Disney's The Parent Trap had twin daughters attempting to break up their father's engagement to a younger woman, to reunite daughters and biological parents in a happy home. This Universal predecessor substitutes three daughters for two, therefore adding to the stress on poor Winninger, who now has six women to please, including Barnes' unpleasant socialite mother (Alice Brady).
Barnes' days with Winninger are clearly numbered, since a vast conspiracy quickly blooms against her. In on the scheme are Winninger's butler, Ernest Coassart; comic relief aristocrat drunk Mischa Auer; and two tall young hotshots, wealthy noble Ray Milland and Winninger's right hand man, John 'Dusty' King. The hotshots promptly (and predictably) begin courting the two older sisters, while the heart of underaged Durbin remains with daddy.
How others will see it. This is a formula outing with idealized characters. The three unreasonably pretty sisters are all thoroughly charming, and their unreasonably wealthy father is an easily led fool who clearly loves his daughters, even though he has made no attempt to see them since they were small children. The fiancee is loveless, demanding, selfish, fickle, and readily despised. The two love interests are unreasonably tall, handsome, and successful. The script and direction is strictly by the numbers.
Males of all ages will have little interest in this movie, except those sufficiently attracted to young Durbin to overcome their indifference to the plot. Women will be more forgiving, although the more cynical among them will suspect that Durbin's remarkable voice is dubbed. But, it's actually her singing.
How I felt about it. This is the film that introduced Deanna Durbin to American households, although she was earlier featured in an MGM short (with Judy Garland). MGM wisely changed her first name from Edna to Deanna, but foolishly allowed her brief contract to lapse, and Universal snapped her up for the remainder of her movie career.
Deanna Durbin was 15 in 1936, but she already possessed a soprano voice worthy of the Metropolitan. Being pretty and vivacious completed the picture. Three Smart Girls made her a star, but Universal concentrated on low budget films in those days, and her movies don't hold up well today. Durbin is less known than contemporaries such as MGM's Katharine Hepburn and Warners' Bette Davis, who made better films. But Durbin has one advantage over everyone else mentioned. She has outlived them.