Customer Reviews

Three on a Match [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
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I absolutely loved this 1932 movie which had me riveted to the screen. As it is a pre-Hays code film, it has not had the life sucked out of it and, consequently, tells a decidedly juicy story, brilliantly directed by the legendary Mervyn LeRoy.

The film tells of three young women who went to public school together as children and, meeting again ten years later, become friends. All three appear to have done well for themselves. Mary (Joan Blondell), who had been wild as a child, has grown up to be a vivacious, good hearted showgirl, while Ruth (Bette Davis), the smartest, went on to business school and is now a stenographer. Vivian (Ann Dvorak), the most popular as a child, is now married to a handsome, prominent and wealthy attorney (Warren William), with whom she has an adorable little boy. Yet, with so much, Vivian, the envy of the other two, is disatisfied with her gilded life. As all three reminisce over lunch one day, they light their cigarettes from one match, laughingly defying the supersition that three on a match means one of the three will die.

Soon after, the dissatisfied Vivian goes on a cruise with her young son, leaving her husband behind. At a bon voyage party on the ship, she hooks up with good looking Mike Loftus (Lyle Talbot), and her life spirals out of control. She soon gets more excitement than she bargained for. Her new life style impacts on Mary and Ruth in ways that they could not have imagined. It also ultimately brings her into contact with a brutal mobster, Harve (Humphrey Bogart), as the movie draws to its climax. If you want to know what kind of excitement the viewer is in for, think the following: booze, crime, drugs, gambling, sex, and violence. All this is crammed into a film that runs for sixty four action packed minutes.

Mervyn Leroy managed to tell a full blooded, three dimensional story, using film montages and film clips of national and world events to move the film along in time. He exacted bravura, stellar performances from the entire cast, and turned out a film with a shocking and surprising ending that is still riveting in today's day and age. This is a remarkably fine film that those who love classic movies, as well as a great story, will enjoy.

The video also provides some brief, but interesting, commentary by film historian Leonard Maltin.

I have been on a pre-code/early-talkie kick as of late, and so I was bound to come across this film sooner or later. When I saw my local video store announced it as "scandalous enough to upset the sensibilities of even the most jaded modern viewer", I couldn't quite believe it but had to take a look. As it turns out, in the first five minutes of the film a very young school girl shows off her bloomers to the boys before smoking a cigarette with some of her classmates! And there was more good stuff after that. Three on a Match is of course dated and stagy like all early talkies (I thought Ann Dvorak's acting in the lead was by far the worst), but if you are interested in cinema history you really have to see it. The whole film, even with Leonard Maltin's intro and epilogue, breezes by in less than 70 minutes. I hope they give this Forbidden Hollywood series a DVD set release like the earlier Film Noir and Gangster films have now received.

Some final thoughts on the cast: 24 year old Bette Davis has a very small role but is absolutely delicious as a cute little blond. I have gone thru her photos and it appears she rapidly morphed into the form she later became better known for sometime during the late 1930s; an astonishing and most unfortunate transformation (enjoy it why it lasts, Mena Suvari!). Also worth watching to see Humphrey Bogart in a small role as a low-ranking gangster. And you should check out the talented Warren William (Robert Kirkwood) in a much more flattering role in Capra's fantastic little 1933 hit, Lady for a Day.

In this 1932 film directed by Mervyn LeRoy, three old girl friends from school meet and bring each other up to date. Mary Keaton (Joan Blondell), is a former tomboy who left reform school to become an entertainer. Vivian Revere (Ann Dvorak), is married to a prominent attorney and has a son. Ruth Westcott (Bette Davis), has graduated from secretarial school and has a job as a stenographer. While the girls talk, they light their cigarettes from a single match and laugh off the old superstition that the third person to use the match, Vivian, will soon die. Vivian decides to take her son on a cruise and invites Mary and Ruth to the bon voyage party. But Vivian is attracted to mobster Mike Loftus (Lyle Talbot), who shows up with Mary and ends up running off with him. Vivian's husband, Robert Kirkwood (Warren William), finds Vivian with Mary's help, divorces his wife, gets custody of his son (Buster Phelps), hires Ruth as the boy's companion, and asks Mary to marry him. Meanwhile, Vivian has turned to drinking and drugs, while Loftus ends up hiring three thugs (one of whom is Humphrey Bogart) to kidnap Vivian's son.

