They Were Sisters

This is a women's film but extremely interesting for anyone to study in detail, as there are four different female characters developing in different directions, and each one is of paramount interest. The question is whose is the most interesting. Is it Phyllis Calvert as the strongest character who is doomed to a childless life with the best of husbands but makes the best of it by her honesty, or is it Anne Crawford as the more liberated Lucy, who is the one who from the beginning sees through the ugliness of James Mason's character, is it Dulcie Gray in her heartrending martyrdom gradually driven to the despair of alcoholism by the subtly increasing cruelty of her husband, or is it Pamela Kellino as James Mason's daughter torn between her loyalty to her after all loving father and her empathy with her mother? The drama is nonexistent at first, everything starts in a perfectly idyllic setting where nothing could even be suspected to go wrong, but gradually the tragedy sneaks in to grow surreptitiously into an overwhelming drama of human disintegration. It is marvellously composed, and Hubert Bath's idyllic music adds to it. James Mason of course dominates the whole stage from the first to the last in the extremely difficult performance of being convincingly inhumanly cruel after having started off as the perfect charmer, but every performance here is great, in a fascinating family chronicle of relationship complications that could happen in any family. Nine points at least.

Loved this film. James Mason gorgeously dastardly and children roles not as superficial as many other films. Very confused about IMDB and Wickipedia entries though. Saw this today and Lucy character had lost a child. Hence discussing removing a picture of their dead daughter before notice Judith came to stay for fear of upsetting her that children sometimes die. Yet IMDB and Wickipedia both say she was childless, have they watched the film!

This is a truly shocking film, and it is certainly not a weepie. Usually Gainsborough films have left me cold, indulging mostly in a fake delirium of both plots and characters. There are exceptions and this is one of them. It shows in tragic detail the details of false marriages, and the pain that children feel watching helplessly and not being able to escape or react. The plot is not melodramatic, and the suffering, intensely portayed by the three sisters of the title, and how only one of the three is happy with her husband rings true. To give away the plot is unfair, because the unravelling of the three marriages is so meticulously done. Dulcie Gray is the most tragic of the three and acts very well, and so does Phyllis Calvert but the third sister played by Anne Crawford ( who died far too young ) gives an extraordinary performance. Her coldness towards her husband almost equals the cold male brutality James Mason portrays as a real emotional killer. I also think in watching this film that viewers of our era should not find the mannerisms of the first half of the 20th C. to be out of date or ' funny ' in any way. Each period has its social mannerisms and if time allows at the end of this century people may look back and laugh. I do not find the film dated, and the subject matter of marital abuse and cruelty is as important today as then. Watch the scene where a father threatens to take away a loved dog from his child, by either giving it to a woman who does not want it or have it ' put down '. The devastation on the child's face is terrible to watch, and the director Arthur Crabtree excels in showing human tyranny and human suffering without sentimentality. Only the final scene nearly ruins what went before, but I guess after WW2 in 1945 an audience could only take so much. I would give it a 10 if that scene had not ( perhaps ) been tagged on.

They Were Sisters casts Phyllis Calvert, Anne Crawford, and Dulcie Gray as three sisters who meet and marry their husbands right after World War I and the film is the story of the three marriages in those years between the World Wars. It's not unlike the Bette Davis-Errol Flynn film from Warner Brothers The Sisters. But believe me there are no characters in that one as dark and sinister as James Mason here.

Phyllis Calvert is the nice one, the real glue that holds the extended family together. She meets and marries Peter Murray-Hill who was her husband in real life. They have no children, but become everyone's favorite uncle and aunt.

Anne Crawford is a spoiled child of the Roaring Twenties who wants to have every man in a room drooling when she makes an entrance. She's an incurable flirt, but she marries Barrie Livesey who's a comfortable old soul even in his youth and who knows himself, he's as dull as drying paint. One flirtation with Hugh Sinclair does put the marriage at risk however. She also ignores her only daughter who finds her best times spent with Calvert.

Dulcie Gray when she's on steals the film. Before the term was invented Gray is the perfect picture of a battered wife. She marries James Mason who systematically lowers the self esteem of a kind and generous person, even in the eyes of the three children they have. Of course Mason also starts on them as well and the other sisters soon notice it.

Mason is also at his nastiest in They Were Sisters. Without ever doing anything really physical to Gray, his voice inflections and body language suggest a truly evil man. His oldest daughter is played by Pamela Kellino who soon afterwards became Mrs. Mason in real life.

They Were Sisters explores some themes that Hollywood was not touching on at this time. Very similar to that other Gainsborough film, Fanny By Gaslight which also starred Mason and Calvert. It's a strong and disturbing film even with child characters, not necessarily for kid's viewing.

If you have seen "The Man in Grey (1943)" and enjoyed it, you should take the time and trouble to seek out this forgotten gem from 1945 for it again stars James Mason playing a sadistic, manipulative husband, albeit in modern dress.Alongside, it tells the story of three very different sisters at a time between the two world wars.The story also follows their respective marriages and the type of husbands they wed.

Phylis Calvert (Lucy) plays a "goody two shoes" sister who has tragically lost a daughter but has a very supportive, understanding husband.A very sexy Anne Crawford plays a promiscuous wife (Vera) who finds her husband boring and looks for affairs on the side.To be fair to her character, she did say to her fiancé that she did not love him before they wed.Nevertheless they have a daughter together.There is a brief sexy scene where Vera is putting on her stockings which is far more daring than you will see in American films of the time with the Hays Censorship Code in place.I have quite a collection of films of this vintage and the only equivalent film I can think of is the Madeleine Carroll/Robert Donat scene in the Scottish hotel bedroom from "The 39 Steps" (1935).As an aside, if you would like to see another performance by Anne Crawford, seek out "Millions Like Us" (1943).

Finally Dulcie Gray plays (Charlotte) the passive victim-type sister who marries "Geoffrey" (James Mason) at his sadistic best.They have an elder daughter and a younger son and daughter who come to despise their cruel, manipulative father.You may smile at their frightfully refined, polished accents (presumably taught at stage school) but this is one of the charms I find from films of this time.Another reviewer commented on the near incestuous relationship hinted at in the film with his elder daughter played by his later real wife, Pamela Mason. Good must triumph in these morality films of the time.No, I won't provide a spoiler.I do know that I have my wife's attention with a film such as "They Were Sisters" if I dare to speak during it and she cuts me off.This was no exception!!