing roles that are completely different from others we are used to see them in.

A beautiful disaster

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 12 December 2019]

Bette Davis to me and many others is/was one of the greatest actresses of her time and still one of the greats, 'All About Eve', 'Now Voyager', 'Little Foxes', 'The Letter' and 'Jezebel' (all very good to masterpiece films) being especially great performances. Am also fond of Errol Flynn, though don't consider him as good an actor, with my first and favourite film of his being 'The Adventures of Robin Hood' (he's great in his other swashbucklers too).

There is a lot to recommend in regard to 'The Sisters'. It is not a classic by any stretch and not everything works, with the balance not being quite right. The biggest attraction though is Davis and Flynn, and 'The Sisters' does nothing to disgrace either of them and they are two of the main best things about the film. Neither at their best sure, but for anybody who likes or is a fan of either or both should find little reason to not watch this, even if it is just the once.

Davis doesn't disappoint, it is a restrained performance but a wholly riveting one. Flynn is dashing and charismatic and their chemistry is very sensitively written and acted. The production values are very handsome, time, effort and money and a huge amount of all three at that clearly went into them. The earthquake effects are still impressive and put a vast majority of earthquake effects in films today to shame. The whole earthquake sequence is very memorable.

Max Steiner's score is typically luscious and dramatic. The script avoids being too soapy, it's nicely directed and the story generally moves along nicely. The supporting cast are not exceptional but do more than competently, Lee Patrick standing out.

On the other hand, the supporting characters seem underdeveloped and sidelined in favour of Davis and Flynn. It was right for them to be focused on primarily, but it really shouldn't have been to the extent that there is not an awful lot else in characterisation that one remembers.

Also, the ending felt too pat and tacked on, not ringing true with what happened before in the story and like the writers were favouring star power over realism.

In summary, not great but worth seeing. 7/10

Errol and Bette, Take One

[theowinthrop · 6/10 · 14 December 2005]

Errol Flynn had been in movies since 1935 in the U.S., and his films for Warner Brothers were mostly swashbucklers and adventure films. With his slightly British (actually Australian - Irish) accent, he fit so well into exciting period films. Occasionally he did modern films, like the comedy FOURS A CROWD, but these were considered secondary for his fans. They wanted more of Captain Peter Blood or Robin Hood.

Flynn himself wanted to have more regular roles, but found his requests met with limited success. Jack Warner knew that the key to it all was Flynn's box office, and that depended on adventure stories. So he was amazed by the offer from Warner to appear opposite Bette Davis in THE SISTERS. His role: a newspaper reporter who marries Bette, moves with her to San Francisco, and proves less good at domesticity than she wanted. It was a complete change for Flynn, and he would try to do the role justice. And he failed to do so.

I keep thinking Warner, a very cagey film producer, was doing two things in giving Flynn the role. First he was testing the waters to see if Flynn and Davis were good together as a film team. Warner had plans to make GONE WITH THE WIND, and wanted Davis to play Scarlett O'Hara, but he wanted Flynn to be Rhett Butler. Davis is on record as having told Warner (more or less) that she did not believe him (he apparently blurted out his plan to stop her when she left the studio in 1936 to fight her contract in England). But later, when she returned to the studio, she told Warner that she wanted someone who could act, and she did not think that Flynn was an actor.

The other reason was to give Flynn an opportunity to "get it all out of his system". Flynn wanted to be a serious actor - well here was his chance. It was like Daryl Zanuck and Tyrone Power, when the latter wanted to do a serious part. Zanuck gave Power NIGHTMARE ALLEY to "get it out of his system". The difference was that Zanuck did not pick NIGHTMARE ALLEY (Power did), and Power's performance was marvelous as a result (but the film did poorly at the box office). So Power got it out of his system, but showed what he could do. Flynn did not pick THE SISTERS, but was given it by Warner. So for all his determination to perform the part well, he lacked the excitement of playing a role he wanted.

