Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

calvinnme ...because...I dunno... there were just bad signs everywhere. An MGM musical in black and white? I was afraid of even more of "the Nazis are eeeeeevil" pronouncements that get overdone in WWII films. Believe me, I get that they were evil. And plus I have just never gotten the allure of June Allyson and that husky voice.But I was on Christmas break and it was part of a Turner Classic Movies tribute to those in the film industry who died in 2016 - in this case Gloria DeHaven - so I thought I'd give it a whirl. This one pleasantly surprised me.In a way the title does give the paper thin plot away - one sailor (Van Johnson as swabbie John Dyckman Brown III) in love with one of two girl performers (DeHaven and Allyson as the Deyo sisters, Jean and Patsy respectively). Complications ensue. But the fun is in the journey not the destination.There are some possible dark sides to this film. It starts out with Jean as an infant and Patsy a toddler watching over her backstage while mom and dad perform in vaudeville. A few years pass and now Jean is the toddler and dad is performing alone. It is said "mom made the big time" but you wonder - did mom run out on dad and her daughters? Is mom actually dead and dad just doesn't want to tell them? You're never told. The scene skips to present day - 1944 - and the girls are a sister act in a night club and then run a canteen for soldiers out of their apartment after that. But those childhood years of Patsy watching Jean have taken their toll, because now Patsy watches Jean like a hawk, making sure she doesn't take up with the wrong man while she doesn't seem to have time for a man at all. Is this a residue of what happened as children? Does Patsy not want Jean or herself to end up like mom? Again, nothing deep is ever said, but you have to wonder.And then somebody starts sending orchids to Jean. This alone has Patsy watching the nightclub audience wondering which one is the secret admirer. But when this (probably) same anonymous person gives them an old abandoned warehouse so they can enlarge their canteen - what they thought was a secret wish - and supplies all of the food and manpower to transform it, Patsy really goes into PI mode because now she is afraid some rich guy is out to make Jean a sadder but wiser girl. And the misunderstandings just go from there.In the meantime there is plenty of great music from Harry James,Jose Iturbi and orchestra, Lena Horne, Xavier Cugat and orchestra, and even Gracie Allen comes over from Paramount for a comical bit - minus George. Jimmy Durante performs here, but he also has a bit of drama and tragedy that figures into the plot - he's living like a hermit in the warehouse when the girls take possession - and he really surprised me with his dramatic range.Then there are those weird outfits Allyson and DeHaven wear. A couple of times one is wearing what appears to be the top to a dress with a particular pattern and the other is wearing the skirt. Is this some visual way of saying that one is pretty on the inside while the other is pretty on the outside? Jean is LOOKING for a rich guy and is pretty naïve yet mercenary, so Patsy has reason to worry. Meanwhile Patsy is not at all interested in the trappings of wealth. Or maybe I'm reading way too much into what was just meant to be some MGM musical fluff. I'd recommend this one. It was released right before D-Day, so things were looking optimistic on the homefront for the first time in a long time and the mood of this film rather goes along with that. It's almost an early "welcome back" film for all of the guys and gals in the service at the time.

edwagreen While the plot is very thin, the entertainment is long. This usual World War 11 type of canteen movie works nicely due to the chemistry of Gloria De Haven and June Allyson, two sisters who wind up vying for the affection of Van Johnson,a sailor, who unknown to the two girls is worth $60 million.As the love interest of De Haven, Tom Drake is given very little to do here.Jimmy Durante is charismatic as the guy they meet living in the warehouse after so many years of abandoning everyone when his wife took their young son and left him.The entertainment at the canteen is excellent with Harry James, Xavier Cugat, Lena Horne and Jose Iturbi.As the picture goes along, you know who the wealthy Johnson character will wind up, but the music, dancing and atmosphere make it all worthwhile.