Bette Davis' name is used to sell this film on videotape, but she has the least of the three female leads to do in this story, which is excessively melodramatic to say the least. Actually, Bogart's bit part is more important to the plot. What makes this film notable is that it was made before the Hays Office established the code that cleaned up the movies. "Three on a Match" was remade by Warners in 1938 as "Broadway Musketeers," with Ann Sheridan, Margaret Lindsay and Marie Wilson playing the three friends.

This movie may be short, but it has a lot of action packed into it! Beautiful Ann Dvorak plays a discontented wife who leaves her wealthy husband and runs off with a 1930's type sleeze-ball. Her best friends from school, Joan Blondell and Bette Davis comfort her heartbroken husband, played by Warren William, and Joan ends up as wife #2. Bette Davis' talents are completely wasted in this movie, and it's odd to see Warren William in a role where he isn't a seducer or leacherous boss. The story steamrolls to it's conclusion, as Dvorak's son is kidnapped by her lover's gang and the repentant mother must act quickly to save his young life. When this movie ends, somewhat predictably, you kind of breathe out a heavy sigh! It's hard to believe that the whole movie plays out in a little over an hour! THREE ON A MATCH is an enjoyable movie, and a slice of movie nostalgia you can't pass up.

This movie is GREAT. a lost gem of a film that is little known & very rarely shown on TV (except for TCM now & then). Lots of good early performances of people who went on to bigger & better things (Joan Blondell, Anne Shirley as a child, Humphrey Bogart & Bette Davis) & like some have said, if you're getting this film for Bette Davis, you may be a bit disapointed. This movie was filmed was during the very begining of her movie career before she became the brazen, cigarette-puffing, pop-eyed drama-queen she created. The charisma was barely there & her character has no real drama to speak of, neverless she gives a sweet quality to the passive girl she plays in the movie. If anything check it out to get a peek at what she looked like before she started aging. I dont think I've ever seen a movie w/ her looking so youthful. She was pretty cute, kinda looked like Madonna a little.

But anyway Joan Blondell is great as the street-wise sassy she always plays, but this is Ann Dvoraks film & she gives a stellar performance as the privelaged wife of Warren William who spirals from high class society matron to Low life druggie in a performance that will leave you speechless.

Joan, Ann & Bette start off as youngsters in a female Juvenille Hall & the film shows how each went their seperate ways as they grew up, w/ Miss Dvorak hitting the highs then the skids pretty fast. I wont give any more details except to say that this is a really good film from start to finish & will be interesting to anyone who likes their stories gritty & realistic whether a fan of b&W films or not.

I know people who do not like classic b&w films as i do, but they were pretty glued to this film because of the acting & beleivable storyline that shows how easily a person can decline from drugs & bad associations.

A relatively little-seen Warner's programmer which has a biting sense of realism in its favour. Blondell, Dvorak & Davis play old school chums who meet for lunch after 1O years have passed. While they light up their Chesterfields, they laugh off the old superstition which says the third party lit - Dvorak - will be the first to die. Mary (Joan Blondell) has become a successful entertainer, Vivian (Ann Dvorak) has married successful lawyer Robert Kirkwood (Warren William) and Ruth Wescott (Bette Davis) is a prim & proper stenographer. Because she is quite frankly bored with her social position, Vivian takes up company with a handsome but immoral playboy gambler she's introduced to, one Michael Luftus. From there she's on the road to "God knows where" as she finds herself in the company of low-life drug addicts....Originally, the censor boards were reluctant to pass the kidnapping segment, fearing the public would find it in bad taste: this was made during the wake of the infamous Lindbergh kidnapping. Because the kidnappers were apprehended, the censors relented - on the East coast, anyway. As Ruth Westcott, Bette Davis is blonde and attractive, but her part is a very inconsequential one. Remade in 1938 as BROADWAY MUSKETEERS.

