Playing a much more serious role than ever, Jeanette MacDonald makes me wonder how she would have been as Liza Elliott in Kurt Weill's "Lady in the Dark". Is imagine her bumping and grinding to "Jenny", and singing the poignant "My Ship". As Louise Rayton Morgan, she's the exhausted publisher of a ladies magazine, and unlike Liza, has been through marriage (now divorced), and has three daughters she is often too exhausted to visit with.
Her ex is supposedly working somewhere in Europe, and the three daughters (Jane Powell, Ann E. Todd and Elinor Donahue) are trying to find him to reconcile the family. They contact his supposed boss (Edward Arnold), unaware that he may not be whom their mother claims him to be. MacDonald is busy on her restful cruise singing and dancing with famous pianist Jose Iturbi. I wish MacDonald and Powell had more scenes together. It's a sadly wasted opportunity.
Not really memorable musically other than for a few ballads sung by MacDonald and Powell, this is sadly rather dull and overly long, only lightening up for a few moments of frivolity. Kathryn Card ("I Love Lucy") is funny as the housekeeper who secretly knows the coded language the three girls speak around her, and Harry Davenport is loveable as always as the grandfatherly doctor who sends MacDonald on the cruise. Special credit must go to Moya McGill who plays her obnoxious, gossipy pal, and if you notice a similarity to Angela Lansbury, there's good reason. She's her mother! But this film needed a good trimming to be really memorable, going on nearly half an hour too long.
Her ex is supposedly working somewhere in Europe, and the three daughters (Jane Powell, Ann E. Todd and Elinor Donahue) are trying to find him to reconcile the family. They contact his supposed boss (Edward Arnold), unaware that he may not be whom their mother claims him to be. MacDonald is busy on her restful cruise singing and dancing with famous pianist Jose Iturbi. I wish MacDonald and Powell had more scenes together. It's a sadly wasted opportunity.
Not really memorable musically other than for a few ballads sung by MacDonald and Powell, this is sadly rather dull and overly long, only lightening up for a few moments of frivolity. Kathryn Card ("I Love Lucy") is funny as the housekeeper who secretly knows the coded language the three girls speak around her, and Harry Davenport is loveable as always as the grandfatherly doctor who sends MacDonald on the cruise. Special credit must go to Moya McGill who plays her obnoxious, gossipy pal, and if you notice a similarity to Angela Lansbury, there's good reason. She's her mother! But this film needed a good trimming to be really memorable, going on nearly half an hour too long.