Clevercell Very disappointing...

FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

jacobs-greenwood Directed by Mervyn LeRoy with a story by John Bright and Kubec Glasmon and a screenplay by Lucien Hubbard, this 60+ minute drama features many of the actors and actresses who would become Warner Bros.'s biggest stars early in their careers. The story moves so quickly, utilizing several film montages of newspaper headlines to mark the passage of time from 1919 to 1932, that many of these stars' roles barely exceed that of a cameo appearance. Its pre-code subject matter is noteworthy though, and given the small time investment to watch it, most viewers will "leave" satisfied.It's 1919 at public school #62: Mary Keaton (Virginia Davis; Clara Blandick, uncredited, appears briefly as her mother), the preteen that smokes with the boys, doesn't graduate, and goes to reform school, grows up to be chorus girl Mary Bernard (Joan Blondell). The school's most popular girl Vivian Revere (a young, unrecognizable Anne Shirley, as Dawn O'Day) wears pink bloomers, does better in school, and has wealthy parents that can afford to send her to the best boarding school, eventually marries a successful lawyer Robert Kirkwood (Warren William) and has a son. Ruth Wescott (Betty Carse), who graduated valedictorian and can only afford to go to trade school, becomes a stenographer (Bette Davis).All three childhood "friends" end up meeting 9 years later (1921 is the year they left the public school) in 1930. While it appears that Vivian, who treats the other two to lunch, has done the best, her life feels empty since she's accomplished nothing on her own. Her busy husband has given her everything she has. Realizing she's not happy, Kirkwood offers to take a trip with her to a foreign locale; she accepts, but only if she can "get away" from everything including her husband, but except for their 5 year old son (Buster Phelps, uncredited).So, Vivian and her son board a cruise ship. Kirkwood is interrupted by a message, and then called away on business before its scheduled midnight sailing time. He excuses himself with his regrets. Coincidentally, Mary and a couple of her male friends are onboard to help celebrate another couple's sendoff. They run into Vivian and convince her to join them later, after her son is asleep such that he can be watched by an attendant. When she does, she gets to know Michael Loftus (Lyle Talbot), one of Mary's friends, so much better that, in the span of less than 90 minutes, she decides to hurried leave the ship with him, and her son, before it sails.The newspapers report that Robert Kirkwood's wife and son are missing, and the lawyer urges the police (and hires others?) to find her. Mary soon learns where Vivian is, shacked up with Loftus, and discusses the deplorable conditions in which Vivian's son is living with Ruth. Ruth has a sister who's a widow with a young child of her own, so the two friends decide to offer Vivian a chance to let them take care of her son. When Vivian refuses Mary's offer, she goes to Kirkwood such that the boy is rescued from a near passed out Vivian.After many months, with both Vivian's and Ruth's assistance, things are back to normal for Kirkwood's boy such that he's fallen in love with Vivian, whom he marries, and hires Ruth as his son's nanny. A destitute Vivian (later, it becomes even more clear that she's addicted to drugs) approaches the recently wed Mary when she exits the beauty parlor and asks her for money. Mary gives them all she has, $80. Vivian and Loftus have pawned her jewelry and the $80 isn't enough to satisfy the $2,000 debt he owes a loan shark named Ace (Edward Arnold).Ace, with heavies Harve (Humphrey Bogart), Dick (Allen Jenkins), and another (Jack La Rue, uncredited) threatens Loftus that he has to pay or else. Desperate, Loftus uses an assumed name and goes to Kirkwood, threatening to expose Mary's reform school past to the press. Kirkwood says that no newspaper would print the libelous story but, if one should, he'll break every bone in "Loftus's" body. As Loftus is leaving Kirkwood's office, he notices Ruth bringing the lawyer's son into the office. So, he hatches a plan to kidnap the boy, intending on ransoming him for the $2,000 he owes Ace.Vivian is horrified when Loftus returns to their squalid apartment with her son, but not as much as she is when Harve (and company) knocks on the door and takes over the operation. Having heard of the kidnapping on a police radio, Ace figures Kirkwood's boy is worth a lot more than $2,000 and ransoms him for $25,000 instead.However, the police have a pretty good idea, because of witnesses, where the boy is being held. So, as the search gets closer and closer to the apartment, the hoods get desperate. Loftus is killed because he won't kill the boy. Vivian "comes to" in time to realize what is going on, so she hides the boy under her bed. She then writes a message using lipstick on her dress as to the location (4th floor) of the Kirkwood boy. When La Rue's character enters the room, she jumps out the window to her death.Presumably the bad guys are caught, and the boy is rescued, because the last scene has the two remaining childhood friends sharing a match to light their cigarettes.