The story begins in November 1904 when the citizens of a small town in Colorado are celebrating the election of President Theodore Roosevelt for a full term of his own over the Democratic Candidate (one of the two least recalled defeated candidates of the 20th Century: Justice Alton B.Parker of New York State's Court of Appeals). Davis and her two sisters (Anita Louise and Jane Bryant) are shown in their being courted by different men (Flynn, Alan Hale Sr., and Dick Foran), and how they all prosper or don't prosper. Davis and Flynn end up living in San Francisco, and Flynn's wanderlust keeps interfering with his duty as a breadwinner. Due to this and various circumstances, he is on a boat to China when the San Francisco Earthquake occurs (halfway through the film). Louise has a brief marriage to Hale, which leaves her very wealthy - and constantly squired around by men. Bryant and Foran seem to have a fairly routine marriage in comparison. The film ends with Flynn and Davis reunited (but will it last?) at the celebration of the election in November 1908 of William Howard Taft over William Jennings Bryan (paging Robert Culp in THE GREAT SCOUT AND CATFISH THURSDAY).

While not a bomb, THE SISTERS was no bell ringer at the box office. Davis got most of the critical acclaim (for a relatively quiet role for her - the loss of her baby was the best scene she had). Hale had a more interesting part as a millionaire drunk than Flynn did. Flynn did well - but no more than that. Davis' views of Flynn as a co-star hardened, and she fought (unsuccessfully) to keep him from being the Earl of Essex to her Queen Elizabeth I in ELIZABETH THE QUEEN within a year. But they never did make GONE WITH THE WIND together.

An accurate period piece - rare for Hollywood!

[Edisone · 8/10 · 1 May 2005]

This is a most excellent drama, set in San Francisco from 1904 to 1908, with the great earthquake of 1906 at its center. While the business failure of Flynn's character is a little unrealistic, both he and Bette Davis play sympathetic characters; they made me feel the disappointment of people who expect a lot out of Life and then suffer through its hardships.

The scenes of the earthquake are terrific - don't miss the seemingly ENDLESS shaking and destruction of Bette's rented room, as her neighbor comes screaming into the room looking for comfort, and the indoors gives way to the OUTDOORS! Very nice effects for 1938, 60+ years before computer imaging! That part of the story seems all the more poignant to me, now that we know the death figures were faked - at least 10 times as many died as the officials admitted.

I won't give away the ending, but it was satisfying and made me glad to have seen the film. Do catch it on Turner, which runs it a couple times per year.

One of Davis' lesser-known films

[FilmOtaku · 6/10 · 29 December 2004]

When I discovered that there were a few films featuring my favorite actress of all time, Bette Davis, that I hadn't yet seen I jumped to find them. One of them is Anatole Litvak's 1938 film "The Sisters", starring Davis as Louise, a young woman in a small Montana town. She and her sisters Helen (Anita Louise) and Rose (Jane Bryan) are attending an election night ball for Theodore Roosevelt when Louise falls in love at first sight with Frank (Errol Flynn). The two run away to San Francisco, where he is a sports writer, and over the next couple of years the sisters' lives take different turns. Louise and Frank fall on hard times together due to his drinking problem and unemployment. Helen marries Sam (Alan Hale), a rich older man who knows it is simply a marriage of convenience, and Rose ends up marrying Louise's ex-boyfriend Tom, the one she left behind when she and Frank married. Throughout all of these problems, the sisters find that they are still there for each other, particularly when each of them has to deal with one crisis or another.

