User reviews

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.

From 1946, "Two Sisters from Boston" stars Kathryn Grayson and June Allyson as -- well, two sisters from Boston at the turn of the century. Grayson is Abigail Chandler, who wants to make it as an opera singer in New York, but winds up singing with Spike (Jimmy Durante) in a burlesque house. When Martha (Allyson) comes to visit with their parents, Abigail claims that she's singing at the opera house, and they buy tickets.

Spike is an old hand at getting into places. He intimates to the staff that she is the girlfriend of a big patron, Patterson, and gets her into the chorus. Abigail incurs Olstrum's wrath when she keeps interpolating high notes during his aria.

Peter Lawford is Patterson's son Lawrence and is terribly upset when he thinks his father is having an affair with Abigail. That's straightened out, and Lawrence becomes interested in Martha. Now, how to keep his upper crust family from knowing that Abigail is High C Susie in a Burlesque house?

Sweet film, heartwarming, with Jimmy Durante hilarious as he pretends past scandalous associations with well-known people to get into places and get favors. June Allyson is delightful with her relaxed comedy that came out of her character. Peter Lawford - I can never get over how handsome he was. Kathryn Grayson had a very pretty voice though a screechy top and was charming as Abigail.

I just don't understand how anyone hired her for roles that absolutely, positively did not fit that fluttery light soprano: Apparently she performed La Boheme, La Traviata, and Madama Butterfly on the opera stage. No idea what they were thinking. She should have been singing Don Pasquale, Daughter of the Regiment, Mignon. As bad as Jeanette McDonald singing Tosca.

In this film, the studio took concertos for violin, etc., and turned them into classical music rather than having actual operas. The exception was in some of Lauritz Melchior's music. With the end of World War II before this movie began filming, he was able to sing Wagner once again. He was one of the greatest heldentenors who ever lived, and his specialty was in Wagnerian roles. Here he knocks your socks off with a sequence from Lohengrin and Preislied from Der Meistersinger. Magnificent.

The best sequence was Melchior's recording session where his dog sat in front of the megaphone-shaped phonograph in an exact replication of the RCA logo, and someone said, "His master's voice." Fabulous.

Fun movie. I wish they'd used some real operas, though, instead of "Marie Antoinette" which was really Violin Concerto in E Minor by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy.

Being a great fan of Lauritz Melchior, I was extremely delighted to be able to see the few movies he made in 40's last night on TCM. The four times he sings in the picture were, for me, extreme highlights, especially when he sang 'Morgenlich leuchtend im rosigem Schein'.

June Allyson was a delight and the act she did in the night club, left me laughing. Alot was based on her innocence and it worked great.

Kathryn Grayson was also a delight and the film was very clearly made to showcase her and Melchior. But even so, she did come out in glorious voice and made her and Allyson's characters people to care about.

Jimmy Durante was also a great treat as the club manager and hood, using like phraise: 'I don't know nothin' alot to make people do what he wanted.

To finalise this comment, for me it was Lauritz Melchior who steeled the show every time he was on the screen, but the story was good with a happy ending where everyone had what they wanted.

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.

High-C Susie! that's hilarious. and it's Abigail Chandler's stage name when she gets on stage to do her burlesky. Keep an eye out for Jimmy Durante doing his awesome shtick. He was a pro fer sure. fun to watch Durante work fun word-play into a song. When Abby's sister comes for a visit from back home, she tries to keep her from finding out the truth about her on stage performances. Kathryn Grayson and June Allyson co-star as sisters in this musical from MGM. Peter Lawford is in here as Lawrence Patterson. and Grady Sutton and Barbara Billingsly are in here as party extras, according to imdb. It's okay... it travels the line between comedy and serious period piece, and mostly succeeds. a funny number where she gets down to her bloomers and sings "after the show". i was never a big fan of either June Allyson or Peter Lawford, but if you turn down to high octave arias, the story is pretty good. I'll give this one an "okay". shows occasionally on Turner Classics.

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

June Allyson takes full advantage of the chance to show off her comic talent in this charming film set in turn-of-the- century New York. Kathryn Grayson, who was at the time a bigger star, is in fine voice. Lauritz Melchior and Jimmy Durante make substantial contributions to the fun. It's the first time June Allyson and Peter Lawford were paired, and he is delightful. But it is June's film, and one of her best during her MGM years. Unfortunately, it wasn't filmed in technicolor.

