TWO SISTERS FROM BOSTON
US, 1946, 113 minutes, Black and white.
Kathryn Grayson, June Allyson, Lauritz Melchior, Jimmy Durante, Peter Lawford, Ben Blue, Isobel Elsom.
Directed by Henry Koster.
Two Sisters From Boston is set at the turn of the 19th & 20th centuries. It presents Boston as very aristocratic, snobbish, puritanical. One of the daughters of the family goes to New York to singii opera but finds herself in burlesque. When the film family comes to New York because of rumours, all kinds of farcical situations are set up to prevent the uncle and aunt from discovering the truth. Kathryn Grayson is the would-be singer. June Allyson is her prim younger sister who eventually stands in for her to show the aristocratic New York family that her sister is not a burlesque dancer.
The film is very much old style, poking fun at the narrow-minded Bostonians and their gossip. It puts in a good word for both opera, with excerpts from Kathryn Grayson and Lauritz Melchior, as well as for burlesque with several comic songs, Jimmy Durante combining with Kathryn Grayson and with June Allyson. Jimmy Durante does his usual turn with all the word mix-ups and wisecracks. Peter Lawford is a prim New Yorker. Ben Blue appears first as an alcoholic pestering Kathryn Grayson in the burlesque club. He is later revealed to be a very proper butler with amnesia – but, of course, remembering everything under the influence.
Director Henry Koster made a wide range of films during the 40s to the 60s, ranging from films with Deanna Durbin, to The Robe, the first film in Cinemascope, to comedies with James Stewart like Take Her, She’s Mine.
1. Popular MGM entertainment of the 1940s, society, comedy, music, opera, burlesque.
2. The focus on Boston, society, costumes, décor? Turn of the century? The comparison with New York high society? The opera? With the burlesque saloons? The small apartments? The contrast with classes?
3. The film as a musical, the music hall songs, burlesque? Jimmy Durante at the piano, his comic style, his voice? Wisecracks? Word mix-ups? The contrast with the opera sequences? The final song by Kathryn Grayson? How well did the different styles combine?
4. The family? The uncle and aunt and their reaction to the rumours? Going to New York, confronting Abigail? Getting the opera tickets? The behaviour at the opera, talking, glad to see Abigail? Their return to Boston satisfied?
5. Martha, prim, the piano at the recital? Her shock at the news about Abigail? Relieved when Abigail told her about the opera? Her going to the burlesque club? The confrontation with Spike? Her fainting? Her relief that Abigail had the performance at the opera? Her going to see Lawrence? His misjudging her? Her collapse? The farce and carrying her? His mother, his father? Martha and her friendship with Lawrence, falling in love? Her taking Abigail’s place, the performance, Lawrence and his huff? At the opera, the reconciliation? The intervention of Lawrence’s father?
6. Abigail, the opportunity for the opera? Spike, his hold over the security man at the desk, his technique for finding out a secret and holding it over him? His doing the same with Richard Olstrom? Abigail, people misunderstanding her relationship with Mr Chandler? Allowing her to go on? Her singing the extra notes, her trying to escape, the curtain call? The later opportunity for the audition? The encounter with Olstrom? Her singing at the recital, the opportunity to star in the opera? Olstrom’s reaction, accepting her, singing happily with her?
7. Lawrence, the prim young man, his father’s reputation, under his mother’s thumb? His trying to save the day, his shock with Abigail, his attraction towards Martha? His shock, the reconciliation?
8. Rigley, his behaviour at the burlesque, drunk? His being the prim butler at the household, his drinking, the change of attitude, Spike trying to get rid of him? His return and the scandal?
9. The comic sequences, the farcical aspects? The comment on Boston, judgmental attitudes, stereotypes? The daring touch with the burlesque sequences? Costumes, songs?
