User reviews

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.

Abner! Abner! yup, that's George Tobias from "Bewitched" behind the wig and over-sized mustache playing the bushy/pushy artist and landlord in this first film version of "My Sister Eileen". Rosalind Russell and Janel Blair are sisters who come from Ohio to the big city to find fame and fortune in New York. There are some clever lines, mostly given to Russell, but it must be the direction of Alexander Hall holding this back. The Three Stooges make an appearance, and a very flat-line Brian Aherne. He keeps stepping out of the woodwork to tell Ruth (Russell) that her stories will or will not be published. Viewers will recognize Donald MacBride as the neighborhood cop, trying to keep things under control. Gordon Jones is the out of work muscle guy from upstairs, married of course, since we're well into the Hays Code by this time. He always seems to play the wrestler, the truck driver, and people named "Tex". The girls have many adventures, but the Portuguese navy is involved, and for some reason, they put Eileen (Blair) in jail, which doesn't really make sense, but you have to buy into it. It probably made more sense before it was all whitewashed for the audience. The basic story must have good footings, since the film has been remade, and it was even turned into a TV show in the 1960s. Janet Blair, who had the least experience in films at the time, turns in the best acting performance. Interesting note- Frank Quine, who had played Lippincott in the 1942 film version, directed the 1955 remake starring Janet Leigh, Jack Lemmon, and Betty Garrett. Haven't seen that one yet, but it must have been pretty good, since that one made it to video. and the 1955 version was a musical! one odd connection - the 42 version has George Tobias, and the 1955 version has Dick York, both would end up on the TV show "Bewitched"

Though this appears to have been filmed entirely on a sound stage, the feel of the original stories comes through. This is the Village as it has been as long as I've lived here.

Please note: I was not born when this movie came out. But maybe my mother, a writer, saw it and decided ti was for her. When I was a child we lived a few blocks from where the stories were set. And for the last decades, I have lived maybe three blocks from there. And how it has changed! And how much for the worse: Rich people, high rents and buying (who'd heard of buying an apartment in 1942?!) Noisy clubs ...

Janet Blair is fine as the title character. Rosalind Russell is very good as her sister Ruth. (The real Ruth, who wrote the stories, married Nathanael West and died tragically at a young age.) Russell is sort of like her Sylvia Fowler character in "The Women." But we can see hints of the broad style that was to come and was to sink her by the time of "Auntie Mame." George Tobias is fun as the girls' fast-talking artistic landlord. Without knowing it at the time, I rented my first Manhattan apartment from the man on whom this character was based. That was 30 years later.

Brian Ahern is OK as the male lead. He's a little stuffy, but he's meant to be. In fact, his character is insufferable. Why Ruth is drawn to him is not made clear.

I loved seeing the organ grinder near the end. I remember them on nearby Waverly Place a decade later when I was a small child! This gives a better view of the Village than any other commercial movie I can think of. It's fun and definitely is recommended..

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.

ROSALIND RUSSELL was always at her best in comedies and here she had a role that got her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in 1942--and it's easy to see why. She's downright hilarious as the gal from Ohio with writing ambitions and a pretty blonde sister (JANET BLAIR) with a penchant for attracting men and trouble.

All the wacky situations stem from their Greenwich Village basement apartment which seems to have more visitors than Grand Central Station. It's all exaggerated fluff, but it works, thanks to a fine cast and sterling performances.

RICHARD QUINE and GORDON JONES do repeats of their Broadway roles, and DONALD MacBRIDE as a policeman who wants quiet on his route is hilarious. JUNE HAVOC makes a brief appearance as a medium who used to live in the girls' apartment. GEORGE TOBIAS, as the opportunistic landlord with the Greek accent, is at his funniest in a colorful supporting role.

My favorite moment is the conga sequence with Russell and Blair trying to get rid of sailors who don't speak a word of English, creating a disturbance that lands Blair in jail. Janet Blair is pleasant as the blonde bombshell but it's Russell who milks the most out of her role and gets all the laughs. She's terrific.

