The Sainted Sisters (1948) User Reviews

Keep your money on you

[AAdaSC · 7/10 · 19 May 2018]

Sisters Veronica Lake (Letty) and Joan Caulfield (Jane) are bad-ass con merchants who fleece men of their money and then skip town. Weirdly, I had just watched a film called "Larceny" from the same year (1948) a week prior to seeing this film. It has exactly the same premise with John Payne and Dan Duryea as the bad-ass con merchants who fleece victims of their money and skip town. And check this, Joan Caulfield is also in that effort although her role in that film is one of a victim. Here she is part of the bad-girl duo. Another difference is that "Larceny" is a crime thriller whilst "The Sainted Sisters" is a comedy. And both films are as enjoyable as each other. So, the sisters are on the run and take shelter in the house of Barry Fitzgerald (Robbie) who knows what they are up to. Can the girls make it across the Canadian border to freedom?

The film works as a comedy in that the comedy isn't slapstick or dated, tiresome screwball nonsense. It is actually funny and is driven by humerous situations instead of characters shouting over each other or falling over in obvious pratfalls. I was worried when I saw William Demarest in the cast but I have to give him credit in this as he only does one unfunny pratfall that I can remember. Barry Fitzgerald is a bit difficult to understand at times but he drives the film along. The other strong characters are Lake Veronica, the town's wealthy Beulah Bondi (Hester) who is one mean woman dressed in black, and, surprisingly, the usually appalling Demarest as the town's sheriff. You get comedy moments and a morality lesson for the two sisters although the romance thread is a bit difficult to take. No way.

Their fleece was as pure as the driven slush.....

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 13 August 2015]

Having been seen mostly in modern seductive clothing, getting a gander at Veronica Lake in period costumes is quite a switch from those Alan Ladd film noirs that she had become well known for. Cast along with softer looking Joan Caulfield as two New York City con-artists on the run from being nearly caught in their latest get rich quick scheme, the two sisters stop off in a small town near the Canadian border where they hide their loot that somehow ends up getting distributed to the needy folks much to their horror and the bitterness of town matron Beulah Bondi.

A struggling widow prays for a cow and finds a cow; A farmer about to be dispossessed finds money under his door. A young boy who wants to learn how to play the trombone is given the money for the instrument. Lake and Caulfield at first are furious when they find out that the old rascal who found them hiding in his farmhouse (Barry Fitzgerald) found their stash of cash and knowing their secret decided to use it like Robin Hood to help the poor. Bondi puts up $15,000 of her own money to help the town on the promise that Lake and Caulfield will do the same. But Lake has ideas of her own and that means finding Bondi's hidden strong box and skipping town with double of what they had before.

Certainly the premise is outlandish and absurd, but it is presented in such an entertaining way with a load of popular character performers-William Demarest, "I Love Lucy's" Kathryn Card, Chill Wills among them. Future "Superman" George Reeves is the town hero who becomes enamored of both sisters and causes Caulfield to go soft. Bondi's mean-spirited matron is one of many embittered characters she's played, but she allows a few moments of sweetness and light to creep in her character, reminding me of the kindly mothers she's played more often than the meaner ones. However, it's the sprightly Fitzgerald who steals the film with that sly twinkle in his eye that wins over your compassion. So even by a stretch of the imagination, this is a winning comedy with a huge heart that shows atonement of the two sisters who learn more in a short period of time about humanity than an entire lifetime in the big city.

" Cute Little Comedy "

[PamelaShort · 8/10 · 27 November 2013]

I found " The Sainted Sisters " to be a cute and enjoyable little comedy with lots of the amusement from Barry Fitzgerald, a sly old rascal who helps the two gold-digging sisters reform their ways. Veronica Lake and Joan Caulfield play the two turn-of-the the century sisters who are on the run after relieving an gullible old millionaire out of $ 25.000. Trying to escape to Canada, they are caught in a storm and seek shelter in a small town in Maine. The shelter they seek is the home of Fitzgerald who has peeked through the keyhole and sees the girls hanging up the rain soaked money to dry. Already suspicious of the two, he agrees to let them stay for the night. Next morning as the girls want to be on their way, Fitzgerald questions them about the money, playing dumb, Veronica tells him to hold their suitcase while the girls walk to town to find a horse and buggy. Puzzled as to why he can't find the money in the suitcase, Veronica has it hidden under her bustle, he follows them around town, finally picking up his mail he also picks up the sheriffs new wanted poster of the two girls. Meanwhile the girls have secured a ride from George Reeves, but Fitzgerald intervenes in time, confronts them with the wanted poster and the girls are blackmailed into staying, with Fitzgerald holding their money and distributing it to the needy townspeople. During the course of the story George Reeves falls in love with both girls as does the entire grateful town. This film really shines with the fine cast of character actors, William Demarest, Beulah Bondi, and Chills Wills. Veronica Lake is extremely good as the more cunning of the two sisters, along with Joan Caulfield they are both funny and fetching to watch in their period costumes being slyly tricked by Fitzgerald to help the needy with their money. This really hard to find film is a light-hearted story and entertaining watching the veteran actors of the day. Delightful also for fans of Veronica Lake .