The Sisters (1938 film)
Encyclopedia
The Sisters is a 1938 American drama film produced and directed by Anatole Litvak
. The screenplay by Milton Krims is based on the 1937 novel of the same title by Myron Brinig
.
, serious Louise, frivolous Helen, and stolid Grace, daughters of Medicine Bow, Montana pharmacist Ned Elliott and his wife Rose, find themselves dealing with romantic prospects. Tom Knivel is about to propose to Louise when Frank Medlin, a San Francisco sports reporter, asks her to dance. Infatuated with the young woman, Frank extends his stay, and at Sunday dinner in the Elliott home he announces he and Louise plan to wed. Although her parents disapprove of the union, Louise leaves for San Francisco with Frank that night. Grace eventually marries the jilted Tom and Helen weds wealthy Sam Johnson, who promises her freedom and asks for nothing in return.
Although facing financial difficulty, Louise urges Frank to complete his novel. When she becomes pregnant, she decides to keep her condition a secret, but finally reveals the truth when she accompanies Frank to a boxing match and the smoke and smells make her ill. Returning home, Louise suffers a miscarriage while climbing the stairs to their apartment, and her distraught husband begins to drink heavily.
Overwhelmed by increasing medical bills and a sense of worthlessness, Frank demands a raise but is rebuffed by his editor who, telling him his writing is suffering as a result of his drinking, fires him. Louise tries to console him by announcing she has found employment at a local department store, but Frank's hurt pride prompts him to forbid her to work. Louise ignores his demand, and while her husband struggles to find a job, she thrives as secretary to store owner William Benson.
Fellow sportswriter Tim Hazelton suggests Frank leave San Francisco in order to get a fresh start, and he decides to accept work on a ship bound for Singapore
. When Louise arrives home, she finds a note from Frank and rushes to the docks, where a policeman mistaking her for a prostitute arrests her. By the time she is released, Frank's ship has sailed.
A few hours later, much of the city, including Louise's apartment building, is destroyed by the 1906 earthquake
. When Ned is unable to contact his daughter, he travels to San Francisco to search for her, but she has sought refuge with her friend Flora Gibbon in Flora's mother's bordello
in Oakland
. With William's help, Ned locates Louise and brings her back to San Francisco.
Two years pass, the city has been rebuilt, and Louise is an executive in the department store. When she learns Tom has been unfaithful to Grace, she returns to Silver Bow and is reunited with both her sisters. Meanwhile, Frank returns to San Francisco, and although he is ill, he travels to Silver Bow with Tim when he learns Louise is there. At the ball on the night of the 1908 presidential election
, Frank and Louise are reunited and decide to give their marriage another chance.
was dismayed to be assigned to Comet Over Broadway, a melodrama
in which she would portray a Broadway
actress who sacrifices her career to care for her ne'er-do-well husband when he is released from prison. "This was the first nothing script I was given since my court battle in England," Davis later recalled, referring to the lawsuit in which she tried to win her freedom from Warner Bros.
after being forced to appear in a series of mediocre films. "It was heartbreaking to me. After winning a second Academy Award
. . . I was asked to appear again in junk." Davis opted to go on suspension and remained on suspension when the studio offered her Garden of the Moon, a Busby Berkeley
musical, instead. "I was on suspension for a good part of the year following Jezebel. So much wasted time at a time when I felt my career could from then on become a truly successful one . . . It took a lot of courage to go on suspension. One received no salary . . . I couldn't afford it, nor could I afford, career-wise, to make films such as Comet Over Broadway and Garden of the Moon!"
