Other comments on this site seem to love this 1955 Columbia musical, but I just didn't. I have an LP of the celebrated stage musical Wonderful Town with Rosalind Russell which is the source material for this film. As with ON THE TOWN (also with Betty Garrett) the studio tossed out almost all the songs and wrote new ones. Unfortunately he new ones weren't better than those deleted... in both cases. Wonderful Town has memorable and lively and wistful songs. EILEEN is a wallflower instead... in every way. Whereas ON THE TOWN succeeds by virtue of stellar MGM cast and other dance talent, MY SISTER EILEEN has non musical talent in the leads (Janet Leigh and Jack Lemmon) with superior talent relegated to the second ranks: Bob Fosse and Tommy Rall. As with Columbia's other 1955 musical travesty THREE FOR THE SHOW which slavishly turned every glorious snazzy Fox Marilyn Monroe musical number into a tubby spandex imitation version with Betty Grable (!) EILEEN clearly visually copies a lot of the set decor and costume design Garland enjoyed in A STAR IS BORN from 1954. Some of Garrett's outfits are copies seen in the famous surreal "Born In A Trunk" number. Finally, the apartment block set is right off the same plan as seen in REAR WINDOW... all as if Columbia clumped together ideas gleaned from those other successful films and like a ball of musical plasticine released their second big cinema scope musical called MY SISTER EILEEN. The male dance leads: Fosse and Rall have one truly sensational acrobatic number together, set in an alley... It is really the highlight of the film. ... On the real downside, Betty Garrett and Leigh are just not believable as sisters. Garrett, as wonderful as she is, just looks too old, like her Aunt instead, a generation ahead of perky Debbie-style Leigh. Beyond all that bewilderment, the characters of the girls are just plain dopey. I get naive, but these two are basically whiny and not very smart. MGM's B musicals ATHENA and I LOVE MELVIN and SMALL TOWN GIRL, all produced the year before are far better than this A grade Columbia attempt. And I love Betty Garrett and Jack Lemmon. A proper musical version of WONDERFUL TOWN awaits us all and if ever produced as written and scored will prove my comments to be hopefully more correct than wrong. I wanted to like this film a lot and was ready to, but the obvious plagiarism of production, the wrong casting and the fact I know the source musical to be excellent, makes Eileen fall over. I will avoid commenting on the goofy embarrassment of Dick York, the butch neighbour with the spunky fiancé, a spin on the horny newly weds across the courtyard in Rear Window.
Review of My Sister Eileen