There's nothing particularly great about "The Sisters"; the acting is decent, the story is decent and pretty melodramatic at times, but there is nothing remarkable about it. I enjoyed the film for what it was – a typical 1930's Warner Bros. Melodrama, and admittedly, Bette Davis absolutely gleams in this film, made one year before she won the Oscar for "Jezebel" and just two years before her true heyday, the 1940's. I honestly wouldn't recommend this film to anyone but a solid Bette Davis fan, or a classic drama film lover. I personally love that genre, so I really enjoyed the film, but it wasn't a "great" production. 6/10 --Shelly

Highly forgettable as drama...a nice change for Flynn and Davis...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 27 April 2005]

Despite the authentic period detail and a very well-staged, realistic earthquake scene that takes place late in this story of early San Francisco (but fails to wake up the sluggish plot), the tale itself is a weak one that gives neither BETTE DAVIS nor ERROL FLYNN very much chance to emote as their fans would like them to. Davis plays a loyal wife while Flynn is the family man who can't settle down. Both are professionally competent here, but seem to be fully aware of the script limitations imposed on their bland characters.

Nevertheless, it's nice to see a more restrained Davis playing a nice, normal woman for a change--but one would expect a few more sparks from their relationship than we get here. Their separation, after he goes off on a binge that takes him away for a four year period while he tries to find himself--and their ultimate reunion--is about all the plot has to offer in the quest for tracing the family history of three daughters who each experience their share of problems in choosing hasty marriages. Beulah Bondi and Henry Travers are their worried parents.

Bette and Errol have both given better performances in more detailed roles--and were fine a year later in their flashier costume roles as Elizabeth and Essex. This seems to be merely an attempt to work up some box-office interest in two of the studio's top stars while at the same time taking Flynn away from his swashbuckling roles. Then too, this might have been Jack Warner's promotional idea of working up audience interest in the two stars before presenting them in the lavish ELIZ. AND ESSEX the following year.

Unfortunately, all of the supporting roles are on the bland side except for Alan Hale, Sr. as a wealthy Irishman who marries Anita Louise, a lovely young thing who wants the security his wealth can provide. A plain looking Jane Bryan is totally wasted as the youngest sister who marries Dick Foran, both terminally bland in their respective roles. Donald Crisp is convincing as Flynn's loyal friend.

But whatever real interest the film has, it owes to the performances of Bette Davis and Errol Flynn who are able to give even this kind of weak material some substance and strength. Ian Hunter as Davis' understanding boss handles his meager assignment with customary charm and skill.

Negative note: Director Anatole Litvak should have toned down Lee Patrick's performance as an inquisitive chatterbox neighbor. Nice to see Laura Hope Crews (Aunt Pittypat from GWTW) as her fluttery mother.

Summing up: Whatever energy was put into this production, the end results are meager, even for Davis and Flynn fans.

excellent family drama

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 20 February 2006]

This movie is about three affluent sisters, the men they marry and the result this has on their lives. The focus in particular is on Bette Davis and her unwise choice of Errol Flynn for a husband. This SHOULDN'T come as a big surprise to the audience, as this sort of behavior is more expected from the real-life Flynn than the other male leads! The other sisters have differing success with their love lives, though through it all they have a strong sense of family and decency.

The movie scores high marks for excellent acting, writing and production values. While not the best Warner Brothers has to offer, it certainly is among their better efforts.

Lovely Drama

[Incalculacable · 7/10 · 20 April 2006]

The Sisters (1938) is a little-known Bette Davis movie set in the Victorian era. Louise Elliott (Bette Davis) is expecting a proposal any minute but when she goes to celebrate the inauguration of Teddy Roosevelt, her mind changes when she meets the charming Frank Medlin (a young Errol Flynn). They elope to San Francisco and start their life together. Meanwhile, her two younger sisters back home are making decisions of their own.

This is a predictable story, yes, but that does not make it less entertaining. It was a sweet and hopeful movie. Bette Davis is just amazing in it as the sweet sister, hopelessly in life. Her accent is much changed from the last movie I saw her in. Errol Flynn is very dashing, but I can't help thinking he looks a little different from what I remember him as Robin Hood. His acting isn't the best, but he does his best with the material given to him. It's a little soppy at times (especally Flynn's lines) but it brings a smile to your face - it doesn't make you cringe.

