Main Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Donald Crisp, Nancy Coleman
Release Year: 1942
Country: US
Run Time: 108 minutes
Plot
In this grim melodrama, Barbara Stanwyck plays the eldest of three wealthy sisters who become orphans when their father dies in France. Threatened with the danger of losing the opulent family home, Big Sister makes a grand sacrifice and secretly marries a real estate developer so she can inherit her aunt's fortune. A few years later, she learns that he is after the family estate and wants to tear it down so she leaves him and tries to stop him. More time passes and the husband ends up taking her to court when he learns that she has borne him a son without telling him. The part of "Gig Young" was played by actor Byron Barr who later assumed the name before he became famous. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Review
Although it sounds as if it should be a sunny period musical, The Gay Sisters is in fact a rather dark melodrama. One gets the impression that the makers of Gay intended it to be a grand family saga, something that Edna Ferber might have created by way of Zoe Akins. But the end result is something else, a fairly implausible exercise that tries for high emotion but too often comes off as forced. Chief blame rests with Lenore J. Coffee's screenplay, which is perhaps hobbled by the Stephen Longstreet book that is its source. Whichever of the two is responsible, Gay's script is filled with sound and fury, but none of it is very credible -- and the surely shoved-in-at-gunpoint happy ending is particularly odious. Irving Rapper's direction is technically fine but lacks any true spark. Gay is fortunate to have Sol Polito's very fine cinematography and Max Steiner's atmosphere-heavy score. It's even more fortunate to have Barbara Stanwyck as the lead sister. Stanwyck almost always gave her all to every part, no matter the quality of the writing, and this is no exception. Her skill, timing, perception and sheer charisma carry a great deal of the film. She receives no help at all from a poor George Brent, but Nancy Coleman and Geraldine Fitzgerald as her sisters are assets, and a young Gig Young scores some points here. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Fiona, Evelyn and Susanna are sisters. When their mother dies on the Lusitania, and their father is killed in France, they must manage their Fifth Avenuemansion by themselves. Fiona marries Charles Barclay in order to get an inheritance and he begins a campaign to obtain the mansion to level it for real estate development. She vows that this will never happen.
