Main Cast: Jeanette MacDonald, José Iturbi, Jane Powell, Edward Arnold, Harry Davenport
Release Year: 1948
Country: US
Run Time: 115 minutes
Plot
Jeanette MacDonald made her first screen appearance in five years in the MGM confection Three Daring Daughters. Looking at least ten years younger than her 48 years, MacDonald is cast as glamorous magazine editor Louise Raton Morgan. Long divorced Louise returns from a Cuban vacation with a handsome new husband in tow: None other than famed pianist Jose Iturbi, engagingly playing "himself". Louise's three daughters Tess (Jane Powell), Alix (Mary Elinor Donahue, the future "Princess" on TV's Father Knows Best) and Ilka (Ann E. Todd) are appalled by their mother's choice of husbands. Refusing to accept Iturbi as their stepdad, the girls contrive to unite Louise with Robert-whether they like it or not. Before the Three Daring Daughters come to their senses, there's opportunity aplenty from musical solos by stars Jeanette MacDonald, Jane Powell and Jose Iturbi, with an additional solo from harmonica virtuoso Larry Adler (just before he was blacklisted from Hollywood and forced to scare up film work in England). Incidentally, the actress playing the flirtatious Mrs. Smith is Moyna McGill, the real-life mother of Angela Lansbury. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Some time in the future when a PhD candidate submits his/her thesis on "The Meta-Reality of Jose Iturbi in Motion Pictures}, Three Daring Daughters will be its centerpeiece. The famous pianist/conductor often played himself in films, but never so oddly as in Daughters, in which the (real) Iturbi marries the (not real) character played by Jeannette MacDonald, becoming the (not real) father to (not real) sisters Jane Powell, Mary Elinor Donahue and Ann E. Todd. It's a very odd thing to watch, and it adds a layer of fun to Daughters. Iturbi's presence aside, Daughts is a very conventional musical, but it is blessed with its cast. MacDonald looks and sounds great; ditto Powell. And Donahue is cute and charming. Edward Arnold is on hand to lend his distinctive touch to his part, Moyna MacGill is amusing as a chatty traveler, and Kathryn Card lands some comic punches as a housekeeper with attitude. The score isn't cohesive, being drawn from hither and yon, but it's generous, and the songs show off the performers quite well. The screenplay? Well, it's filled with the kind of silly misunderstandings that would easily have been cleared up in real life, but it gets the job done. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Moyna MacGill - Mrs. Smith; Ann E. Todd - Ilka Morgan; Kathryn Card - Jonesy; Larry Adler - Himself; Nina Bara; Leon Belasco - Bandleader; Thomas E. Breen - Steward; Virginia Brissac - Miss Drake; Wheaton Chambers - Stage Manager; Charles Coleman - Butler; David Cota - Cuban Bellboy; Elinor Donahue - Alix Morgan; William Forrest - Ship's Captain; Thurston Hall - Mr. Howard; Tom Helmore - Michael Pemberton; Jack Lipson - Fat Man on Street; Edward Peil Sr. - Waiter; Frank Pershing - Ship Steward; Joan Valerie - Hostess; Ian Wolfe - Butler; Mary Elinor; Diane Stewart; Brick Sullivan - Cabbie; Don Avalier - Headwaiter; Amparo Iturbi - Herself; Bill Lewin; Dorita Pallais; Dorothy Porter - Specialty Singer; Joanee Wayne - Telephone Operator; Dick Simmons - Mr. Hollow
Credit
Preston Ames - Art Director, Cedric Gibbons - Art Director, Irene - Costume Designer, Fred Wilcox - Director, Adrienne Fazan - Editor, George Stoll - Composer (Music Score), George Stoll - Musical Direction/Supervision, Jack Dawn - Makeup, Ray June - Cinematographer, Joe Pasternak - Producer, Arthur Krams - Set Designer, Edwin B. Willis - Set Designer, Sonya Levien - Screenwriter, Albert Mannheimer - Screenwriter, John Meehan - Screenwriter, Frederick Kohner - Screenwriter, Albert Mannheimer - Play Author, Frederick Kohner - Play Author
Three Daring Daughters (UK title: The Birds and the Bees) is a 1948 musical film made by MGM, and directed by Fred M. Wilcox. The screenplay was written by Albert Mannheimer, Frederick Kohner, Sonya Levien and John Meehan.