I found two highlights in "Two Sisters from Boston". The first involves the dog of the big opera star (played by Lauritz Melchior). It sits ever so quietly during the opera star's songs, which I thought were poorly dubbed in this movie. No matter how loud (and gets very loud!) the opera star sings, the dog quietly shows no reaction. However, later on, one of the star's performances is recorded, and played. Suddenly, the dog jumps up and does a dead-on impression of the RCA Victor logo - someone comments, "His Master's Voice!" That was very well done.

Second, there is a scene where Peter Lawford revives a fainted June Allyson with gin. Smart man! Ms. Allyson steals the film from "pretty" star Kathryn Grayson. Jimmy Durante is entertaining; he also uses the bottle to revive Allyson. Allyson's comic performance is fresh and natural; later comic roles seem more forced and unnatural. Unfortunately, the movie gets too far off Allyson. I really didn't care about the other characters, and they sucked up a lot of screen time.

You might have to be a big opera fan (or fan of Mr. Melchior) to thoroughly enjoy this movie.

**** Two Sisters from Boston (1946) Henry Koster ~ June Allyson, Kathryn Grayson, Jimmy Durante

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.

Not to be taken seriously for a fun time. Two Sisters get involved with the Opera and dance hall antics. Implausible as most of these movies may be, but an ok watch. Allyson a bid insipid in this one, but funny. Grayson in usual shrill voice does ok. Jimmy Durante a bid over the top and Peter Lawford his regular bland self. How he got so popular is beyond me. Biggest fault is the end. Grayson goes on in a starring role in an opera with NOT A SINGLE REHEARSAL. Totally unbelievable and ruins the movie.

Jimmy Durante was a comedic force of nature. He stole almost every scene he appeared in, putting those around him in the shade. And Lauritz Melchior also turned out to be a great natural comedian. (Who would have thunk it? The great Wagnerian tenor of his generation, not a great actor in those roles from all reports, turned out to be a naturally funny guy on screen.) So, I had great hopes for this movie.

But they were dashed. The two really have only one good scene together.

Instead, the majority of this movie is devoted to June Allyson, who went on to do much better things, and Kathryn Grayson, whom I have never liked, saddled with an awful script. (Even though she is very closely miked, the last scene of the movie, in which we hear Grayson singing with Melchior, sounds like a duet between a lion and a shrill mouse.)

The result: a really forgettable movie.

If only MGM had seen the comedic potential of Melchior and Durante together in the same movie

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On watching this again three years later, I don't find much more to recommend it.

The script is definitely the worst thing in the movie. It turns around the already old cliché opposing classical and popular music.

Melchior gets lots to sing, but his two big scenes are *fake* operas, words and staging set to concert music (by Liszt and someone else).

After all the talk about Rimsky Korsakov's Coq d'Or/Golden Cockerel, we are presented with the first of the two opera scenes, which has a different title and no music from Le Coq d'Or. That's bizarre.

My favorite musical number in this movie is Grayson in her first burlesque number. She's really very good there, and suggests that all the subsequent efforts to give her "serious music" were largely a waste of her talents.

Though I've seen it twice now, I can't find any reason for sitting through it even once.

June Allyson is one of those actresses who just by being on screen can make a movie better. She does so in this movie with cuteness, comedy, and acting ability. Kathryn Grayson does a fine job here also showing her singing talent in particular. Then, unfortunately, Peter Lawford shows up, and there goes a good script.

Lawford is one of those "actors" who simply by his presence in a movie makes it that much worse. It's unusual for me even to watch a movie knowing he's in it, but the plot looked good as well as the other cast members, so I forced my way through his scenes. He has all the acting chops of a rogue marionette, so at least when he's not in the movie, there are many good moments making it overall a worthwhile watch.

