Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

MartinHafer The film begins in Columbus, Ohio and young Eileen has visions of stardom on the stage--though she only has worked in community theater. Her older sister, Rosalind Russell, is an aspiring writer and they agree to both go to New York to seek fame and fortune. Along the way, they meet a bazillion crazy characters who wander into their basement apartment faster than is humanly possible. And, yes, I truly do mean wander into the apartment. It's like Grand Central Station in there and after a while the gimmick just doesn't make sense. Subtle it ain't! MY SISTER EILEEN is a screwball comedy that is very, very aware that that is exactly what it should be. While often cute and enjoyable, all too often the film seems to think that by being too loud, too chaotic and too goofy, it will be a successful film. Personally, I enjoyed it but wish they'd perhaps slowed the whole thing down and tried for at least some subtlety and style. It made the pacing of ARSENIC AND OLD LACE and BRINGING UP BABY seem absolutely slow by comparison!! Throughout this film, whenever the action seems to slow, the film makers seem to just randomly toss characters into the mix with the instructions "act kooky"--sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. As a result, it's a very hit or miss production. However, fortunately, the film ends on a very high note with a surprise (and funny) cameo appearance. I won't say more--it might spoil the fun.Overall, it's a good time-passer and a decent film, but don't expect magic.

dougdoepke It's a circus, but you don't need an admission ticket. You can even peek in from the street and catch all the antics on your way to work. It's Ruth and Eileen's sub-level flat, and rents for only $48 a month with open grillwork onto a chaotic Greenwich Village street scene. Are these two ambitious Mid-western sisters ready for a pro-football player who sleeps over, a fast-talking landlord who paints like a Dodo bird, and a mysterious stranger who walks in and refuses to leave, Then there's the battalion of Portuguese naval cadets who mistake the flat for a dance studio. It's all part of this wacky, fast-paced take on Life in the Big City.It's all good, innocent fun of course with a tempo that seldom falters, and when things do slow, there's always an underground jolt to mix it up again. Naturally, Rosalind Russell as the caustic older sister gets all the good throw-away lines, while Janet Blair as Eileen gets all the wolf whistles. Then there's the assorted characters-- Gordon Jone's trademark good-natured galoot, George Tobias' fractured ethnic type, and Chick Chandler's silent stranger more creepy than humorous. And, of course, no urban scene of the day would be complete without the bulldog-face of Donald McBride as the ever cranky cop. Together, they turn the flat into a stopover on the way to the funny farm. I expect more than a few Mid-Westerners packed up for New York hoping to get a share of madcap city life.On a more serious note, the movie was made at a time when the "common touch" was being celebrated in popular culture. After all, it would take a combined national effort to defeat the Axis powers. So, it's not surprising that many movies celebrated the America of the "melting pot", complete with ethnic types, blue-collar characters, and frequent references to Brooklyn, the symbol of the melding.Anyway, it's still a fun movie even if some skits do strain a bit. I guess the moral is that no city is too big for the talented. And especially, for the shapely. Then too, make sure to stick around for a very last scene that could not be more inspired or appropriate.

Daryl Chin (lqualls-dchin) Rosalind Russell was one of the finest comediennes in the American movies, and this in a period which saw the likes of Claudette Colbert, Carole Lombard, Jean Arthur, Ginger Rogers, Irene Dunne, Katharine Hepburn and others. Russell was a rarity: though all the others often played dizzy women, in her comedies, Russell always played smart, hard-edged career women (the exception was her first major comedy role, as the catty Sylvia in THE WOMEN).At a time when HANNAH TAKES THE STAIRS is set to open, with its lackadaisical heroine pursuing a writing career as she tries to make sense of her romantic entanglements, it behooves us to remember MY SISTER EILEEN, which (when it was filmed in 1942) is the prototype, as the two Sherwood sisters (Ruth, played by Rosalind Russell, and her younger sister Eileen, played by Janet Blair) come to New York City to try their hands at writing (for Ruth) and acting (for Eileen). The slapstick annoyances, the charmingly maladroit Greenwich Village denizens (part ethnic, part "bohemian"), the stereotypical romantic encounters, all make for a charming entertainment. In the wake of the sexual frankness of HANNAH TAKES THE STAIRS, MY SISTER EILEEN might seem dated, but it's a lovely reminder of the wit and the humor of the generation growing up during World War II, when women were (again) finding new possibilities in the workplace, but still had the same problems finding proper dates.

