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Two Girls and a Sailor
MGM was the king of musicals in the 1940's and 50's, but 1944's Two Girls and Sailor is an overlong musical comedy where a 75 minute movie is blown into a 2 hour movie thanks to a parade of musical sequences that have absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the movie.
June Allyson and Gloria DeHaven play Patsy and Jean, respectively, a vaudeville sister act who both find themselves attracted to a handsome sailor named Johnny (Van Johnson). Patsy and Jean want to open a service canteen to entertain military men and are actually gifted with a warehouse by a mysterious benefactor (guess who) to make their dream a reality.
This is another musical from the Joe Pasternak unit of MGM. Pasternak preferred that his musicals have more of a classical slant, preferring stars like Kathryn Grayson and Jane Powell to Judy Garland and Fred Astaire. His films usually included appearances by classical musicians, most notably pianist and conductor Jose Iturbi, who appeared with Grayson in Anchors Aweigh.
This very simple story, which incredibly earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay, is the standard romantic triangle, blown up to spectacle, thanks to elaborate musical sequences featuring Xavier Cugat and his orchestra and Harry James with his orchestra. As a matter of fact, I think James must have put some financing into this one, because he's all over the place in this one. There are also appearances by conductor Albert Coates, Virginia O'Brien, Gracie Allen, and Lena Horne.
Musical highlights include two duets for Allyson and DeHaven, "A Tisket a Tasket" and "A Love Like Ours", DeHaven's "My Mother Told Me", Allyson's "Young Man with a Horn", O'Brien's "Take it Easy" and Horne's steamy rendition of "Paper Doll". Cugat and James get plenty of time to show off their respective bands as well, maybe a little too much and Jimmy Durante gets to perform his signature song, "Inka Dinka Doo."
Allyson is her usually sugary self and DeHaven is a lot of fun as the flighty Jean. MGM definitely poured some money into making this movie, despite the fact that it was filmed in black and white, but for an MGM musical, this one was a disappointment.
MGM was the king of musicals in the 1940's and 50's, but 1944's Two Girls and Sailor is an overlong musical comedy where a 75 minute movie is blown into a 2 hour movie thanks to a parade of musical sequences that have absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the movie.
June Allyson and Gloria DeHaven play Patsy and Jean, respectively, a vaudeville sister act who both find themselves attracted to a handsome sailor named Johnny (Van Johnson). Patsy and Jean want to open a service canteen to entertain military men and are actually gifted with a warehouse by a mysterious benefactor (guess who) to make their dream a reality.
This is another musical from the Joe Pasternak unit of MGM. Pasternak preferred that his musicals have more of a classical slant, preferring stars like Kathryn Grayson and Jane Powell to Judy Garland and Fred Astaire. His films usually included appearances by classical musicians, most notably pianist and conductor Jose Iturbi, who appeared with Grayson in Anchors Aweigh.
This very simple story, which incredibly earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay, is the standard romantic triangle, blown up to spectacle, thanks to elaborate musical sequences featuring Xavier Cugat and his orchestra and Harry James with his orchestra. As a matter of fact, I think James must have put some financing into this one, because he's all over the place in this one. There are also appearances by conductor Albert Coates, Virginia O'Brien, Gracie Allen, and Lena Horne.
Musical highlights include two duets for Allyson and DeHaven, "A Tisket a Tasket" and "A Love Like Ours", DeHaven's "My Mother Told Me", Allyson's "Young Man with a Horn", O'Brien's "Take it Easy" and Horne's steamy rendition of "Paper Doll". Cugat and James get plenty of time to show off their respective bands as well, maybe a little too much and Jimmy Durante gets to perform his signature song, "Inka Dinka Doo."
Allyson is her usually sugary self and DeHaven is a lot of fun as the flighty Jean. MGM definitely poured some money into making this movie, despite the fact that it was filmed in black and white, but for an MGM musical, this one was a disappointment.