I really enjoyed the film, I didn't think much of it, when I first saw this at the video store, i would pass it and look at it for months, but this time since I've seen half of the movies in the store, I said what the hell let me get it, it does have two of my favorite actresses in it which are Joan Blondell and Bette Davis. I watched it, and I loved it. This movie really makes you think about life, and you also wonder why it wasn't a big successful movie, maybe it was too "hardcore" and "real" for that time era. This was the beginning of the Golden Age of Hollywood so they wanted all the movies to look perfect with a happy ending, with dancing, and singing, and leg showing, and a little bit of crying, but ends happily. This movie doesn't have all that, But this is worth a watch. Some of you who are Bette Davis fans may be a little disappointed because she doesn't have leading role, and she not as dramatic as her future movies, but this movie is worth the watch. For being a 64 minute movie, it sure has a lot of different situations and keeps you wanting more, I wish they could of added maybe 30 minutes more. Movies today should be like that, Directors and Producers should watch movies like this, you don't have to make long 3 or 4 hour movies to make a good one, this movie was 64 minutes and it was good, it kept us wanting more, that's what movies should be like, leave you wanting more, not leaving saying I wish I would of saved my 5.00 or 6.00 or 7.00 dollars. But anyways, get this movie if you can.

"Three on a Match" is one of the so-called "Pre-Code" movies, from an era before Hollywood was so censored. Accordingly, then, it has a lot of sordid elements, like reform school, cocaine use, and kidnapping, just to name a few. So of course, it's a lot of fun to watch!

Three girls from the tenements have their lives evolve in different ways: Bette Davis is a stenographer working for her living, Joan Blondell had to grow to womanhood in a reform school, and Ann Dvorak made out well, marrying a rich guy, Warren Williams. Well, like the medievel Wheel of Fortune, things change and those on the bottom come out on top and vice versa. Speaking of vice, then, it isn't long before wife Ann experiments with a criminal boyfriend and drugs, while Joan Blondell attracts the attentions of the well-shod jilted husband. Bette is destined for governesshood, but it makes her happy. Interesting supporting roles by Edward Arnold and Humphrey Bogart as underworld kingpin and thug, respectively.

Gotta match? Well if not, check out this movie anyway.

Bored with her high-society life and marriage to Warren William, Ann Dvorak gets herself mixed up with gangsters for a thrill; this decision eventually leads to her suicide. An interesting little Warner's production from 1933, the story cleverly takes us through the late teens and twenties, focusing on the lives of three girl-friends and their fates through the years. Joan Blondell is her snappy self as an entertainer and young Bette Davis is ravishing in appearance but has very little to do as a stenographer; it's Ann Dvorak's performance which lingers in the memory-she's terrific!

Three on a Match is a superstition begun by a matchmaker who wanted to sell more matches. Supposedly, if three people light the same cigarette on one match, the third to do so will die. The story begins in a schoolyard where three girls are at recess. There is a mischievious girl who smokes and shows her bloomers to everyone named Mary (Joan Blondell), a prissy popular one named Vivien (Ann Dvorak), and a smart but quite one named Ruth (Bette Davis). They all follow different paths; Mary goes to reform school and then becomes an actress, Vivien gets married and has an adorable little boy, and Ruth goes to business school and then to work. The three meet and have lunch together. As they light their cigarettes with one match, the end is foreshadowed by the fact that Vivien lights her cigarette last.

The events that follow are the reason why this movie is included in the Forbidden Hollywood series. There is adultery, neglect of a small child, drug use, and organized crime. It is a fast paced, short but thrilling movie.

Blondell is great in her role. She is beautiful, witty, and natural. Dvorak does not fare so well; most of her lines sound scripted and awkward, making the main character hard to believe. Davis's part is small and she is mostly eye candy here, a very beautiful woman in her youth. Worth mentioning is the toddler who plays Dvorak's son, little Buster Phelps, who read his lines with conviction and the sweetest whine you ever heard. Also appearing are Warren William and Humphrey Bogart.

Leonard Maltin adds commentary before the show about the Production Code and why this film is part of Forbidden Hollywood.