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Reviews
My Sister Eileen (1955)
A forgotten GEM of a film musical!
Where has this film been all these years? What a completely charming piece of entertainment with a nice score by Jule Styne (Gypsy, Funny Girl, Bells Are Ringing). OK, so it's no Singin' In The Rain or Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. But it's equally as good as a lot of the other lesser MGM musicals of the 1940s and 1950s such as Summer Stock and On The Town. Based on the 1940 play of the same name (Book by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov;) Betty Garrett and Janet Leigh are perfect as the Sherwood sisters. They both shine in their performances. And top it off, the film highlights some wonderful choreography by none other than legendary Bob Fosse. His work is, as it always was, stylish and pure class. The only glitch in the casting is that of Jack Lemon. He tries to be a slick, man-of-the-world New York publisher. But his performance just falls a bit short of his usual standards. And sadly there was very little chemistry between Garrett and Lemon, making the blossoming romance of their characters somewhat hard to believe. Still, even with this small weak link in the chain, overall the film really works.
It does seem strange that just the year before this film was released, Broadway produced their own musical version of the original 1940 non-musical version of My Sister Eileen, called Wonderful Town (Music by Leonard Berstein; Lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green). While Wonderful Town wasn't a huge Broadway smash, it did run 559 performances, which was respectable for 1954. With a musical stage version of the play already existing as a part of the world of musical theater, I tend to wonder why Columbia started from scratch with this film and didn't film the Bernstein, Comdon & Green musical. But still, it's nice to know that there are two different musical versions of this charming play to enjoy.
Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964)
Nice try. No cigar!
I love old movie musicals. I've wanted to see this film for years and years. It always seemed like it would be a real hoot with such a great cast. It isn't. It's pure "dreck"! The opening number highlights Peter Falk's spectacular signing voice. (Sarcasm intended.) And then the film goes down from there. The idea of a Robin Hood story updated to 1920's Chicago is just so painfully obvious a plot gimmick it made my skin craw. The whole idea of the characters being Little John, Guy Gisborne, Allen A. Dale and so on just highlight what an awkward concept this film really is.
Every performance is so hammy and self-aware the film became unwatchable. I have to admit that I found myself doing other things around the house with it played in the background on the TV, popping in now and again when a song or bit of dialog drew me back to the TV. All of the stars behave as if they are saying "I'm (insert Rat Pack persona name here) and I don't have to act. The masses will love me no matter what I do." And to top it off, Barbara Rush is so wooden in her performance, she makes Pinocchio look like a real boy. The only performance worth watching is that of Bing Crosby, who successfully plays against type for a portion of the film. He's actually the only glimmering light of entertainment in this mess, but sadly as the film progresses his character changes to a Crosby stock character, and he falls into the slick trap of being a "star" as did the rest of the cast fall victim from the start.
The musical numbers are horribly staged. It was as if the numbers were staged with the thought of "Choreographers? We don't need no stinking choreographers!" And the score
.. Every song was like a parody of things already done by the various stars in their careers. I've always wondered why I was never aware of this film surfacing on TV or on home video. Now I know why. It's simply dreadful.