Steffi_P During the Great Depression Warner Brothers excelled in pictures which conjured up the spirit of the age. Far more than that they depicted its realities, with as much casual frankness as the sensibilities of the time would allow, which thanks to the toothlessness of the Production Code was a significant amount.Three on a Match, like many Warner Brothers, flirts with the criminal underworld without actually being an out-and-out gangster movie. In many ways, it is more visceral than, say, Little Caesar or The Public Enemy, because it shows how ordinary, respectable folk could get caught up in that world. The protagonists here are women, and just as many gangster movies would begin by showing the hoodlums as little boys, Three on a Match opens with the lead players as young girls. This prologue puts all its emphasis on promising scholars and American dreams, just the thing to provide contrast for the debauchery that lies ahead.Producer-director Mervyn Leroy brings an elaborate look to a picture made in what were cash-strapped days for the movie industry as much as for anyone else. A few decades later he would direct Quo Vadis, one of the last fullscreen epics before widescreen came along, and then as for Three on a Match he would use the possibilities of depth to bring the most out of the limitations of the frame. The opening scenes contain a lot of tracking shots in depth, with carefully choreographed movement across its path. And look at that big shot of the playground – hundreds of kids arranged like the extras in some big budget affair. The point is, Leroy is creating realistic, thriving spaces for the story to take place in.The casting here sees Warner Brothers subverting the types of its stock players. Ann Dvorak begins by playing her usual prim and proper type, but soon becomes a moll and a drug addict. She doesn't pull off the descent brilliantly, but that she pulls it off at all is commendable. Joan Blondell was one of the best Warners contract players in this era, but she never quite got her share of the limelight. A role like this is bread and butter to her, and she really comes across as a natural. But cast-wise Three on a Match is probably most interesting for a pair of before-they-were-famous appearances of Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart. Davis plays a meek good girl, but once in a while that little edge of aggressive sarcasm comes through and we see the familiar Bette of later years. Bogart plays a cold-hearted killer, and his steady understatement makes a genuinely chilling change from the usual hammy mobsters you more often see in these movies.Despite its brevity and lack of fanfare, Three on a Match is a hard-hitting and compelling picture. Although it is deliberately tied to the era in which it was made, its themes of fate and motherhood are stated with enough bluntness and timeless emotion to retain its power for a modern audience.

zardoz-13 Director Mervyn LeRoy, who helmed "Little Caesar" and "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang," directed this seamy but above-average urban saga about three women who attended the same grammar school Public School No. 62 and then departed to got their separate ways in life. Fun-loving Mary Keaton wound up in reform school. Academically gifted Ruth Westcott, who graduated with highest honors, entered a business college to learn how to become both a stenographer and a typist. Finally, Vivian Revere went to an elite boarding school. Ultimately, Vivian (Ann Dvorak of "G-Men") wedded a wealthy lawyer Robert Kirkwood(Warren William of "Midnight Madonna") and they have a little boy. Mary (Joan Blondell) survives the reformatory and becomes a chlorine in the chorus line. Ruth (Bette Davis of "Waterloo Bridge") works in a business office as a secretary. Although it may not appear to be a seamy, unsavory proletarian melodrama, "Three on a Match" presents images of child abuse, suicide, alcoholism, and despicable debauchery.The problem with poor Vivian is that she does not appreciate all the good fortune that she has achieved. She does not love her husband, refuses to kiss him on the mouth, and wants to separate from him. Robert Kirkwood agrees to send her and his son on a cruise. After Kirkwood leaves the ship to attend to legal matters, Vivian runs into Mary aboard the ship before it heaves anchor. Mary is enjoying a party with several people, one of whom is a shady character (Lyle Talbot) who eventually gets Vivian drunk and preys on her weakness for alcohol. Vivian leaves the ship under mysterious circumstances and Kirkwood sends out detectives to find her with no luck. Mary realizes the wrong that she has done and worries about the welfare of Vivian's child. Eventually, Vivian turns into an alcohol and there is the implication that she is snorting cocaine. She divorces Kirkwood and he remarries. He takes Mary Keaton has his wife and they live happily until Vivian needs money and her evil boyfriend kidnaps her son to pay off his debts to a gangster (Edward Arnold) who employs a nasty thug (Humphrey Bogart in a minor role). Meantime, the cops close in on the kidnappers and a desperate Vivian writes a note on her gown about the whereabouts of her son and crashes through an upstairs window and dies when she strikes the stairs outside the apartment building. Mervyn LeRoy does a good job with this trim 64 minute drama. He establishes the historical setting of the events and that adds to the realism. This is an example of Pre-Code Hollywood entertainment and it is well above average. Bette Davis exposes more of her flesh that she ever would in later pictures, and Warren William (who went on to play the first Perry Mason) is cast ironically as a sympathetic character.

GManfred Didn't like this picture as much as I thought I would. It had a great cast of future and contemporary Hollywood stars, some who are not credited or listed in the credits. It was directed by Mervyn Leroy so there was no argument there.Maybe I just don't like soapers as much as other viewers. This one had some melodramatic moments, true, but it was too stagnant and the story line lacked energy. It is basically a woman's picture, a "chick-flick" as they like to say, and, speaking for myself, I have a hard time sitting through these. Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep specialize in this type of movie nowadays and they make lots of money, so I guess I'm out-voted. I almost forgot to mention that this picture belonged to Ann Dvorak and she was excellent. She added weight and substance to the picture which I felt needed some. She was especially effective at the climax of the picture.Always enjoy Joan Blondell, thought Ann Dvorak is very close to plain and didn't know Bette Davis was a thunder-thighs, as she appeared in a bathing suit towards the end of the picture.I would certainly recommend it to fans of the Golden Age of Hollywood and to those who would disagree with my jaundiced view of motion picture entertainment.