There may be some aspects story-wise that are in the predictable side. However Two Sisters From Boston more than makes up for that in its sense of fun and spirit, not to mention that it is very heart-warming(especially at the end). The film is lovely to look at, with beautiful photography and appealing costumes and sets. The music is just as delightful, I may have heard more memorable songs elsewhere but they are still well-written and catchy. Including well-known operatic arias, especially Walther's Prize Song from Wagner's Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg, was a nice touch. The script is very funny and wonderfully sly, with Jimmy Durante getting the best lines. Two other scenes stood out, the audio joke with the dog(looking exactly like the RCA Victor Logo) in the Prize Song recording scene and Peter Lawford reviving June Allyson with gin. And I got the sense that with the acting everybody seemed to be having fun. Peter Lawford and Kathryn Grayson are charming in their performances, and Jimmy Durante makes the most out of his role, which is just as sly and as enjoyable as his dialogue. But my favourites were June Allyson(for me one of her better performances and films) whose innocence and unforced comic timing really shone, and Lauritz Melchior, who will delight any opera fan with his large, ringing and never tired voice which is used to great effect in the Prize Song.(he has often been criticised for lack of musicianship but there have been times where he has shown he has it(the 1931 version of the Meistersinger Quintet with Elisabeth Schumann as Eva and Friederich Schorr as Hans Sachs) and regardless I always find him exciting to listen to) All in all, a truly lovely film and very difficult not to like. 9/10 Bethany Cox

If you enjoy G rated Burlesque movies with crappy songs and your boredom threshold is high then this is your kinda film. And Ms. Grayson's lungs sure are impressive.

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.

Too much time in TWO SISTERS FROM BOSTON is given to the shenanigans of Jimmy Durante and the robust singing of Lauritz Melchior. Very little actually in the way of significant musical interludes for Miss Grayson, which is a shame. Added to that, the plot is a rambling one which goes all over the map in providing subplots about mistaken identity, etc.

Production values are fine, but it's clear that MGM missed an opportunity to film this one in color, what with the costumes and settings so lavishly displayed. The turn of the century atmosphere is convincingly handled. Peter Lawford and June Allyson are teamed romantically (as usual), and Grayson does finally get her chance to do some operatic singing for the story's finale.

Nevertheless, it's a disappointing showcase for her vocally, even if the role itself provides some singing and dancing. June Allyson is given more opportunities to shine, but it's not one of her best roles either.

Summing up: A disappointing trifle.

"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 -- daneldorado93@yahoo.com

A little on the predictable side but a lot of fun. Lots of misunderstandings and confusion but it all works out in the end. Kathryn Grayson shows a side of herself (no pun intended) that is not seen in her other films. She has a flair for comedy and does a good job as a Bowery singer as well as an Opera star. June Allyson shows that she can handle anything they throw at her as well. No really memorable songs (though I did like "G'wan Home Yer Mudder's Callin'"). Lauritz Melchior is in full voice and Jimmy Durante seemed to be having a lot of fun with his role. I just watched it again on TCM and it was as much fun as when I originally saw it.

"Two Sisters from Boston" may be the best tongue-in-cheek yet gentle spoof in filmdom. While Hollywood and its counterparts across the pond turned out a good number of satires over the years, the more tongue-in-cheek spooferies were far fewer. This one surely must be ranked toward the top. The spoofery here is all aimed at the puritanism of the once proper and prudish Boston, U. S. A. Not that other cities and towns - indeed, most of them, didn't also have such folk, especially among the upper crust. And, this isn't about morality and proper behavior - the type that most people had who brought civilization to the New World as well as to Old World countries. But here, we're talking about that rigid morality carried to the extremes of exorcising language of terms that refer to anything unsuitable or distasteful.

The time is the turn of the 20th century. And this movie is a riot with a screenplay, direction, acting and everything about it playing the spoofery and comedy to the hilt. Much of the humor is in the innuendo and misunderstanding of the characters at times. The mix up of the Patterson senior and junior plays for many laughs. The writers did a superb job with this. And, then the humor in the exaggerated actions expressing shock is uproariously funny. When one isn't laughing out loud at one of June Allyson's vaudevillian faints, one is smiling at Peter Lawford's restrained, shy wallflower who misunderstands the goings on. And, in a next scene, one chuckles over Jimmy Durante's stage direction in the Golden Rooster, or in his "I don't know anything" finagling with various characters to get Kathryn Grayson on the stage.

This is a musical comedy par excellence. The music is very good, with some very good and funny tunes in the Bowery. And it has one of the best opera stars for playing in comedy films. Lauritz Melchior contributes nicely to the plot - with song and humor. Some other cast members add to the comedy. Ben Blue is the Chandler's butler, Wrigley. Isobel Elsom is Aunt Jennifer, and Harry Hayden is the penny-pinching, high-minded and very loud Uncle Jonathan who's running for mayor of Boston. The rest of the cast all are very good.