Overall, a lovely little drama from start to finish. Bette Davis is her usual perfect, captivating self. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Handsome Errol Falls Head-Over-Heels For Homely Bette

[strong-122-478885 · 5/10 · 20 June 2015]

In this fluffy, 1938, period, Chick Flick - The one scene that really killed me was when Flynn's and Davis's characters first meet.

And here's how it went - Standing in a moderately-sized ballroom of about 60 dancing couples, Flynn's dashing character carefully scans the busy room and, sure enough, his gaze zeros in on one of the most plain and homely females in the crowd (Yep. That's Bette Davis). And instantly he's mesmerized, falling madly in love with her and immediately marrying her on a total whim. (Yeah. Right. Give me a break, already!)

Set mainly in San Francisco (circa 1904) - "The Sisters" story was hardly about the "sisters" at all. (There were 3 of them) It was chiefly concerned with just one sister, and, that, of course, was Davis's character.

In my opinion - The Sisters (which is now close to 80 years old) really didn't stand up to the test of time. For the most part this rather predictable, little soap opera was so "dish-water" dull that even the scene of simulated earthquake effects did nothing to alleviate the story's overall monotony.

OK Melodrama

[utgard14 · 6/10 · 10 January 2014]

Three sisters (Bette Davis, Anita Louise, Jane Bryan) marry three winners in early 20th century Montana. Bryan marries meathead Dick Foran. Louise marries sugar daddy Alan Hale. Davis marries handsome but undependable Errol Flynn and moves to San Francisco. They all have troubles but Bette has her hands full.

OK "women's picture" that understandably focuses more on the Davis/Flynn coupling than the others. Davis and Flynn are good, as is most of the cast, but no one is that exceptional. The film's message is the expected "marry the stable and dependable guy not the exciting but irresponsible one." Amusingly, the film's ending contradicts this because test audiences didn't like Bette winding up with a more responsible man (Ian Hunter). They preferred Errol, warts and all. Can't say that I blame them.

Bette and the Errol peril

[marcslope · 7/10 · 11 January 2010]

Bette Davis never missed a chance to knock Errol Flynn in public--"He thought I was a fool to work so hard," she related to Dick Cavett. But in this well-produced period romance, he's much more interesting than she is, playing a rootless journalist who falls in love with Davis at first sight (and can you believe that, with Anita Louise in the room?) and proves an unreliable, alcoholic, ill-tempered spouse. Bette hasn't much to play, and does so quietly and realistically. But a parade of great character actors keeps turning up in the supporting cast--Beulah Bondi, Henry Travers, Alan Hale, Jane Bryan, Lee Patrick, Laura Hope Crews, Ian Hunter, the always-underrated Dick Foran--and the period details, including a short but spiffy 1906 San Francisco earthquake, are excellent. Max Steiner contributes one of his usual single-tuneful-theme-repeated-over-and-over scores, and Anatole Litvak keeps things moving fast. The happy ending is totally unconvincing, and, as others have suggested, it wouldn't have hurt to provide a little more detail on the lives of the two other sisters. But it's an exceedingly handsome film, with an exceedingly handsome leading man.

"Our love is dying a tawdry death..."

[moonspinner55 · 6/10 · 30 August 2017]

Myron Brinig's novel becomes curious Warner Bros. vehicle for Errol Flynn and a very demure Bette Davis, playing a young couple in 1904 Montana who elope and settle in San Francisco. Davis' younger sisters find husbands too, but Bette suffers the most as her husband (established as a drinker early on) neglects her, comes home soused, causes her enough stress to lose their baby, and eventually hops a steam-ship to Singapore. The wobbly-thin, sentimental material gets goosed by some good acting, yet the film never arises above the standard "woman's picture" level. Bette, wearing aprons over tidy dresses and beaming with wifely pride, is hardly the same girl audiences saw in "Jezebel" that same year; she's obviously an actress of great magnitude, yet she's reigned in too tightly here (and the masochistic role of Louise doesn't offer her much, anyway). Boyish Flynn manages a sensitive on-screen duet with Davis, although this union isn't an entirely convincing one. OK production (including an earthquake sequence), several enjoyable supporting performances and bits of knuckle-biting melodrama. **1/2 from ****

