It's big, it's Technicolor. June Haver and Betty Gable have great legs. The staging and the music are top. The movie made lots of money. What's wrong? This Biographical picture is so fictionalized that it does not do the Dolly sisters the correct way.Granted doing it better might have to depict suicide which both sisters attempted quite graphically. The real story does deserve more than it gets here. The script is way too Hollywood to give an audience a feel good story and not anywhere near the truth. To me the real sisters are more like the Gabor sisters than depicted here. In real life they are Brunettes and short, not tall and blonde. The best depiction in the movie is Harry Fox.Neat to see Elmira, NY, mentioned early in the film. Not sure about any real event there as that location does not seem to be in any internet account of any of these folks. It is possible though Elmira has more to do with Mark Twain and later Ernie Davis than the Dolly Sisters or Fox.Mila Kunis would be the brunette I'd choose to be a Dolly Sister in a remake. She is short and would definitely light up the screen. I am not sure who her twin co-star would be. Aston Kutcher as Harry Fox? I think there are male actors who would be better. It would be a fun film to do a costume remake of with this generation trying to recreate the past. This old one is a Grable formula remake. Though it is pretty, I think it could be done even better. I am sure the real story and a more real script would benefit this material.

okay, so let me get this right: the songwriter, who faces difficult choices in this movie and sings about following his imagination, gets three women throughout the picture... what a lucky man he turned out to be, promising boredom as a simple composer, ending up as a king with three wives! hey, wait a minute... so what this movie is actually saying, is that it's okay if you remain loyal all your life, but the lucky ones, are the people with multiple love affairs at the same time (as the last image we get to see, promises us)? wow, this gives a total new meaning at this musical! so, if you're keen on love, you should write songs. compose music, and the women will fall for thee. that's the hidden message of this picture. I'm not content, it's not a Christian thing to do... but, then again, what's still holy these days? certainly not 'the Dolly Sisters'!

No one ever accused a Hollywood biopic of sticking slavishly to the facts and after beginning by blatantly casting two leggy blondes (Betty Grable, June Haver) to portray the real-life short, stocky brunette eponymous twins this biopic fits where it touches. Of course in 1945 no one went to the movies accompanied by a fact-checker, they went to be entertained by a permutation of spectacle, color, song and dance and if there were a few laughs thrown in for good measure so much the better. In those terms this could be counted a hit but those with a more discerning palate would balk at John Payne who was assigned the 'hit' of the score, I Can't Begin To Tell You. Payne was a graduate of the Dick Powell Academy of Joke Singers though in his defense Powell began warbling in the early thirties before there were guys like Sinatra, Haymes and the Eberle Brothers (Ray and Bob) to show how it should be done and it's probably not just coincidence that Powell stopped singing around the time Sinatra established himself. Grable was current Queen of the Fox lot having usurped Alice Faye, who was intended to co-star but wasn't prepared to come out of retirement so instead the role went to newcomer June Haver, who'd had a bit part as a hat-check girl in Faye's last musical, The Gang's All Here, only eighteen months before. Grable was uneasy by this casting as befits the head that wears the crown but it's a testament to her acting skills that none of this comes over on the screen. Perhaps a tad twee for the 21st century but otherwise pleasant and undemanding entertainment.

This colorful musical directed with great style by Irving Cummings is a delightful way to spend some happy moments. This 1945 Fox film presents the life of two sisters that became a sensation in America at the beginning of the last century. The music is the best excuse to watch this happy movie. We first meet the young Dolly Sisters, Jenny and Rose, as they arrive in America from their native Hungary. The girls are talented and soon, they are delighting the vaudeville circuit with their charm and talent. Their career soared after Harry Fox, who later became Jenny's husband, introduces them to the great Oscar Hammerstein, who sees in the women, an amazing capacity to entertain the public of the era.As played by Betty Grable and June Haver, the Dolly Sisters are irresistible! The real sisters were not blond, but who could fault the stars with the disarming way they act in the musical? Ms. Grable and Ms. Haver are a sight for sore eyes!As the man in Jennie's life, John Payne plays Harry Fox convincingly. Mr. Payne projects a virile figure and he is perfect opposite the gorgeous Betty Grable. His composition in the movie, "I'm Always Chasing Rainbow" was written by Harry Carroll and Joseph McCarthy whose inspiration is the Chopin's Fantasy and Impromptu in C Minor and it blends perfectly in the composition and in the subtext of the film. There are also appearances by that charming character actor, S. Z. Sakall, who plays the girl's uncle. Also Reginald Gardiner does good work as the Duke of Breck.This is a fine musical that will delight fans of the genre.