The title of this film is a bit of an intentional misnomer. These sisters are anything but gay - in any sense of the word. Susanna Gaylord (Nancy Coleman) is drearily trying to find happiness after a 4 hour marriage the groom refuses to annul, Evelyn Gaylord (Geraldine Fitzgerald) is bitter and spiteful and Fiona Gaylord (Stanwyck) is hard as nails and completely unforgiving. They've been orphans (albeit rich ones) since they were children, and the estate their father left them has been in probate for 20 years. It's being held up by developer Charles Barclay (George Brent) who wants to buy the family mansion, tear it down and build a complex. Fiona refuses to sell and the standoff has been a stalemate. Of course there's more to this than real estate. There's more to the relationship between Fiona and Charles than meets the eye...
This super soaper is the film that gave Gig Young his name. He plays an artist who forms the sticky point of a love triangle between Susanna and Evelyn. Warner Brothers decided after casting him in this film that he should take the characters name professionally. It's sort of odd to hear the character referred to by name so often in the film (And they do it endlessly, using both given and surname so it almost seems like a parody) knowing that since then, the name also refers to the actor.
The Gay Sisters has yet to be released on DVD, though it can be watched in its entirety on YouTube, thanks to an upload by heapsoflovenozomi. Part 1 is above. It's also occasionally screened on TCM, which is where I saw it. The poster above is available at MoviePosterShop.com.
Obscurity factor: 7 (not on DVD, mostly unknown to the general public)