Davis and Flynn playing against type

[schappe1 · 6/10 · 5 January 2021]

Bette Davis, Anita Louise and Jane Bryan play three small town siters who marry Errol Flynn, Alan Hale and Dick Foran and have problems with them, (Flynn can't get his life together, Hale is too old and Foran has an affair with the town tramp). The focus is on the two big stars and both are excellent, Davis as a practical girl who suddenly finds herself madly in love and Flynn as a guy who wants to be like Errol Flynn but lacks the confidence.

It must have been easy to look across the room and fall in love with Flynn, (although Davis in real life decidedly didn't), but up close he's not's not as good as he looks. He wants to have adventures and see the world but the farthest he's been able to get is to become a San Francisco sportswriter and dream of the great novel he's going to write. Bette gets him to actually try to write the novel but nobody wants to publish it. He loses his job in an argument with his boss. Bette goes to work and proves to be more conscientious and successful as an employee than her husband ever was, (I've seen something similar happen in real life - the man feels obligated to be the bread-winner and the more capable wife stays home). His failures get the better of him. He drinks too much and decides to leave her to become an adventurer aboard a ship just as the 1906 earthquake hits. He shows up a couple of years later when she's fully established in the business world and wants to marry her boss. Instead, she takes him back. That was the 'happy' ending, although to what happiness that will lead, we don't know. That's not how the book ends. The studio filmed both endings and let the preview audiences decide. It would be fun to see the other ending but the old VHS tape I have of this doesn't include it.

Davis, besotted with Flynn on screen, was disgusted with him off of it. She claimed he said "Why do you work so hard?" She was appalled when he was assigned to play Essex opposite her Elizabeth I the next year instead of Lawrence Olivier. Years later she watched that film with her friend Olivia de Havilland and admitted to her that "he really was good". But she didn't think so at the time so her performance as a well-grounded young women who sprouts wings when she sees him constitutes great acting. Flynn, for his part, does very well, a confident man playing one who isn't. He may have lacked focus on his career but he was never timid, as this man is. Yet he conveys his emptiness well. The character's alcoholism and failure as a husband may have anticipated his own problems in those areas but Flynn's troubles, whatever the cause, were very different than his character's. And I don't believe that he failed to work hard on this characterization: he was looking to prove he could 'act' and didn't consider swashbucklers as acting.

It's well known that there could have been a third film pairing Davis and Flynn. Jack Warner put together a package deal with Davis playing Scarlett O'Hara and Flynn Rhett Butler for Gone With the Wind but Davis would have none of it. Flynn could have been Rhett Butler- the sea captain who ran union blockades for a hefty profit, frequented Belle Watling's whorehouse and played poker with his Union captors while falling in love with the beautiful but tempestuous Scarlett. But he looked too young and pretty in the late 30's to have been the sardonic Rhett. He would have bene more convincing in the tole 10 years later when he looked more weathered. Gable was the perfect Rhett in 1939.

Davis good, Flynn not so much

[enpzep7813 · 9/10 · 27 April 2005]

A very watchable chick flick, with a marvelous Bette Davis, and a mundane Errol Flynn. Chick flick (a damnable moniker) is modern shorthand for movies that deal with female themes, relationships, romance, and emotions, which this movie has in abundance. But this film is wonderful; and at the very least is a time capsule preserving 1938 attitudes of turn of the 20th Century history. (From one who has been in a few earthquakes, trust me, the San Francisco Quakescenes are very well done). The story is about the wooing and wedding tales of three sisters, and focuses primarily on the Bette Davis character's romance with Errol Flynn. Davis is pushing the outside of the envelope for a great performance (more than the script gives her),and Flynn is a handsome but uninspired scarecrow. He did not have to reach very far to find the serious minded, alcoholic, sexually confused, and restless soul that he plays here. What spills out is drab. Still, even when he was mediocre, he was special.

