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Three Daring Daughters
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by MGM (Warner)
Sales Rank: 4868
Price: $19.98
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The shades of night were falling fast for Jeanette MacDonald when she opened the script for "THREE DARING DAUGHTERS," originally titled "THE BIRDS AND THE BEES" till Joe Pasternak got his mitts on it. One quick look convinced her that she was now no longer MGM's golden girl, and in fact the studio planned to pair her with the balding, glinty-eyed Cuban born pianist Jose Iturbi, who could barely be understood through his native accent. He had a charming voice actually, somewhat reminiscent of Charles Boyer's, but everyone knew he was no Clark Gable or even a Nelson Eddy. His talent was all in his hands, not his face. As Jeannette MacDonald rang for another pot of tea, she continued to peruse the script, with growing dismay. Not only was she to be playing a mother, but she had two grown daughters and a third, younger, but even horribler one! <br /> <br />Grown daughters--the aging star's nightmare! <br /> <br />Especially when one of them was going to be played by Jane Powell, then trumpeted by Louis B. Mayer as the "new Jeannette MacDonald"! Jane Powell is actually a talented actress and singer, but she lacks something of MacDonald's sparkle, sophistication and sexuality. "Something"? Make that "all"! <br /> <br />Many have noted the end of the picture, when Powell and MacDonald make up their differences by singing "Springtide" together. You can see the sadness of MacDonald's eyes. There's a bit of sadness, too, in Jane Powell's hairdo, which looks as though two glazed danishes had been placed directly over her eyebrows and left to hang there, like fruit, until the tree dies. Jose Iturbi plays the new man in the life of the mother of the three sisters, who despise him because they are living in denial, hoping their dad, Charlie, might come home from the hinterlands after all. Iturbi says, "You girls wouldn't approve of me if I were Hercules--Apollo--and General Douglas MacArthur all rolled into one!" <br /> <br />He's no Apollo that's for sure. <br /> <br />Meanwhile millionaire Edward Arnold is hanging around to make sure all turns out okay for Jeanette. It might be that he, too, was once in love with her, but lost out to the absent "Charlie," one of those men who hates relationships and is afraid of intimacy. <br /> <br />The movie is a sad winding down of one of the great careers in show business, however all is not lost for those of us who love Jeanette MacDonald, especially if you can fast forward through the other scenes of the three girls interfering and scheming and pulling tricks. Not that they aren't cute girls, they are, they just are misguided and obnoxious. Obviously Shirley Temple and Margaret O'Brien were busy so they hired the other two non-Jane Powell daughters.
Viewer Reviews
If you didn't get it, watch it again! They all have it. Even the housekeeper has it. Oh, and get this; urban, divorced, career mom, dresses well, has three cute kids, and gets a nice man! And wait! There's more! The DOCTOR says to the kids (of single mom), "It's difficult to raise children right, and your mother had done it right." This is 1948! Also, get this, for an immediately post-war movie -- they don't finish by moving OUT of the city -- they stay in it! A family! How great is that? There is even the odd little twist that the nice man, though sexy, I guess, for his time, is SHORTER than the lovely Irene Dunne, but it's not a big deal! And what about that cute song mom and kids sing? Speaking of which, the music is great. Jane Powell sings beautifully. Later, believe it or not, there's a harmonica concerto. This movie is odd but wonderful. At first I thought it was the stupidist thing I'd ever seen. Then I watched it again. Now I love it.
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