From the day Ruth and Eileen Sherwood move into their basement apartment in Greenwich Village, they have no time of their own. The two sisters left their home in Ohio to make it in New York City. That's where all the publishing houses were located. Rosalind Russell is the big sister, Ruth, who's going to New York in the hopes of making it as a writer. She was fired from the Columbus Ohio Courier for a phony theater review of her sister starring in a local stage play. Janet Blair is the young sister, Eileen, who gets to go with her parents' approval only because Ruth will be there to watch over her. And, watching over, one might think Eileen needs. She is a magnet to young men with her natural beauty and almost naïve innocence. But her charm and many attributes belie a common sense girl who, while she relishes all the attention, nevertheless is able to keep the wolves at bay. The Sherwood's apartment is also a magnet for neighbors, wolves, job interviewers, the building owner, and people just passing by on the street. Even a contingent of cadets from the Portuguese Navy make it into the apartment. And it's not Eileen, but Ruth, who draws them there. This is a funny movie of mayhem and motion. There's hardly a quiet moment in the film. Besides the crazy situations, Ruth gets in mildly caustic comments here and there about the goings on to provide some humorous dialog. All of the cast are good in their roles. The film is fun but not among the funniest or best comedies. The movie is based on the adventures of two real sisters – Ruth and Eileen McKenney from Cleveland, Ohio. Ruth first serialized her short stories in The New Yorker magazine, and then published her book by the same title in 1938. This movie just uses the last two stories in the book. It was about their growing up together and then moving to Greenwich Village. The story was made into a play, two movies, and a TV series. Judging from Ruth's biography and the stories she wrote, the two sisters and their experiences were not as lily white innocent as things are portrayed in this film. McKenney wrote other comedy works and numerous articles for several magazines. Her life was somewhat tragic. Eileen married author Nathanael West in 1939, and both were killed in a car accident in 1940. She was just 26 years old. In 1937, Ruth had married writer Richard Bransten, and they had a son a daughter. But on Ruth's 44th birthday in 1955, while they were living in London, England, Branston committed suicide. Ruth returned to New York but stopped writing. Her daughter, Eileen, said that her mother never recovered from her sister's death. Ruth suffered from diabetes and heart disease and died in New York on July 25, 1972, at age 60.

Rosalind Russell got her first trip to the Oscars via her performance as the sensible Ruth Sherwood who wants a career as a writer, but has to worry about looking after that other sibling of her's who moved with her to New York from Columbus, Ohio, My Sister Eileen.Imagine if you will a story where the heroine's wise and wisecracking best friend is the lead character and you've got My Sister Eileen. In most films Russell's character would be played by Eve Arden, but here what makes the film original is that the normal supporting role is the lead. As good a job as Russell does, I kind of wish Harry Cohn had thought of Arden for the lead.The Sherwood sisters move from Columbus to make their mark in the big city and in one respect New York hasn't changed. Housing is pretty tough to come by and the sisters have to settle for a basement apartment in Greenwich Village. The apartment is owned by George Tobias, part time artist, and full time lech. But with Janet Blair as Eileen, he's just one of many.Most of the action takes place in the Sherwood apartment where people just seem to come and go like it was Grand Central Station. Russell's wit and intelligence might scare off some people, she interests Brian Aherne however who works at a magazine she's trying to land a job with.As for Blair she wants to be an actress and her obvious charm and naive sex appeal have the men swarming around her. This part was Janet Blair's first big break on screen and made her career.Rosalind Russell in getting a nomination for Best Actress got the only Oscar recognition the film received. Roz was up against one tough field. Her's was the only comedy performance in a field that included such heavy dramas as Katharine Hepburn in Keeper Of The Flame, Bette Davis in Now Voyager, and Teresa Wright in Pride Of The Yankees. The winner due to the times as well as her acting was Greer Garson for Mrs. Miniver. Given the war, I don't think any of these other ladies had a chance.In her memoirs Rosalind Russell said that Ruth Sherwood was the first of her career woman roles, parts by the way she loved to play. I think she might have forgotten Hildy Johnson from His Girl Friday, but it's possible she thought of Hildy as an anti-career woman because what she wanted to do was leave the newspaper business and marry Ralph Bellamy. Ruth Sherwood on the other hand wants to get a career going.My Sister Eileen is a timeless classic, it could probably be remade today with few enough changes. Russell in fact did it on Broadway in the musical Wonderful Town. She may have failed an Oscar, but she got a Tony Award for the part.Can't you see Jessica Simpson as Eileen Sherwood? I wonder why no one's thought of it.

Though this appears to have been filmed entirely on a sound stage, the feel of the original stories comes through. This is the Village as it has been as long as I've lived here.Please note: I was not born when this movie came out. But maybe my mother, a writer, saw it and decided ti was for her. When I was a child we lived a few blocks from where the stories were set. And for the last decades, I have lived maybe three blocks from there. And how it has changed! And how much for the worse: Rich people, high rents and buying (who'd heard of buying an apartment in 1942?!) Noisy clubs ...Janet Blair is fine as the title character. Rosalind Russell is very good as her sister Ruth. (The real Ruth, who wrote the stories, married Nathanael West and died tragically at a young age.) Russell is sort of like her Sylvia Fowler character in "The Women." But we can see hints of the broad style that was to come and was to sink her by the time of "Auntie Mame." George Tobias is fun as the girls' fast-talking artistic landlord. Without knowing it at the time, I rented my first Manhattan apartment from the man on whom this character was based. That was 30 years later.Brian Ahern is OK as the male lead. He's a little stuffy, but he's meant to be. In fact, his character is insufferable. Why Ruth is drawn to him is not made clear.I loved seeing the organ grinder near the end. I remember them on nearby Waverly Place a decade later when I was a small child! This gives a better view of the Village than any other commercial movie I can think of. It's fun and definitely is recommended..

I saw it this evening and just had to say something. Of course, this play must have been fun...and at times you realize that the use of very few settings is kind of familiar. And so it had been a play and some of the supporting characters were in the original Broadway play.But this is Rosalind's vehicle all the way. And she was rightfully nominated for an Oscar. It is the kind of performance that just sparkles. Her timing is positively impeccable. Everything she ever did had that unmistakable charm and flawless comedic timing that always makes you wonder if there is any other way to play a scene! There are many romps in this lively comedy and none is played to staleness. Not even the grand finale which I really shouldn't spoil because it came out of left field for me! I would have never ever expected it to end like this! Suffice it to say that I was literally jolted - as if something that didn't belong suddenly intruded into the movie. But it was a fitting if not slapstick ending that will bring a chuckle and a gasp to everyone.See it! It's fun!