I found it difficult to turn this one off, as the production values are superb. The set director does an incredible job of decoration, placing the story in the era. The cinematography and lighting are exceptional. And the makeup! The characters are full of detail from the period, right down to the grease on the face of the automobile drivers. A film lovers film. Don't miss this.

Geez, Louise!

[katieloubelle · 30 June 2001]

Wow. This is the embodiment of the phrase "Women's Picture." In case you don't know, a Woman's Picture was this thing rampant from the late '30's to the '40's that starred Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Irene Dunne, or a handfull of other female stars of the same stature. Very sappy, very melodramatic, but with enough redeeming value to still be loads of fun 65 years later.

Still, I maintain that Bette Davis was always much better when she played a bitch. I mean really. Don't you want to chuck something at poor old Louise in this movie? When she looks all smug at Errol Flynn (who is quite tasty in this) when he wants to know how she bought their Charlie Brown Christmast tree and goes "With pennies and nickles!" or something to that effect with her voice going up about as high as possible with the phrase "pennies and nickles!" Ugh, you want to hit her.

But aside from that, a very good movie, although one must wonder why Warner Bros. kept insisting that Jane Bryan looked like someone who could be related to Bette Davis, since she played her sister in this and "Marked Woman," and she played her illegitimate daughter in "The Old Maid."

If your movie is going to cover novel chapters in random order . . .

[oscaralbert · 6/10 · 16 August 2015]

. . . please please PLEAE do NOT confuse viewers by posting actual lingering shots of chapter-opening pages, leaving them on-screen long enough for even watchers WITHOUT a "pause" function to take in sentences which completely confuse folks just wanting to watch a flick (and who would have BOUGHT THE BOOK, if that was their intention). It's okay to have some fine print in your opening credits to specify what connection, if any, your film has to a printed story (often of the same name as the motion picture). But it's probably NEVER smart to reduce your feature film to Kindle-like marginalia on an interactive E-book page. That's essentially what Warner Bros. does in adapting its version of Myron Brinig's novel, THE SISTERS. This movie begins with a lingering shot of the novel's first page, followed by many other such static "scenes." About 54 minutes, 5 seconds into SISTERS we're up to "Chapter 12." However, more than 26 minutes later (or at 1:20:25, to be precise), we're back at "Chapter 10"! Worse yet, the first sentence of this EARLIER chapter is "Two years passed." Did Warner Bros. just slip into a TIME MACHINE when no one was looking?! What the heck just happened, and WHEN are we?! THE SISTERS teaches us that Charles W. Fairbanks was America's Vice President from 1905-1909, and that James S. Sherman held that job for the following four years--but not much else.

Soapy Sisters

[spaulson50 · 5/10 · 18 November 2012]

Begins well but after an hour or so, losses steam. Still worth watching for Errol & Bette along with solid Supporting Cast but the Hollywood ending is crass. Almost laughable. Errol was right: should have stayed with ending in the book. They could pull that off now but not back then.

Well done effects on San Francisco earthquake scenes. Flynn delivers some wickedly cool romantic lines but one could say Errol's acting really didn't venture far from real life. Henry Travers steals every scene. Alan Hale a delight, as always, along with Beulah Bondi.

One great Flynn line:

Do you want to hear the story of my life?

No, but it's exciting!

Hadn't got any point to it but it might serve as a warning to you.

More Like "The Wayward Sister"

[nycritic · 8/10 · 12 May 2006]

Upon seeing this relatively forgotten film, I kept getting flashes of the type of movie adaptations of E. M. Forster's novels "Howard's End" and "Where Angels Fear to Tread", both made into successful movies during the early 1990s.

