"The Dolly Sisters" is Betty Grable and June Haver's most joyously tuneful musical, a gaudy, loud, exquisitely Technicolored extravaganza of songs, dancing, and romance, the kind of vacuous yet tasteful fluff 20th Century Fox did well with great success. The studio head, Darryl Zanuck intended as a vehicle for Alice Faye & Betty Grable, but he couldn't convince Faye to get out of retirement, so producer George Jessel casted June Haver, and the movie become one of the top grossing pictures of the 1940s.
Grable and Haver (fantastic throughout) are the Hungarian born blonde sisters, Jenny & Rosie that took Broadway by storm. Their story begins with their arrival in New York in 1904, their subsequent rise from vaudeville acts to Broadway & Folies Bergere of Paris. They meet an aspiring composer Harry (John Payne) who arranges a meeting with Oscar Hammerstein to appear his Music Hall. Betty falls in love with Harry while June settles for a far less troubled romance with Frank Latimore. Betty is particularly very revealing, especially when she gets the nervous breakdown. Good performances also by S.Z. Sakall and Reginald Gardiner.
Lots of rollicking, uproarious songs/numbers, including the Oscar-winning "I Can't Begin to Tell You", the haunting "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows", plus some kitschy stuff like "Powder, Lipstick and Rouge", "Give Me The Moonlight, Give Me The Girl".
"Dolly Sisters" can be best appreciated if you see it back to back with June Haver's 1946's musical, "Three Little Girls in Blue", a joyous merriment in need of resurrection.
