My Sister Eileen (1942)

Director:

Alexander Hall

Writers:

Ruth McKenney (stories)
Joseph Fields (play) ...

Release Date:

24 September 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Sisters Ruth and Eileen Sherwood move from Ohio to New York in the hopes of building their careers. Ruth wants to get a job as a writer...

Plot Keywords:

Sister Sister Relationship | Based On Play | Character Name In Title

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Rosalind Russell	...	Ruth Sherwood
Brian Aherne	...	Robert Baker
Janet Blair	...	Eileen Sherwood
George Tobias	...	Appopolous
Allyn Joslyn	...	Chic Clark
Grant Mitchell	...	Walter Sherwood
Gordon Jones	...	'The Wreck' Loomis
Elizabeth Patterson	...	Grandma Sherwood
Richard Quine	...	Frank Lippincott
June Havoc	...	Effie Shelton
Donald MacBride	...	Officer Lonigan
Frank Sully	...	Jenson
Clyde Fillmore	...	Ralph Craven
Jeff Donnell	...	Helen Loomis (as Miss Jeff Donnell)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Almira Sessions	...	Prospective Tenant (scenes deleted)
Forrest Tucker	...	Sandhog (scenes deleted)

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Quotes:

'The Wreck' Loomis: [holding an iron] Which way do you want the pleats turned?
Ruth Sherwood: Toward Mecca.

Movie Connections:

Version of "My Sister Eileen" (1960)

Soundtrack:

Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech

an original if ever there was one

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.