Grayson has the lead as Abigail Chandler, and Jimmy Durante has the male lead as Spike, her show partner. This is one of the very best of Durante's films. Melchior is the opera star, Olstrom, and he and Grayson's Abigail have a couple of very funny encounters in staged opera scenes. But June Allyson's Martha Chandler - the sister of Abigail, and Lawford's Lawrence Patterson, Jr., are the anchors of the comedy plot who carry this film to a hilarious and pleasant success. Allyson's naïve and innocent Martha had me in stitches in her shock at the goings on in the Bowery of New York. Her faints are the absolute funniest ever put on film. One has to see this film to know how different a woman's faint can appear.

This movie is one hilarious romp with some very good singing, great costuming, wonderful sets and first-rate direction and acting by all. Here are some favorite lines from the film.

Spike, "Listen bub, this girl is married, has ten children and I'm the youngest. Do I make myself clear?"

Spike, "This babe, uh, is she a canary with steam? You know - does she chirp, is she a thrush?" Bowery Chorus Girl, "He means is she a warbler?" Martha Chandler, "She sings, if that's what you mean."

Spike, "What're ya doin'?" Abigail, "I'm leaving". Spike, "Leavin'? You can't do that. You'll cook the goose of the Golden Rooster."

Olstrom, "Mr. Patterson, last night I had to suffer a chorus girl and today, a, a, a hippopotamus."

Lawrence Patterson Jr., "Where's my mother, Wrigley?" Wrigley, "Upstairs, sir, dressing. She's going to a meeting of the Society of Society's Society, sir."

Lawrence Patterson Jr., after Martha faints, and he pours some gin on her lips, "Miss! Miss! Please, just open your eyes. One eye? Please!" Martha, moves her head a little, "Mmmm." Lawrence Jr., "She moved. She's alive. She's alive!"

Martha, hiccups, "Oh, I'm sorry. I Must have inherited it from grandpa." Lawrence Jr., "Oh, but of course, it's from the gin. I read somewhere that hiccupping is one of the consequences of drinking." Martha, "Gin?" Lawrence, "Yes." Martha, "What is gin?" Lawrence, "It's a, a form of alcohol. I strengthened you with it - oh, for medicinal purposes only, of course."

Lawrence Jr., "Don't despair now. Don't despair. You know Greek and I know Greek. We'll see this thing through together."

Waiter, "You mean Mr. Wrigley? He's very strange. He's got amnesia." Spike, "Oh, his knees that's gone bad on him huh?" Waiter, "No, his brain. He can't remember anything..."

Golden Rooster waiter, "Bottle of burp for table 19."

Olstrom, "Come. Let us go and let the young lady meet me."

Lawrence Patterson, Jr., "If you don't mind, we'd better have the door shut. All ears are not calloused, Miss Chandler."

Spike, "Are you sure she's from Boston?" Martha, "Oh, yes indeed. Her family's lived there for generations." Spike, "Naw, this kid ain't that old. That ain't her."

Martha Chandler, "I'm not upset. I'm just annoyed, that's all."

Lawrence Patterson Jr., "If you don't mind, we'd better have the door shut. All ears are not calloused, Miss Chandler."

Spike, "Are you sure she's from Boston?" Martha, "Oh, yes indeed. Her family's lived there for generations." Spike, "Naw, this kid ain't that old. That ain't her."

Spike, "Come on, whaddaya say? You don't have to speak - just nod your head."

Lawrence Patterson Jr., "Why, you fainted - that's a sign of good blood."

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 you have a film that has two female leads, mo male lead, one male romantic interest (Peter Lawford) who is not top billed, and it's set at the.turn of the 20th Century. Not the usual recipe for a successful 1940s film. And yet according to MGM records, it was a hit and It Happened in Brooklyn, starring Frank Sinatra and Grayson with Lawford, made the following year with a contemporary, even timely story and three great songs, was not. And yet I liked Two Sisters. It was well produced, had a good supporting cast, and there was an effort to reflect the period. A thing that impressed me was that the girls in the chorus at the saloon where Grayson is performing were not displaying 1940w sexy legs and rehearsall shows but were covered up, which made sense for a story set in 1900. Grayson displayed more comic timing than usual and, in addition to her usual singing of classical music, seemed at home with the saloon numbers. And her scene in which she breaks out of the ensemble to sing high notes to impress her family in the audience was well done--she even got to take a bow--and made me laugh. Lauritz Melchior seemed more relaxed than usual, perhaps enjoying, as Grayson seemed to, the chance at broader comedy. And Jimmy Durante, always funny, had a more substantial part than MGM usually have him. It is not a well known film, which is sad. It is worth a look.