BRIAN AHERNE does what he can with the role of the talkative editor, but it's not much of a part. Still, he adds a certain debonair charm to the role.

Summing up: Notable chiefly as a terrific vehicle for Russell's unique brand of comic talent.

Ruth McKenney's series of autobiographical articles about siblings from Columbus, Ohio relocated to wacky Greenwich Village was initially turned into a play before this movie version (it later went back to the stage as the musical "Wonderful Town", winning a Tony award for Rosalind Russell), and in 1955 was filmed again as "My Sister Eileen" with the songs. Russell appears here as Ruth (the smart, savvy sister who longs to be a writer) and Janet Blair is sister Eileen (the pretty blonde with hopes of becoming an actress). They move into the noisiest hovel in New York, with a steady stream of foot-traffic and neighbors who barge in without knocking. Some of these characters are colorful, though the comic craziness is pitched a little high, and everyone overacts (cheerfully). Russell (who got an Oscar nomination for her dryly bemused performance) sports an awful potato-chip hairstyle which must have been all the rage in 1942; her double takes and facial exaggerations are often very funny, and she plays well off Blair (they take turns playing the jester and the straight-face). Is it ridiculous and over-the-top? Absolutely. But when the results are this friendly, it's useless to complain. **1/2 from ****

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.

While this could not be considered a classic by any means, it is very enjoyable and a fun way to spend an afternoon. The humor is on point, but at times I felt like I was supposed to laugh when I didn't feel like laughing. Other than that, it was great. They didn't try to pad out the plot, and the plot that was there ran smoothly.

The ending was slightly implausible and too happy-sappy for me, but for the most part it didn't drag down the quality of the film.

Rosalind Russell was good, as usual, and Janet Blair was good as the sister Eileen. The rest of the characters that drift in and out of the lodgings of Eileen and Ruth (Roz Russell's character) have varying levels of effect. I liked the Portuguese soldiers, but I understand that some of the stereotypes might be considered a little dated. It's still good fun, though.

If you're a Roz Russell fan or a classic film lover, I reccomend this one.

Actually saw the 1955 musical remake first several years ago when my film taste and knowledge was nowhere near as broad and when my reviews and taste were not particularly good at all (or so from personal opinion that is). This is to confess that this was without realising at the time that this 1942 'My Sister Eileen' existed. Absolutely loved that film then, still do and slightly prefer it while enjoying this film very much.

1942's 'My Sister Eileen' is adapted from the Broadway smash, its appeal is unsurprisingly so, there have been stage hits where the appeal is a mystery by personal standards, that opinion just to say has been extremely rare with me and have really tried never to adopt that way of thinking, but not here. 'My Sister Eileen' may not be perfect but much of it is an absolute delight and it is very difficult to be too hard on it. There is a good deal of talent involved, with Rosalind Russell being the biggest name and draw, so it's hard to resist.

Do feel that the pacing is rather rushed and frenetic, and do agree that some of 'My Sister Eileen' does try too hard where it does go a little too over-the-top and become somewhat strident and chaotic.

It does have a silly story, but will be honest in saying that this film is hardly the only, first or last film from the "golden age" to not have the story as a strong suit and sometimes for that reason. Brian Aherne also has very little to work with and gets somewhat lost amidst everything else.

Having said all of this, 'My Sister Eileen' does boast some charming production values that don't look too stage-bound and is nicely photographed. There are a lot of very funny and often hilarious moments in the script and while the story and pace have their short-comings the story stays upbeat and impossible to dislike and even if the film did need a slowing down at least it engaged me and the deliciously kooky characters entertained. Got a lot of fun out of the conga sequence.

That is all thanks to a cast at the top of their game, with a few cast members reprising their roles from the stage and doing a great job at it. In support, Donald MacBride is a big standout. While Janet Blair is every bit Rosalind Russell's equal and the chemistry between them crackles Russell is the reason to see 'My Sister Eileen', her comic timing is just effortless and she is basically a joy to watch.