weezeralfalfa June Allyson and a young Gloria De Haven made a very appealing stage pair of sisters, especially for the many men far from home in wartime. Thus, I suppose that we, in subsequent decades, can excuse the overly drawn out quest to discover the identity of their unbelievably generous anonymous benefactor, which occupies much of the time between musical numbers. This gives us more time to be with the girls and their colorful surrogate father, Jimmy Durante. However, it's rather disconcerting to have June often sad and sometimes crying over her apparently fruitless crush on Van Johnson's character: John Brown III: a navy sailor from a local family.The actual screen play is total nonsense, if sometimes intriguing. Tom Drake( the boy next door in "Meet Me in St. Louis") plays an army NOC from an onion-growing Texas farm, who competes with Van for Gloria's attention. Durante is the girls' down and out elderly show business friend. In the later part of the film, Henry Stephenson, as Van's wealthy grandfather, supplements Durante as the girls' surrogate father and adviser in romantic matters.(The girls' vaudevillian parents inexplicably vanished after the first scene of the film, when the girls were just tiny tots).I think most people would agree that the musical highlights of the film include the following:(1) the "Sweet and Lovely", followed by "A-Tisket-a-Tasket", duet by the girls, backed by the Harry James Orchestra (2)a series of closely spaced performances, beginning with another duet by the girls: "A Love Like Ours", backed by the James Orchestra, quickly followed by the Xavier Cugat Orchestra, first featuring Lina Romay doing the "Rhumba Rhumba", then backing Carlos Ramirez's excellent rendition of "Granada". (3) The June-James collaboration in "Young Man With the Horn" and (4)Durante's classic "Inka Dinka Doo". Helen Forrest's "In a Moment of Madness", James' "Estrellita", and Lina Romay's all too brief "Babalu" were also good, as was Lina's somewhat comical dance with Ben Blue. If you would like to see more of Lina, she did several stage numbers, as well as being a significant part of the drama, in the complex Randoph Scott western "The Man behind the Gun". Columbian Carlos Ramirez would again be the featured singer in the elaborate "Begin the Beguine" production in the Porter biop "Night and Day". The "Take It Easy" number briefly featured several singers, but mostly focused on Virginia O'Brien. I would have much preferred focusing on the gorgeous Wilde twins and skipping the signature wide-eyed deadpan performance of O'Brien. For a better look at the Wilde twins, check out "Andy Hardy's Blonde Troubles", or "Twice Blessed", as well as a very brief song bit in "'Til the Clouds Roll By".Why, oh, why was Lena Horne given a song with lyrics obviously meant for a man (like Nat Cole) to sing??. To see her at much better advantage, check out the Technicolor "Broadway Rhythm", released the same year, "'Til the Clouds Roll By", or the B&W "Stormy Weather". Why was famous comedienne Grace Allen just given an idiotic sour note piano recital to do??. Why wasn't she teamed with Durante(in the absence of George Burns) for a comedic skit or scene?? Why weren't Van Johnson's vaudevillian talents exploited in his interactions with the girls, instead of his being presented as a rather faceless sailor?? Perhaps we could then better understand the girls' sudden infatuation with him. To me, Jose Iturbi's diverting inclusion in the drama and musical performances didn't really add anything significant. Check out "Anchors Aweigh" or "Music for Millions" for a much more favorable presentation of his piano talent. I would much rather have listened to another of Helen Forrest's better songs, or another classic Latin song by Carlos Ramirez, or perhaps a duet by Carlos and Lina Romay, or a number by Van and one or more of the Deyo or Wilde sisters. In summary, while this B&W musical-variety show hybrid includes some classic musical performances, and the stars provide a generally good time, given all the talent included, it could have been much better. Also, it would have been nice if MGM had splurged and filmed it in Technicolor, as they had the previous year with "Best Foot Forward", which also featured June and Gloria, among others. Gloria was also featured in two other MGM musicals in '44: the B&W "Step Lively", with Sinatra and George Murphy, and the Technicolor musical-variety show hybrid "Broadway Rhythm". I can't tell you which of the 3 is best, they are all so different. June was reunited with Durante and Jose Iturbi that same year in the wartime drama-musical "Music for Millions". A few years later, she would again be teamed with Durante, with Kathryn Grayson replacing De Haven as her sister, in the B&W musical comedy "Two Sisters from Boston". I haven't seen either these, but reviewers generally say they are good.

jotix100 This delightful MGM film came out during WWII. This picture was a product of those years. In a way, it was a way to inspire patriotism and play tribute to those young men that went to the war for their country. It's hard to imagine anything like this in these turbulent times we are living. These pictures were mindless entertainment to get the public's mind away from the realities the war was causing to a lot of people at the time.The story of the perky Deyo Sisters, a singing and dancing duo, working in the night clubs of the Manhattan of those years it at the center of the story. They were products of vaudeville, as shown in the sequence at the beginning of the story where Patsy and Jean are seen with the star, Billy Kipp, years before his downfall.The sisters decide to invite to their humble apartment the young men they met on the streets after they finished performing. The idea was to give these boys a good time in a wholesome setting. Jean, falls for a sailor who follows the sisters' act every night. Little do the girls know about the identity of this innocent looking young man. When Patsy points out to John Dyckman Brown, the sailor, her ambition to fix the abandoned warehouse next to them, she never expected her dreams to come true. When they open the place, they are able to get some of the performers working in the night clubs to come entertain the boys before they go to war.The film is highly entertaining because MGM made sure to give this project the priority it needed. Richard Thorpe, the director, did wonders with the material and the stars at his disposal in a truly inspired movie that is delightful to see anytime it's shown.June Allyson, in her screen debut, is marvelous as the sensible Patsy. Gloria DeHaven, at the height of her beauty and freshness, is quite a sight to see. Van Johnson and Tom Drake, play the girl's love interests with charm. The fabulous Jimmy Durante is rescued by the girls from oblivion. The musical numbers are wonderful. We see some of the best talent of that era such as Lena Horne, Harry James, Xavier Cugat, Gracie Allen, Jose Iturbi, and others that contribute to make this a winning film that gives other generation a taste of what it was like to be young in those years. Viewers paying close attention will see a young Ava Gardner among the girls in the chorus.