Introduction
Welcome to my corner! Last week, I shared my thoughts on the film The Great Race. This week, I'm sharing my thoughts on the film Three Daring Daughters. The TCM television channel played Three Daring Daughters as part of their 'Counting Up' lineup on June 26. Enjoy!
Three Daring Daughters
Three Daring Daughters is a 1948 American technicolor musical film directed by Fred M. Wilcox and starring Jeanette MacDonald, Jane Powell and Edward Arnold. It was produced and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The screenplay was written by Albert Mannheimer, Frederick Kohner, Sonya Levien and John Meehan.
Plot: Convinced that their mother, Louise Morgan (Jeanette MacDonald), is lonely and unhappy, Tess (Jane Powell), Alix (Mary Eleanor Donahue) and Ilka (Ann E. Todd) plot to reunite her with their irresponsible father, Charlie, with the help of his rich employer, Robert Nelson (Edward Arnold). On a cruise, however, Louise meets bandleader Jose (Jose Iturbi), and the couple secretly marry. Back home, Louise wonders how to reveal her marriage when the girls tell her that Charlie is returning.
Acting: Jeanette MacDonald played Louise Rayton Morgan. She resembles Bette Davis in my eyes. She had a beautiful voice too. Her four most notable movies are: Broadway Serenade, Cairo, Naughty Marietta, and San Francisco. Three Daring Daughters was one of her last film roles.
José Iturbi played himself. I'll be honest and say I had never heard of Iturbi before watching this movie. In researching, I learned that he was a very talented man. He always played himself. Three Daring Daughters was one of his last film roles, too. The four films he's most known for are: The Midnight Kiss, Three Daring Daughters, Holiday in Mexico, and Thousands Cheer.
For young, and relatively inexperienced actresses, the daughters did a really good job in my opinion.
Jane Powell played Tess Morgan. I recognized her face right away! Milly Pontipee from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers! Her four most notable films are: Luxury Liner, A Date with Judy, Seven Brides for Brothers, and Holiday in Mexico. Three Daring Daughters was Powell's fourth film. She was only 19 when it was released.
Ann E. Todd played Ilka Morgan. She was 17when Three Daring Daughters was released. The four titles she's most known for are: How Green Was My Valley, Intermezzo, Roughly Speaking, and The Stu Erwin Show. Three Daring Daughters was made toward the end of her acting career. She became a librarian in her adult years.
Elinor Donahue played Alix Morgan. She had a long career! She's a retired actress at 88 years old. She was 11 when Three Daring Daughters was released. She spent a lot of her career acting in television shows. Her four most notable titles are: Pretty Woman, Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, Father Knows Best television show, and The Andy Griffith Show.
Technical Aspects: Not much information to go on for the production details. Below is what I could find:
Three Daring Daughters is also known by other names, including: Keep Young with Music, and The Birds and the Bees. It was released on March 5, 1948, premiering in Los Angeles on March 2. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. was the production company. Loew's Inc. was the distribution company.
Three Daring Daughters was based on the play The Bees and the Flowers by Frederick Kohner and Albert Mannheimer. (New York, 26 Sep. 1946).
Most of the movie was filmed in California at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios. It was filmed from November 1946 to January 1947.
Final Thoughts: A cute little family love story. My mom, Kimberly, actually picked this one out to watch together. My dad, Doug, even watched it with us.
The film synopsis on Hulu mislead me a bit as to the setup of the story. The Hulu synopsis said: "Three young girls try to help their widowed mother find the fight husband." Well, that's just not true. For one thing, their mother wasn't widowed, just separated/divorced from the girls' father. Another thing, the girls intended to reunite their estranged parents, not try to set their mother up with another man.
This mix-up amongst the family was entirely the mother's fault, in my opinion. She didn't tell her children that thier father was a dirtbag and ran off. Instead, she let them put him on a pedestal. That's a no-no. So, unsurprisingly, when a new man comes into the picture the girls are not too happy. Rather than trying the "find their mother the right husband" they're trying to drive him off.
Other than that confusing mix-up between Hulu and TCM, I quite enjoyed Three Daring Daughters. It's a nice little film about a family adding a new member to their household (through marriage), although at first unwillingly.
Something else that took me by surprise was the amount of music, with and without lyrics. I didn't notice that the genre said musical comedy. It wasn't musical in the normal way though, where there's a song and dance number every five minutes. There weren't any dance numbers at all, and the songs were mostly operatic. A lot of the music was instrumental; I'm guessing because José Iturbi was a real life conductor, pianist and harpsichordist. They had to show off his talents a bit.
If you like movies with music, give this one a go!
Where to watch it: According to Google, Three Daring Daughters is not currently available to stream watch anywhere. However, you can purchase or rent a digital copy for a few dollars. I've also donated a DVD copy of the film to the Emil M. Larson Library in Clark for you all to enjoy if you choose to.
That's it for this week! What were your thoughts? Feel free to share them with us! You can call us, email us, visit us at the office, leave us a comment or message on Facebook, or even mail us something. Keep the comments, suggestions, questions, submissions, etc. coming our way! We'd love to hear from you!