On the whole, not perfect but with a lot to enjoy. See it for Russell. 7/10

Rosalind Russell and Janet Blair are the Sherwood sisters, who come to New York City to seek their fortune in "My Sister Eileen," a 1942 film directed by Alexander Hall. "My Sister Eileen" was originally a novel by Ruth McKinney that was made into a Broadway play by George S. Kaufman and starring Shirley Booth, later a Broadway musical (also starring Rosalind Russell) called "Wonderful Town," and then a different musical film, again called "My Sister Eileen." Finally, it was a TV series. I guess Broadway and Hollywood got some mileage out of the novel.

The story concerns two sisters from Ohio who wind up living in Greenwich Village on Barrow Street. Ruth needed to leave Ohio; her rave review of her sister Eileen's performance in "A Doll's House" was published, but Eileen didn't play the role that night. The apartment has a few problems, one of which is the nearby subway, another is people who talk to them through the drapeless basement window, and another is the people that either follow the pretty, vivacious Eileen or whom she brings home. Finally, it looks as if Ruth gets a break when the editor of the Manhattaner, Bob Baker (Brian Aherne), likes her writing.

This is a really sweet comedy, and having lived in the Village for 30 years, I always enjoy a film that's set there. The best scene is the conga line with the sailors, in an attempt to get them out of the apartment.

Rosalind Russell's wonderful comedic skills and dry delivery work beautifully here, and when she appeared in the same role in "Wonderful Town," her reviews were sensational, and she won the 1953 Tony award. Once the '40s hit, she played smart, independent women; in the '30s, she did everything, including a few Garbo-esque turns. As the innocent man magnet Eileen, Janet Blair is very good, though I admit to liking Janet Leigh in the musical version better. Richard Quine repeats his Broadway role here, and he later directed the 1955 musical film. George Tobias is the girls' conniving landlord.

Fun movie, set in a time when you could get an apartment in New York City for $35-40 a month!

Funny comedy based on the real-life adventures of Ruth McKenney and he sister Eileen when they lived in a very Bohemian Greenwich Village in the 1930s.

The film is a sanitized version of the Broadway play which starred Shirley Booth. The film has Rosalind Russell starring as Ruth and Janet Blair as the naive Eileen as they try to make it in the big city. As Russell tries to crash the New York magazines with her stories, Blair attracts trouble and men.

The film features Brian Aherne as an editor, Allyn Joslyn as a leering reporter, Gordon Jones as Wreck, George Tobias as the landlord, Grant Mitchell as the girls' father, Elizabeth Patterson as their grandmother, June Havoc as Effie the fortune teller (a prostitute in the play), Chick Chandler as Effie's customer, Richard Quine as the soda jerk, Arnold Stang as the copy boy, Jeff Donnell as the annoying upstairs wife, and Donald MacBride as the cop on the beat.

Other familiar faces in smaller roles include Forrest Tucker, Frank Sully, Ann Doran, Charles Halton, Lewis Howard, Phyllis Kennedy, Bert Roach, and the Three Stooges in a cameo.

Rosalind Russell steals every scene she's in and gives a masterful and hilarious performance as the "dowdy" Ruth. She boasts a hair-do that looks like the front end of a Chrysler and plows through the comedy as if it were whipped cream. She's simply marvelous and won the first of her four Oscar nominations.

After brilliant comedic turns in films like THE WOMEN and HIS GIRL FRIDAY, MY SISTER EILEEN, which was a huge hit for Columbia Pictures, cemented Russell's place among the screen's top comediennes of the era with Carole Lombard, Marion Davies, Jean Arthur, Irene Dunne, Lucille Ball, and Claudette Colbert.

Not to be missed.