After Irene Dunne
declined the role of Louise in The Sisters, a property that originally had been purchased for Kay Francis
but was shelved when the studio decided to relegate the actress to B movie
s for the remainder of her contract, Davis was offered it and accepted. "I was delighted with this part because it was a change of pace . . . I was always challenged by a new type of person to play." Although she welcomed the opportunity to co-star with Errol Flynn
, she was unhappy to learn he alone was being given billing above the title. "At that time I had no billing clause in my contract," she recalled. "I felt after Jezebel that my name should always appear above the title. That is star billing." After taking a determined stand with the studio, Davis was billed above the title, although second to Flynn. Producer Hal B. Wallis
later admitted the billing dispute was the studio's way of keeping Davis in check and "giving her a dose of her own medicine."
For the earthquake sequence, which took three weeks to film but lasted only 2½ minutes on screen, the studio spent $200,000 on special sets that were razed and burned, in addition to using footage from the 1927 Warner Brothers film Old San Francisco
.
When preview audiences responded unfavorably to the film's original ending, in which Louise married William Benson as she did in the novel, studio executives decided to film a new one in which she reunites with her seafaring husband instead. "Oh dear, how many films I have been in that have suffered by the change by the studio of the ending," Davis later lamented. "Certainly the original ending of The Sisters was the right one."
In his score
, Max Steiner
interpolated the folk ballad "Oh My Darling, Clementine
" in the scenes set in Silver Bow.
observed, "Bette Davis acts with such extraordinary grace, sensitivity, and distinction that hers is already being acclaimed the movie performance of the year."
Variety
called the film "a virtual cavalcade of early 20th-century American history" and added, "Davis turns in one of her most scintillating performances. Flynn's happy-go-lucky reporter is a vivid portrayal although his slight English accent seems incongruous."
Anatole Litvak
Anatole Litvak was a Ukrainian-born filmmaker who wrote, directed, and produced films in a various countries and languages...
. The screenplay by Milton Krims is based on the 1937 novel of the same title by Myron Brinig
Myron Brinig
Myron Brinig was a Jewish-American author who wrote twenty-one novels from 1929 to 1958.-Early life and education:...
.
Plot
At a ball held on the night of the 1904 presidential electionUnited States presidential election, 1904
The United States presidential election of 1904 held on November 8, 1904, resulted in the election to a full term for President Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt had succeeded to the presidency upon the assassination of William McKinley. The Republican Party unanimously nominated him for president at...
, serious Louise, frivolous Helen, and stolid Grace, daughters of Medicine Bow, Montana pharmacist Ned Elliott and his wife Rose, find themselves dealing with romantic prospects. Tom Knivel is about to propose to Louise when Frank Medlin, a San Francisco sports reporter, asks her to dance. Infatuated with the young woman, Frank extends his stay, and at Sunday dinner in the Elliott home he announces he and Louise plan to wed. Although her parents disapprove of the union, Louise leaves for San Francisco with Frank that night. Grace eventually marries the jilted Tom and Helen weds wealthy Sam Johnson, who promises her freedom and asks for nothing in return.
Although facing financial difficulty, Louise urges Frank to complete his novel. When she becomes pregnant, she decides to keep her condition a secret, but finally reveals the truth when she accompanies Frank to a boxing match and the smoke and smells make her ill. Returning home, Louise suffers a miscarriage while climbing the stairs to their apartment, and her distraught husband begins to drink heavily.
Overwhelmed by increasing medical bills and a sense of worthlessness, Frank demands a raise but is rebuffed by his editor who, telling him his writing is suffering as a result of his drinking, fires him. Louise tries to console him by announcing she has found employment at a local department store, but Frank's hurt pride prompts him to forbid her to work. Louise ignores his demand, and while her husband struggles to find a job, she thrives as secretary to store owner William Benson.
Fellow sportswriter Tim Hazelton suggests Frank leave San Francisco in order to get a fresh start, and he decides to accept work on a ship bound for Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. When Louise arrives home, she finds a note from Frank and rushes to the docks, where a policeman mistaking her for a prostitute arrests her. By the time she is released, Frank's ship has sailed.
A few hours later, much of the city, including Louise's apartment building, is destroyed by the 1906 earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.9; however, other...
