Three Daring Daughters (1948)

After her husband abandons her and their three very young daughters (Jane Powell, Elinor Donahue, Ann E. Todd), a woman (Jeanette MacDonald) keeps his true character from them and instead, she builds him up as a positive figure. This is a mistake because the girls plot to bring their father back and reunite him with their mother. What they don't know is that not only doesn't their mother want him back but she is secretly married to another man (Jose Iturbi). Directed by Fred M. Wilcox (FORBIDDEN PLANET). While this is a typically glossy wholesome MGM musical, it has a dark undercurrent that is successfully explored. The manipulation children exercise to get their own way and the excess freedom that a divorced parent gives their children to compensate for being a single parent. The musical numbers are the least interesting aspect of the movie and frankly, the movie would have been better if they jettisoned the music and played it out as a straight drama. MacDonald looks ultra glamorous in Technicolor and hasn't been this appealing since her Lubitsch and Mamoulian days. Musically, there are two highlights. Iturbi's performance of De Falla's Ritual Fire Dance and Jane Powell's excursion into jazz with Route 66. With Edward Arnold, Tom Helmore and Moyna Macgill.