My Sister Eileen (1942) : Brief Review -

Have fun with the gorgeous Sherwood sisters and a lot of noise and chaos. Ruth McKenney's story was indeed special. She wasn't a celebrity or a VIP, but still, her chaotic life in Greenwich connects with all of us, especially middle-class girls and boys. Her autobiographies inspired a stage play, and then came this cinematic adaptation with two gorgeous actresses, Rosalind Russell and Janet Blair. Russell has been a part of many good comedies before, but her only notable/memorable comedy was "His Girl Friday" (1940). She got a kind of similar role, which was linked to the newspaper again, but this time she was more of a grounded and hardworking girl. Two sisters, one an ambitious writer and another an ambitious actress, shift to New York to have careers. Due to a shortage of money, they are forced (actually fooled) into renting a dingy apartment in the basement. Two begin to search for work and simultaneously struggle to live in a noisy and chaotic place, but after a month they begin to find the place lucky for them. There is a bit of romance here too, and that's a quiet one. A girl with no experience with boys falls for a nice person, and her sister too finds him attractive. As she says, "You like him too." The cute chemistry between the sisters sounds so delightful. The story and screenplay are weird, the conflicts are silly, but you believe and love them. That's one of the advantages of being madcap. Rosalind Russell gives a fine performance, while Janet Blair as her sister is just lovely. Brian Aherne leaves a mark despite the limited screen space, and the same goes with Allyn Joslyn, Grant Mitchell, George Tobias, Elizabeth Patterson, and others. The flow of Alexander Hall's storytelling keeps you engaged for 95 minutes, and there is never a dull moment. There are genuine laughs, though. Well, that's what "genuine comedy" means, right?

RATING - 7.5/10*

By - #samthebestest.

...Or maybe it is "Those Girls"?

This film stars Rosalind Russell as Ruth Sherwood, an aspiring writer, who moves from small town Columbus, OH to New York with her sister, Eileen (Janet Blair), an aspiring actress. Ruth and Eileen's father does not approve of his unmarried daughters moving to the city to pursue their careers, but grandma wholly approves and all but forces her son to let them go. ("Let?"- my understanding is both are adults - but then this is 1942) In New York, with limited funds ($100), the ladies look for a place to live. They end up at this apartment in Greenwich Village where, as a result of lack of sleep and desire to keep looking, they end up agreeing to a trial stay in the basement of the building. The deal is that they can live in the apartment for a month for free and if they like it, the rent will be $45/month afterward. If they hate the apartment, the landlord (Abner Kravitz with a big wig and mustache) will give them $45 for their trouble. The girls decide to stay, but there are lots of problems with this apartment.

The apartment is above a section where they are blasting the rock to build a subway. The girls are occasionally jolted by the explosions. Since Ruth and Eileen are in a basement apartment, they have the street pedestrian traffic walking past their windows. Their neighbors also seem to let themselves in willy nilly into their apartment. Also a previous tenant, Effie, whose career as a prostitute is alluded to, still has her Johns coming to her old place for a "psychic reading." Meanwhile, while all this is going on, Ruth and Eileen are trying to find jobs in writing and acting, respectively.

Eileen seems to have an almost hypnotic affect on men, rending Ruth practically invisible. Ruth ends up meeting the editor (Brian Aherne) of a magazine, The Mad Hatten, a magazine desperately in need of updating. I liked Aherne and Russell together. I thought that Aherne's calm, sophisticated demeanor complimented Russell's more wacky one. Russell and Janet Blair were excellent executing their physical comedy scenes--the conga line with the Portuguese Navy was especially funny--and must have been exhausting!

A final note - because they are short on funds the sisters are reduced to eating the cheapest of foods - spaghetti. This may be the first film that proposes the Atkins diet when Ruth mentions that eating only spaghetti (high carb) is making her fat.

Recommended for fans of classic comedy and carb counters everywhere.