. When Ned is unable to contact his daughter, he travels to San Francisco to search for her, but she has sought refuge with her friend Flora Gibbon in Flora's mother's bordello
Brothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
in Oakland
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
. With William's help, Ned locates Louise and brings her back to San Francisco.
Two years pass, the city has been rebuilt, and Louise is an executive in the department store. When she learns Tom has been unfaithful to Grace, she returns to Silver Bow and is reunited with both her sisters. Meanwhile, Frank returns to San Francisco, and although he is ill, he travels to Silver Bow with Tim when he learns Louise is there. At the ball on the night of the 1908 presidential election
United States presidential election, 1908
The United States presidential election of 1908 was held on November 3, 1908. Popular incumbent President Theodore Roosevelt, honoring a promise not to seek a third term, persuaded the Republican Party to nominate William Howard Taft, his close friend and Secretary of War, to become his successor...
, Frank and Louise are reunited and decide to give their marriage another chance.
Production
Following Jezebel, Bette DavisBette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
was dismayed to be assigned to Comet Over Broadway, a melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
in which she would portray a Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
actress who sacrifices her career to care for her ne'er-do-well husband when he is released from prison. "This was the first nothing script I was given since my court battle in England," Davis later recalled, referring to the lawsuit in which she tried to win her freedom from Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
after being forced to appear in a series of mediocre films. "It was heartbreaking to me. After winning a second Academy Award
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
. . . I was asked to appear again in junk." Davis opted to go on suspension and remained on suspension when the studio offered her Garden of the Moon, a Busby Berkeley
Busby Berkeley
Busby Berkeley was a highly influential Hollywood movie director and musical choreographer. Berkeley was famous for his elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns...
musical, instead. "I was on suspension for a good part of the year following Jezebel. So much wasted time at a time when I felt my career could from then on become a truly successful one . . . It took a lot of courage to go on suspension. One received no salary . . . I couldn't afford it, nor could I afford, career-wise, to make films such as Comet Over Broadway and Garden of the Moon!"
After Irene Dunne
Irene Dunne
Irene Dunne was an American film actress and singer of the 1930s, 1940s and early 1950s. Dunne was nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for her performances in Cimarron , Theodora Goes Wild , The Awful Truth , Love Affair and I Remember Mama...
declined the role of Louise in The Sisters, a property that originally had been purchased for Kay Francis
Kay Francis
Kay Francis was an American stage and film actress. After a brief period on Broadway in the late 1920s, she moved to film and achieved her greatest success between 1930 and 1936, when she was the number one female star at the Warner Brothers studio, and the highest paid American film actress...
but was shelved when the studio decided to relegate the actress to B movie
B movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
s for the remainder of her contract, Davis was offered it and accepted. "I was delighted with this part because it was a change of pace . . . I was always challenged by a new type of person to play." Although she welcomed the opportunity to co-star with Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...
, she was unhappy to learn he alone was being given billing above the title. "At that time I had no billing clause in my contract," she recalled. "I felt after Jezebel that my name should always appear above the title. That is star billing." After taking a determined stand with the studio, Davis was billed above the title, although second to Flynn. Producer Hal B. Wallis
Hal B. Wallis
Hal B. Wallis was an American film producer.-Career:Harold Brent Wallis was born in Chicago in 1898. His family moved in 1922 to Los Angeles, California, where he found work as part of the publicity department at Warner Bros...
later admitted the billing dispute was the studio's way of keeping Davis in check and "giving her a dose of her own medicine."
For the earthquake sequence, which took three weeks to film but lasted only 2½ minutes on screen, the studio spent $200,000 on special sets that were razed and burned, in addition to using footage from the 1927 Warner Brothers film Old San Francisco
Old San Francisco (film)
Old San Francisco is a silent movie which was released by Warner Brothers.-Production background:The film was released in a silent version and in a Vitaphone version, with sound-on-disc recording of music and sound effects only. The film was released by Warner Brothers, directed by Alan Crosland,...
.
