Two Girls and a Sailor (1944)

Fresh and Exciting

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Best movie of this year hands down!

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Tons of stars here. Tom Drake 1944 same year also in Meet Me in St. Louis; aka The Boy Next Door (to Judy Garland). June Allyson always a delight. Blonde freckle faced Van Johnson always a winner. Gloria DeHaven excellent. Henry O'Neill I actually thought was George Raft. I looked again in opening credits, but alas he was not to be found. O'Neill was a dead ringer. Henry Stephenson always lovely. Jimmy Durante; what can I say? Always a delight; perfect comedic timing. Playing his son (whom I was waiting for near the end) was charming. I kept waiting for the son to show up, because we kept seeing Jimmy's goofy baby picture throughout the entire film. I was hoping one of the other military personnel would be Jimmy's son, but that did not happen.Dancing: I loved the dancing of the dark haired young man whom June dragged out on the dance floor, who was first shy and awkward then later a dancing pro and even leaped over June's head. I kept thinking he was Jimmy's missing son, but even he wasn't that ugly or goofy looking as the baby in the picture.More star turns. Great bandleaders: Xavier Cugat, Jose Iturbi, Harry James. Wonderful to see the late, great Ms. Lena Horne, and I did catch short glimpses of Ava Gardner. Gracie Allen was wonderful, as always. It was good to see her without her sidekick, George Burns.I really loved the Jimmy-doll, complete with his black top hat and black tuxedo. I loved the little girl actresses in the beginning, including the baby, portraying the two Deyo sisters.

Extremely long World War II story about "Two Girls and a Sailor" (portrayed by June Allyson, Gloria DeHaven, and Van Johnson). The threesome from the customary "love triangle" - will Sailor Johnson choose pert June Allyson or sexy Gloria DeHaven? The film would be more accurately titled, "Two Girls, a Sailor, and a Variety Show" because the singing sisters aren't just shown at work - every act in their musical revue is shown. It's like a Musical spliced with a Variety Show; and, it clocks in at over two hours without ever becoming anything more than low average.June Allyson, Jimmy Durante, Harry James, and Gracie Allen have fine moments; and, it's nice to see "Inka Dinka Doo" and all of the other 1944 era acts preserved on film. ***** Two Girls and a Sailor (1944) Richard Thorpe ~ June Allyson, Van Johnson, Gloria DeHaven

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.

This slight musical comedy from 1944 was a blockbuster of its year. Its one of those Stage door canteen where G.I.s are entertained by hit musicians of their including the popular band and orchestra leader Harry James and Xavier Cugat. The big hit "Young man with a horn" is featured prominently. The songs are lovely and generally feel orchestrated and operatic as this is a Joe Pasternak production. Like a Bruckheimer, a Selznick, a Freed or a Ross Hunter, you know a Pasternak when you see it. That is, slight plots with certain scenes that are written and play better than the whole movie and make you wish they were in another movie. There is usually a love plot involving dueling sisters, mother and daughter, or jealous daughters to their dads. The actresses are pretty and young. The songs, hits of their day but taken out of their time and the situations, they lack the oomph for classic appreciation unlike the movies of Arthur Freed. Take note, there is a dream sequence in this movie that is begging for one of those Freed musical numbers but instead we get Jimmy Durante shenanigans that lifts the weight from the scene. Thorpe, the journeyman director at MGM who made a lot of hits, directs in his usual flat and placid style that gets the job done and not much more. If only Pasternak aimed higher, varied the formula a little, he could have been a champion, not just a contender.