I've heard of My Sister Eileen with Rosalind Russell but nothing specific so thought I'd finally give it a viewing for myself. Being from Ohio myself and having also moved to NYC I have to admit that I enjoyed these two sisters and their arrival in the city just a little too much. Their finding their first apartment in Greenwich Village and spending their first night was really cracking me up. Not sure if anyone else will find that segment as funny as me, but I certainly had a few good laughs. The remainder of the film had some interest and potential but I feel at times it seemed to try a bit too hard and got a little sloppy. Nevertheless, despite some reservations I did still enjoyed my time with My Sister Eileen.

Rosalind Russell got her first trip to the Oscars via her performance as the sensible Ruth Sherwood who wants a career as a writer, but has to worry about looking after that other sibling of her's who moved with her to New York from Columbus, Ohio, My Sister Eileen.

Imagine if you will a story where the heroine's wise and wisecracking best friend is the lead character and you've got My Sister Eileen. In most films Russell's character would be played by Eve Arden, but here what makes the film original is that the normal supporting role is the lead. As good a job as Russell does, I kind of wish Harry Cohn had thought of Arden for the lead.

The Sherwood sisters move from Columbus to make their mark in the big city and in one respect New York hasn't changed. Housing is pretty tough to come by and the sisters have to settle for a basement apartment in Greenwich Village. The apartment is owned by George Tobias, part time artist, and full time lech. But with Janet Blair as Eileen, he's just one of many.

Most of the action takes place in the Sherwood apartment where people just seem to come and go like it was Grand Central Station. Russell's wit and intelligence might scare off some people, she interests Brian Aherne however who works at a magazine she's trying to land a job with.

As for Blair she wants to be an actress and her obvious charm and naive sex appeal have the men swarming around her. This part was Janet Blair's first big break on screen and made her career.

Rosalind Russell in getting a nomination for Best Actress got the only Oscar recognition the film received. Roz was up against one tough field. Her's was the only comedy performance in a field that included such heavy dramas as Katharine Hepburn in Keeper Of The Flame, Bette Davis in Now Voyager, and Teresa Wright in Pride Of The Yankees. The winner due to the times as well as her acting was Greer Garson for Mrs. Miniver. Given the war, I don't think any of these other ladies had a chance.

In her memoirs Rosalind Russell said that Ruth Sherwood was the first of her career woman roles, parts by the way she loved to play. I think she might have forgotten Hildy Johnson from His Girl Friday, but it's possible she thought of Hildy as an anti-career woman because what she wanted to do was leave the newspaper business and marry Ralph Bellamy. Ruth Sherwood on the other hand wants to get a career going.

My Sister Eileen is a timeless classic, it could probably be remade today with few enough changes. Russell in fact did it on Broadway in the musical Wonderful Town. She may have failed an Oscar, but she got a Tony Award for the part.

Can't you see Jessica Simpson as Eileen Sherwood? I wonder why no one's thought of it.

She and her Little sister Eileen go to New York and the younger one keeps attracting men to which Russell, the brains, sighfully submits, making her utterly charming and stealing every scene. Russell has quite a time selling any writing. (I don't understand why she thinks she can make a living at it.) She goes through a lot while her sister spends little time on acting but rather keeps up with her social agenda. Until the cute little sister attracts the man Russell likes. How both handle it is surely one of the reasons this went on to be a play, a musical, and a remake.

This is a little gem, charming and fun. While the title character is played by Janet Blair, Rosalind Russell steals the film from everyone else. She is delightful throughout. The movie has a great supporting cast who score in individual scenes but they all revolve around Russell like the planets around the sun.

Even though Rosalind Russell played in a lot of comedic roles, she took her craft seriously on the set. As an experienced film actress since 1934, Russell was more than a little peeved with her co-star Janet Blair in September 1942's "My Sister Eileen." Blair, new to Hollywood, was obviously trying to upstage Russell in several scenes, causing the veteran's blood pressure to boil.