When preview audiences responded unfavorably to the film's original ending, in which Louise married William Benson as she did in the novel, studio executives decided to film a new one in which she reunites with her seafaring husband instead. "Oh dear, how many films I have been in that have suffered by the change by the studio of the ending," Davis later lamented. "Certainly the original ending of The Sisters was the right one."
In his score
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
, Max Steiner
Max Steiner
Max Steiner was an Austrian composer of music for theatre productions and films. He later became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Trained by the great classical music composers Brahms and Mahler, he was one of the first composers who primarily wrote music for motion pictures, and as...
interpolated the folk ballad "Oh My Darling, Clementine
Oh My Darling, Clementine
Oh My Darling, Clementine is an American western folk ballad usually credited to Percy Montrose , although it is sometimes credited to Barker Bradford. The song is believed to have been based on another song called Down by the River Liv'd a Maiden by H. S...
" in the scenes set in Silver Bow.
Cast
- Errol FlynnErrol FlynnErrol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...
as Frank Medlin - Bette DavisBette DavisRuth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
as Louise Elliott Medlin - Anita LouiseAnita Louise-Life and career:Born Anita Louise Fremault in New York, New York, she made her acting debut on Broadway at the age of six, and within a year was appearing regularly in Hollywood films...
as Helen Elliott Johnson - Ian HunterIan Hunter (actor)Ian Hunter was a British character actor.Among dozens of film roles, his best-remembered appearances include That Certain Woman with Bette Davis, The Adventures of Robin Hood , The Little Princess and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde...
as William Benson - Donald CrispDonald CrispDonald Crisp was an English film actor. He was also an early motion picture producer, director and screenwriter...
as Tim Hazelton - Beulah BondiBeulah BondiBeulah Bondi was an American actress.Bondi began her acting career as a young child in theater, and after establishing herself as a stage actress, she reprised her role in Street Scene for the 1931 film version...
as Rose Elliott - Henry TraversHenry TraversHenry Travers was an English actor. His most memorable role was that of the angel, Clarence, in the 1946 motion picture It's A Wonderful Life.-Early life:...
as Ned Elliott - Jane BryanJane BryanJane Bryan was an American actress who was being prepared by the Warner Bros. studio to become one of their leading ladies until she married a drugstore magnate in 1940 and retired....
as Grace Elliott Knivel - Alan HaleAlan Hale, Sr.Alan Hale, Sr. was an American movie actor and director, most widely remembered for his many supporting character roles, in particular as frequent sidekick of Errol Flynn. His wife of over thirty years was Gretchen Hartman , a child actress and silent film player and mother of their three children...
as Sam Johnson - Dick ForanDick ForanJohn Nicholas 'Dick' Foran was an American actor, known for his performances in western musicals and for playing supporting roles in dramatic pictures.-Life and career:...
as Tom Knivel - Patric KnowlesPatric KnowlesReginald Lawrence Knowles was an English film actor who renamed himself Patric Knowles, a name which reflects his Irish descent. He appeared in films of the 1930s through the 1970s...
as Norman French - Lee PatrickLee Patrick (actress)Lee Patrick was an American theater and film actress.-Early life and education:Born in New York City, Patrick began acting on Broadway in 1924. For more than a decade, she was constantly employed and established herself as a popular actress. She appeared in the original 1929 production of June...
as Flora Gibbon - Laura Hope CrewsLaura Hope CrewsLaura Hope Crews was a leading actress of the American stage in the first decades of the 20th century who is best remembered today for her later work as a character actress in motion pictures of the 1930s...
as Mrs. Gibbon
Critical reception
LifeLife (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
observed, "Bette Davis acts with such extraordinary grace, sensitivity, and distinction that hers is already being acclaimed the movie performance of the year."
Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
called the film "a virtual cavalcade of early 20th-century American history" and added, "Davis turns in one of her most scintillating performances. Flynn's happy-go-lucky reporter is a vivid portrayal although his slight English accent seems incongruous."