Despite being a story heavily entrenched in Americana, beginning and ending with the election of presidents and the symbolic position of the three Eliott sisters and their relation to their husbands and their parents, there is an interesting feel that this would have eventually been picked up by the BBC and turned into a Masterpiece Theatre miniseries. The reason for this being that while Bette Davis' character Louise Elliot gets the lion's share of the story of the three sisters, I felt that the other two -- Grace and Helen -- are left somewhat adrift and under-developed, and this leaves the title of the movie a little misleading. There is so much that could have been done had the entire Elliot family been fleshed out, but due to an expiration date of 100 minutes and the presence of Davis, Errol Flynn and Ian Hunter (all stars in their own right and needing screen time), this would have been nearly impossible and back then, ensemble movies were rare.

However, THE SISTERS is a very good movie that holds up well. The San Francisco earthquake scene is handled well using a mix of stock footage and a shaking set, making the viewing experience real, even when it's clear that the background "skyline" is as still as Ayer's Rock. It's also a part of the films Bette Davis made during the time when she was getting better parts and high-profile projects and was about to become BETTE DAVIS. She looks remarkably similar -- minus the pencil-thin line she draws on her mouth -- to Regina Giddens in THE LITTLE FOXES, without the harshness. Errol Flynn is well-matched with Davis although she stated not liking working with him and fought to have her name over his in the opening credits due to the fact the plot revolved around her and not him. She would get this, though, the next time they'd work together in THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX, and by then she'd be an even bigger, stronger star than Flynn.

Family Matters

[DKosty123 · 7/10 · 2 December 2015]

Once upon a time there were 3 sisters. All of them score husbands. All of them have rocky times in their marriages. This 99 minute film was made as the under card for double features. Yet it has and A List Cast.

Bette Davis is already a major star who would make Jezebel and Erroll Flynn would go on to make Robin Hood, both classics, within a stones throw of this movie.

There is some good drama here. Flynn and Davis Marriage seems doomed from the start. Anita Louise and Jane Bryan always call the folks and return home when they have problems. Davis husband leaves her for 2 years the night of the San Francisco earth quake and she never comes back home until the next election.

The movie is set at the election party of Teddy Roosevelt where Davis and Flynn meet. They next get back together at the election party for Taft. The story is in between the parties.

The quake was a subject for more than 1 film in the 1930's. It is a minor thing here though Davis is nearly killed.

This film has a lot of cast members who would move into different roles, but for a minor effort it is a solid film.

Stereotypes are reinforced in this sad melodrama

[cgvsluis · 4/10 · 27 September 2020]

The nicest thing I can say about this sad melodrama is that Errol Flynn and Bette Davis were gorgeous! In fact, Errol Flynn is so good looking in this film that I would go so far as to say he was prettier than Bette Davis! His character however was the opposite of pretty. He selfishly elopes with the eldest of three daughters of a small town Montana pharmacists, dragging her to his hometown of San Francisco under the promise of writing the "great American novel". He gave no thought as to how he was going to take care of himself let alone a wife on his meager sports columnists salary. Bette's character, Louise, is a trooper and is not only willing to make due with very little, but willing to be the cheerleader and prop up her miserable husband who would rather drink away his troubles. Unfortunately the stress and strain of doing so causes her to loose their first baby. Louise doesn't let it get her down and in her usual determined way she goes to work after her husband looses the one paying job he had in a fit of temper. In the end he can't handle the shame of his wife working and supporting his sorry self, so he abandons her by hopping on board a ship to the south seas. While he is out to sea, San Francisco and Louise suffer through the "great quake" and fires. Louise takes it on the chin, rises up from the ashes and goes back to work where she is thriving...and sadly still waiting for her husband's return two years later. Her husband does return with some "mystery" illness that he is dying of, I like to think it was syphilis! He sees her again at the same small town Montana election ball that he met her in four years earlier for a Roosevelt's election...but this time it is President Taft's turn. They make a sweet reunion, him knowing he is sick and dying and presumably say their goodbyes on a high note. The assumption is she will eventually marry and have a life with her way too kind, patient and sweet boss.