"She was new and nervous, the same way I'd been when I started," recalled Russell in her autobiography, "so I invited her into my dressing room and delivered a short speech about the inadvisability of the course she'd embarked on. 'Look,' I said, 'you're not going to steal the picture from me because I've got the better part, the sympathy comes to me. And you're not going to get any place with what you're doing. I know all those old tricks. When you upstage me, all I do is turn my back on the camera, and then they have to come around on me full-face for my close-up.'" After a few forceful coaching tips to Blair, 21, the young actress stopped her antics on the set. "I'm not doing it because I like you," Russell said candidly, "I don't know anything about you. I'm doing it to get a good picture." The incident displayed why Russell, whose performance as writer Ruth Sherwood in "My Sister Eileen" was hailed as one of her best while garnering an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Coming on the heels of her bravo performance as Hildy Johnson in 1940's "His Girl Friday," Russell showed an adeptness to roll off her tongue rapid-fire dialogue which earned her four Oscar nominations, five Golden Globe wins and a Tony Best Actress award.

"My Sister Eileen," writes film reviewer Noel Murray, "presents Russell to good advantage, by contrasting her with the pretty but dim Blair. If there's one major difference between the Hollywood of the '30s and '40s and the Hollywood of today, it's that film fans were expected to identify with and cheer on characters like Russell, who were prized as much for their intelligence as their attractiveness, and who seemed to know more about the way the world really worked than any men they might marry." "My Sister Eileen," an adaptation of the Broadway hit of the same name, is about two sisters from Ohio who try to make a go of it in New York City by renting a cheap basement apartment in Greenwich Village. Russell plays the older and wiser sister to Blair, who's her younger, more naive Eileen. The play, written by Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov, centers on the real writer Ruth McKenney's move to New York City with her sister. Later McKenney wrote for The New Yorker, describing the many eccentric characters who floated by her basement apartment throughout the day and evening, collecting her articles into a 1938 anthology book. Her sister married screenwriter Nathanael West ('The Day of the Locust' author) after she relocated to Los Angeles. Driving from a hunting trip, the couple was killed in late 1940 running a stop sign four days before they were scheduled to attend the opening of the Broadway play "My Sister Eileen." The play, with actress Shirley Booth, was a hit with 864 performances, and was still on the New York stage while the movie was released, an unusual occurrence at the time.

To get the treasured role of Ruth, Russell agreed to a five-year, two picture-a-year contract with Columbia Pictures. The appearance of the Three Stooges near the end of the film also assured a boast at the box office. "My Sister Eileen" was further adapted into the 1953 Broadway musical 'Wonderful Town' with composer Leonard Bernstein's score. Janet Leigh, Betty Garrett and Jack Lemmon starred in the updated film 1955 version of "My Sister Eileen," while a 1960 short-lived TV comedy series was based on the premise. Coincidentally, the 1976 television comedy series 'Laverne & Shirley' has the same basement apartment setting as the play and the movie, only relocated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Even if we take the cynical approach and say that Alexander Hall's "My Sister Eileen" is another fish-out-of-water movie, you can't deny that it's one enjoyable piece of work. The Eileen of the title is a bubbly young woman played by Janet Blair, with Rosalind Russell (in an Academy Award-nominated performance) as her irascible sister Ruth. The two of them move to New York to seek their fortune, only to experience all manner of unpleasant things. Whether it's an apartment visited by practically everyone, or confrontations with a publisher, there's bound to be more than a few Marx Brothers-style occurrences!

I understand that the movie is based on a play, which is itself based on Ruth McKenney's memoirs of moving to New York with her sister. I figure that their experiences probably weren't as funny as what the movie, but you know what they say: comedy is tragedy plus timing. This is the textbook definition of a comedy classic. True, a lot of the material will seem dated - Rosalind Russell's and Janet Blair's clothes and hairdos just scream 1940s - but we can overlook that. This is one that you gotta see!

Watch for a young George Tobias (Abner Kravitz on "Bewitched") as the landlord.