F Gwynplaine MacIntyre 'My Sister Eileen' is based on true incidents. Ruth and Eileen McKenney were sisters from a small town in Ohio who came to New York City: Ruth intending to become an author, Eileen hoping to be an actress. Although Ruth McKenney sold a few magazine pieces, her most successful work was her series of fictionalised articles about the misadventures of her younger sister Eileen. The stories themselves have been out of print for many years, but they provided the basis for a popular play, 'My Sister Eileen' (NOT written by Ruth McKenney), which was a long-running Broadway hit and which has remained in print ever since. Ruth McKenney ironically gained fame and wealth from a play written by two other people, based on her stories.The real Eileen McKenney ended badly. A pretty actress with more looks than talent, she married the overrated screenwriter Nathanael West and she died alongside him in West's fatal car accident.The 1942 film 'My Sister Eileen' is a faithful (and funny) version of the Broadway hit, although it bears only slight resemblance to the real-life exploits of sisters Ruth and Eileen McKenney (here renamed Sherwood). Rather unusually, this movie was made at Columbia Studios *during* the play's Broadway run. Two of the best performances here are given by actors repeating their stage roles: Gordon Jones as an obsessive football player named 'The Wreck', and Richard Quine as nice young man Frank Lippincott, who fancies Eileen.Small-town sisters Ruth and Eileen come to the big city. Ruth (Rosalind Russell) is smart, cynical, and doesn't need a man. Eileen (Janet Blair) is naive and pretty and attracts all the lads. Because the sisters haven't got much money, the only place they can afford is a basement flat in Greenwich Village, owned by a crooked landlord named Appopolous (George Tobias, not up to his usual high standard here). The flat is directly above a subway tunnel, where construction workers are blasting with dynamite: at regular intervals, the whole building shakes. Worse luck, the previous tenant was a young lady who (ahem!) rented by the hour, and so Ruth and Eileen are constantly plagued with male visitors who assume that their apartment is still, erm, open for business. Ruth and Eileen have no end of misadventures while trying to start their careers as, respectively, a journalist and an actress.BIG SPOILER STARTING NOW. The last gag in this movie is absolutely hilarious. All through the film, we hear the sounds of the subway navvies directly under Ruth's and Eileen's apartment. At the very end of this movie, a jackhammer pokes up through the floor and three construction workers emerge. When they pull off their helmets, we see that they're Moe, Larry and Curly! Moe lambastes his two 'knucklehead' workmates while the soundtrack starts playing the 'Three Stooges' theme tune!In 1953, Betty Comden and Adolph Green approached Rosalind Russell to star in a Broadway musical version of 'My Sister Eileen' with music by Leonard Bernstein, to be called 'Wonderful Town'. (The original title wasn't legally available.) I really dislike 'Wonderful Town': it has a score which I consider extremely pretentious. Rosalind Russell, to her credit, had no illusions about her own song-and-dance abilities. 'Wonderful Town' was never filmed, because Columbia had retained the musical rights ... and they made their OWN musical version in 1955, with tunes by Jule Styne that are vastly better than anything "Lenny" Bernstein ever wrote. Interestingly, Richard Quine (who hed acted in the original film and the Broadway cast) directed the musical remake, and his role as Frank Lippincott was taken over by Bob Fosse, giving his best performance as an actor and choreographing some snappy dance numbers as well. I strongly recommend both film versions of 'My Sister Eileen', which is more than I can say for the overrated 'Wonderful Town'. I'll rate this 1942 version 9 points out of 10. Well done!