From 1946, "Two Sisters from Boston" stars Kathryn Grayson and June Allyson as -- well, two sisters from Boston at the turn of the century. Grayson is Abigail Chandler, who wants to make it as an opera singer in New York, but winds up singing with Spike (Jimmy Durante) in a burlesque house. When Martha (Allyson) comes to visit with their parents, Abigail claims that she's singing at the opera house, and they buy tickets.Spike is an old hand at getting into places. He intimates to the staff that she is the girlfriend of a big patron, Patterson, and gets her into the chorus. Abigail incurs Olstrum's wrath when she keeps interpolating high notes during his aria.Peter Lawford is Patterson's son Lawrence and is terribly upset when he thinks his father is having an affair with Abigail. That's straightened out, and Lawrence becomes interested in Martha. Now, how to keep his upper crust family from knowing that Abigail is High C Susie in a Burlesque house?Sweet film, heartwarming, with Jimmy Durante hilarious as he pretends past scandalous associations with well-known people to get into places and get favors. June Allyson is delightful with her relaxed comedy that came out of her character. Peter Lawford - I can never get over how handsome he was. Kathryn Grayson had a very pretty voice though a screechy top and was charming as Abigail. I just don't understand how anyone hired her for roles that absolutely, positively did not fit that fluttery light soprano: Apparently she performed La Boheme, La Traviata, and Madama Butterfly on the opera stage. No idea what they were thinking. She should have been singing Don Pasquale, Daughter of the Regiment, Mignon. As bad as Jeanette McDonald singing Tosca.In this film, the studio took concertos for violin, etc., and turned them into classical music rather than having actual operas. The exception was in some of Lauritz Melchior's music. With the end of World War II before this movie began filming, he was able to sing Wagner once again. He was one of the greatest heldentenors who ever lived, and his specialty was in Wagnerian roles. Here he knocks your socks off with a sequence from Lohengrin and Preislied from Der Meistersinger. Magnificent.The best sequence was Melchior's recording session where his dog sat in front of the megaphone-shaped phonograph in an exact replication of the RCA logo, and someone said, "His master's voice." Fabulous.Fun movie. I wish they'd used some real operas, though, instead of "Marie Antoinette" which was really Violin Concerto in E Minor by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy.

There may be some aspects story-wise that are in the predictable side. However Two Sisters From Boston more than makes up for that in its sense of fun and spirit, not to mention that it is very heart-warming(especially at the end). The film is lovely to look at, with beautiful photography and appealing costumes and sets. The music is just as delightful, I may have heard more memorable songs elsewhere but they are still well-written and catchy. Including well-known operatic arias, especially Walther's Prize Song from Wagner's Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg, was a nice touch. The script is very funny and wonderfully sly, with Jimmy Durante getting the best lines. Two other scenes stood out, the audio joke with the dog(looking exactly like the RCA Victor Logo) in the Prize Song recording scene and Peter Lawford reviving June Allyson with gin. And I got the sense that with the acting everybody seemed to be having fun. Peter Lawford and Kathryn Grayson are charming in their performances, and Jimmy Durante makes the most out of his role, which is just as sly and as enjoyable as his dialogue. But my favourites were June Allyson(for me one of her better performances and films) whose innocence and unforced comic timing really shone, and Lauritz Melchior, who will delight any opera fan with his large, ringing and never tired voice which is used to great effect in the Prize Song.(he has often been criticised for lack of musicianship but there have been times where he has shown he has it(the 1931 version of the Meistersinger Quintet with Elisabeth Schumann as Eva and Friederich Schorr as Hans Sachs) and regardless I always find him exciting to listen to) All in all, a truly lovely film and very difficult not to like. 9/10 Bethany Cox

A little on the predictable side but a lot of fun. Lots of misunderstandings and confusion but it all works out in the end. Kathryn Grayson shows a side of herself (no pun intended) that is not seen in her other films. She has a flair for comedy and does a good job as a Bowery singer as well as an Opera star. June Allyson shows that she can handle anything they throw at her as well. No really memorable songs (though I did like "G'wan Home Yer Mudder's Callin'"). Lauritz Melchior is in full voice and Jimmy Durante seemed to be having a lot of fun with his role. I just watched it again on TCM and it was as much fun as when I originally saw it.

This is not the type of movie I would usually tune in to, but with the Turner Classic Movie channel as a new addition to my cable line up, I thought I'd give it a try. It turned out to be a fairly entertaining little number, showcasing Kathryn Grayson and June Allyson as runaways from Boston society and all its' hoity toity poofery. Throw in Jimmy Durante as a saloon owner in the Bowery, and you get a funny, fast paced musical comedy, that throws in a bit of opera just to maintain a proper snob level.In the story, the Boston Chandler's receive dubious word of Abigail in New York City where she's top billed as High 'C' Suzie, a dance hall girl at The Golden Rooster. It's supposed to be a quick job to raise money for opera lessons, but you know how things go. Sister Martha (Allyson) attempts to set Abigail/Suzie on the right path, but all bets are pretty much off when Spike Merango (Durante) weaves his way into various scenarios to protect his headline girl. Spike's forte is feigning past associations with various influential characters in the story, and dismantling their composure with an oft repeated "I don't know nothing'". He gets more results by not knowing anything than anyone I've ever seen.If you're an opera fan, you'll know of Lauritz Melchior, famous Danish opera star who made his mark at the Metropolitan Opera and became a character player for MGM in his later years. He gets to sing quite often in the story, though he manages to get upstaged by his pet dog once, who impersonates the RCA Victor canine in a funny scene. In case you're wondering, he sings quite well for this layman's ear.Peter Lawford provides a bit of a romantic element in the story as he becomes smitten first with Abigail and then Martha. His character isn't fully fleshed out, with most of his time attempting to evade the prim and proper eyes of his upper crust parents (Thurston Hall and Nella Walker). Part of the story's fun comes from the mistaken notion that his father keeps a mistress, though that angle plays out pretty quickly.Besides being entertaining, I found the film to be educational too, or at least I was intrigued enough to follow up on something. When it was mentioned twice that Aunt Harriet ran off with the hurdy gurdy man, I began wondering whether Donovan made that whole thing up or if there really is such a thing. It turns out that a hurdy gurdy is a musical instrument dating back to twelfth century Europe correctly known as a 'vielle'. It's a stringed instrument that also has a keyboard and a wooden wheel to make music, which sounds like a cross between a fiddle and a bagpipe, with a kazoo like sound keeping time.Can you imagine that? And all the while as I watched the movie, I thought the hurdy gurdy man might be somebody like Jimmy Durante.