On to the middle sister, who was supposedly the pretty one. She marries a rich old man from her small town, both knowing she didn't love him and being ok with the relationship being about the freedoms and experiences that his money could provide for her. She has to endure his same age daughter's barbs about her being a gold digger and he eventually dies within a couple of years. By that time he dies she is already carrying on with some young man who is her age...she marries this fool who seems to love her, but with whom again she doesn't seem to love. They live a life of luxury in New York, but just for a few years...because surprise when she comes back to help the youngest sister with her domestic dispute and attend the Taft election ball back in Silver Bow, Montana...some new guy shows up (she is not even divorced from husband #2 yet) and she introduces him as her fiancé!

On to the third and youngest of the three sisters, she is the only one to stay in their small Montana town. Sadly she ends up marrying the sweetheart of her eldest sister who had been jilted when Louise ran off to San Francisco. In a parallel story, they have a baby Tom Jr. just when Louise looses her baby. But then around the time Tom jr is celebrating his second birthday, the poor naive youngest sister finds out that her husband Tom has been stepping out in her with the town floozie! This is the domestic dispute that brings home all of the sister. Best scene of the whole film is when the three sisters convince three "upstanding" males in their small town that for the betterment of the town and these "mystery" gentlemen who have taken up with her's marriages it is their duty to return n the floozy out of town.

Then the movie culminates with the pharmacist and his family attending the election ball for Taft and each dancing with their men-for Louise that is her boss, the middle sister soon to be husband three, and the youngest her now chagrined husband Tom. Queue the credits...

I don't know if this qualifies as one of the weepies back in the day, but it should have!

Sisters and their Misters

[Lejink · 6/10 · 9 April 2024]

Probably a better name for this movie would have been "The Sister" as, although we are initially introduced to the three daughters of small-town pharmacist Henry Travers and his fretful wife Beulah Bondi, it pretty much concentrates on the story of the eldest sister, Louise, Bette Davis's character. The doings of the other two sisters flit in and out of the narrative, but in truth, it's pretty much all about Bette.

Adopted from a popular romantic novel of the day, the timeline is framed by the elections of the first two US presidents of the 20th Century, Teddy Roosevelt and William Taft, in 1904 and 1908, as well as bracketing the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Punctuated throughout by close-ups of introductory chapter pages from the original book, no doubt to indulge the novel's fans although possibly for expository purposes too, what we have here is a glorified period soap-opera.

It has to be said right off that the attitudes shown in the film to women are very condescending indeed. One sister enters into a loveless marriage with a wealthy older man, presumably to keep her from remaining on the shelf, the other forgives her husband for running around with another woman even as we learn that the same scarlet woman has had flings, it seems, with every other so-called respectable male in the town. Talk about sauce for the gander.

Which brings us round to Bette, who's swept off her feet by Errol Flynn's handsome, ne'er-do-well sports reporter who breezes into town to meet up with his censorious old chum played by Donald Crisp. Soon enough, the star-crossed couple marry and set out for San Francisco, but naturally Errol can't change his wicked, wicked ways and before you can say Jack Daniels, is hitting the bottle and generally wallowing in self-pity, the final straw apparently being when his long-suffering wife takes the initiative and actually gets a job to earn the money her husband is drinking away. The very thought of a woman working and being the main breadwinner in a household! It all ends up a little too happily with a patched-on ending which apparently contradicts that of the novel.

Apart from the excitingly realistic earthquake scene, a coyou ple of voguish montage sequences and chaste sister Louise's unusual encounter with the local madame, I felt that director Anatole Litvak seemed rather constrained by the confines of the source material, subsiding too easily into a cosy, episodic, linear approach to the narrative. Davis enlivens things with a typically sparky performance but Flynn somehow never seems to engage with a part that on the face of it seems to reflect some of his real-life character traits. Travers and Bondi are appealing as the girls' parents, but neither of the other two sisters or their various beaus made much of an impression on me, which perhaps explains why none of them, male or female are much remembered today.

Still, in their different ways, the star-power of Flynn and Davis goes a long way but I've seen both in better movies than this.