Rotten Tomatoes

Movies / TV

    Celebrity

      No Results Found

       View All       Movies Tv shows Shop News Showtimes

      They Were Sisters

      1945 1h 50m Drama List
      Reviews Lucy Moore (Phyllis Calvert) is happily married to her loving husband (Peter Murray-Hill) and showers love and affection on her nieces and nephews, since she is unable to bear children of her own. Lucy's sister, Vera Sargeant (Anne Crawford), is also married, but indulges her unhappiness with countless affairs. After several years, both become worried about their other sister, Charlotte Lee (Dulcie Gray), who cowers in fear of her manipulative and emotionally abusive husband (James Mason). Read More Read Less

      Critics Reviews

      View All (1) Critics Reviews
      MFB Critics Monthly Film Bulletin Although it could not be called striking or outstanding, this is an interesting film which leaves its own kind of quiet satisfaction. Sep 26, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

      Audience Reviews

      View All (0) audience reviews
      Audience Member A lush, Black and White studio film, with the cream of post-war British acting talent (Phyllis Calvert, James Mason, Anne Crawford.) You will need to get over the hurdle of tolerating that late 1940s bright, British way of talking, only nowadays to be heard in reduced form from the Queen. Also, accept and get used to the slightly wooden "Peter and Jane" style child actors - then you'll see a great weepy melodrama. James Mason is deliciously malevolent and controlling of his drippy, sweet, doormat wife, the fragile Dulcie Gray. This sister's marriage troubles are timeless - what we would nowadays see as coercive control, or "gaslighting". Her sister Vera, played by that specialist of a high-maintenance woman, Anne Crawford, has a marriage more particular to the upper middle-class of the middle years of the century: a spoilt trophy wife, like a character from Noel Coward who's strayed into a melodrama, but still highly entertaining for it. The perfect, third sister Lucy has the perfect marriage, except she cannot have children, and so dotes on her sisters' neglected children. We're not great ones for family dramas like this nowadays, being rather individualistic and focussed on our ability to choose whether we marry and whether children quite fit our modern, choice-filled lives, so it is a refreshing pleasure to see this sisters' family drama, let's say from a "family" era. Interestingly the wicked James Mason character's seventeen year old daughter is well played by Pamela Kellino, his future wife and already thirty in this picture – one of those actresses like Alicia Silverstone who seem able to play teenagers into their thirties. James Mason seems to have shown up as his smooth self in so many anonymous films that I'm inclined to avoid him; that's a bit absurd, because he's in so many good ones, in particular this one: see what he's made of here. Give this great film a chance: if you can accept the accents and jauntiness and stop noticing them, it's a great melodrama, and the softer amongst you might finish up blubbing – maybe not quite "Wonderful Life" territory, but tears could be jerked. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

      Cast & Crew

      Show Less Cast & Crew Show More Cast & Crew

      Photos

      View All They Were Sisters photos

      They Were Sisters

      They Were Sisters (1945) They Were Sisters (1945) They Were Sisters (1945) They Were Sisters (1945) View more photos

      Movie Info

      Synopsis Lucy Moore (Phyllis Calvert) is happily married to her loving husband (Peter Murray-Hill) and showers love and affection on her nieces and nephews, since she is unable to bear children of her own. Lucy's sister, Vera Sargeant (Anne Crawford), is also married, but indulges her unhappiness with countless affairs. After several years, both become worried about their other sister, Charlotte Lee (Dulcie Gray), who cowers in fear of her manipulative and emotionally abusive husband (James Mason).
      Director
      Arthur Crabtree
      Production Co
      Gainsborough Pictures
      Genre
      Drama
      Original Language
      English (United Kingdom)
      Runtime
      1h 50m