Three Daring Daughters (1948)

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Jeannette MacDonald saw the writing on the wall when she was cast as a mother in her second to last film. She had ruled the MGM lot from 1934 to 1944, but now it was time for her to go.She sings and acts admirably in this silly, contrived family romantic comedy, but she is matched by the up and coming youngster, Jane Powell, who would, after this passing of the torch film, rule the MGM musical lot for another decade.It's a silly film, based on a lie - MacDonald's character has never told her three daughters the truth about their uncaring father, and so she is responsible for their incomprehension of her re-marrying and so act accordingly in trying to bring their father back into their lives.All act earnestly and it is shot in absolutely gorgeous Technicolor. Still, despite its warm intentions, it comes across as a bit twee. Why did the stupid screenwriters use Iturbi as himself. Hadn't he a private life? How could he be considered as married to this fictional woman? How much easier to simply give him a fictional character to play as they did Miss MacDonald? One of those MGM mistakes that can never be ironed out.Iturbi does as well as a non-actor can, but his inability to play a physically and emotionally attractive character makes MacDonald's character choice of a new husband ho-hum for audiences.Ann B. Todd is quite serious as the second daughter and Elinor Donaghue ( who later would be known coast to coast as the eldest daughter of the TV series, Father Knows Best) does well as the youngster.It's not a bad film, it's just a competent one. Almost the last glimpse of MacDonald, still radiant and in top form at the end of her career.

This is not, by any means, a great movie. In fact, if it had starred some anglo American male in the male lead, it probably would be of no interest whatsoever.But that's not the case. It stars the Spanish pianist José Iturbí, with whom the very Caucasian Jeanette MacDonald falls in love and marries. That never once enters into the dialogue when MacDonald's three daughters object to the marriage, but it probably entered into the minds of more than one of the audience of the time.And yet, it truly is not an issue in the movie.Which makes this very interesting for its day.Other than the "racial" issue, it's an OK, undistinguished flick. We get to see a lot of Iturbí playing the piano, which is fun. He was neither handsome nor a great actor, but he was a fine pianist, and he gets a series of real blockbuster numbers.MacDonald doesn't get to sing much, and gets no romantic duets, which is a real change from her previous films.Jane Powell is fine in her numbers, but undistinguished.See it for the non-issue.

In a recognition of the fact that she was no longer a young soprano, Jeanette MacDonald in her final two films played a mom. And as the title Three Daring Daughters suggests she's the mom of three girls, one of whom is Jane Powell, a soprano of some note.Jeanette is a working mom, an editor of a magazine, who apparently doubles as a concert singer. She's been told, doctor Harry Davenport's orders to go on a much needed vacation. She takes a cruise and marries world famous concert pianist Jose Iturbi who is playing himself. Now to break it to the children.This is where the story goes astray. Her former husband who is never seen in the film is a foreign correspondent and we're told that Jeanette has told the children some great big fibs about what a wonderful man he was. Of course if he was so wonderful why were they divorced? The kids assume the reason for her listlessness before the vacation was that she was pining for dad. It's like the writers of Three Daring Daughters could not come up with a rationale that would satisfy the Code.Yet the film is good fun, it's nice seeing Jeanette and Jane trading high notes as it were. It's as if Jeanette was passing the soprano torch on to another generation, not just to Jane Powell, but to Ann Blyth and Kathryn Grayson for future MGM musicals.Jose Iturbi could not have done a better job just being Jose Iturbi. I remember meeting him as a kid years ago and getting an autograph from him. Even then I thought he was a class act. Of course he never took as a leading man at MGM, but I think Mr. Iturbi was a musician first and foremost. And he certainly was a sight better leading man than Liberace.If you can get over the tiptoeing of writer's feet around the Code, you'll like Three Daring Daughters.

Three Daring Daughters is a harmless, cute little movie. It may be a little naive and fluffy, but if you need a bit of cheering up it does definitely help.It's about a single mum that goes away on a cruise and gets married to a musician. Her daughters don't know about her getting married and are trying to organize a reunion between their mother and their father, who is away on business (and has been absent for some time).Jane Powell definitely shines in this role. This is the movie in which I 'discovered' her, if you like. It's a great film with some great numbers in it.Another reviewer said it gives you a naive look at second marriage, single parenting and everything. But would I want a realistic view? No. Because that would defeat a sole purpose of going to the movies - to get away from reality. And that's why I like this film.