Three On A Match

1932 - First National Pictures/Warner Brothers
Directed By Mervyn LeRoy

SYNOPSIS

3 schoolmates meet up after 10 years. Mary went to reform school (Joan Blondell,) Vivian went to a prestigious boarding school (Ann Dvorak) and Ruth on to a technical college (Bette Davis.) Vivian married a wealthy lawyer (Warren William) and had a boy. She’s unhappy in the marriage and takes the child with her on a vacation without her husband. While at a pre-sail party, she falls for Michael (Lyle Talbot) and leaves the ship and shacks up with him. Mary finds out where she is and tells her husband who comes for the child. He files for divorce and asks Mary to marry him. Michael owes money to gangsters and decides to kidnap the kid. The gangsters (Edward Arnold, Humphrey Bogart, Allen Jenkins) hold Michael, Vivian and the kid in safe keeping until they can get the ransom money.

 MY THOUGHTS

The above (long-winded) synopsis makes Three On A Match seem like a long drawn-out soap opera that could be a 6 hour TV miniseries… but in reality the film clocks in at just over an hour. It’s very economical filmmaking. Every second is there in order to advance the plot. No fancy, artsy, self-indulgent camera shots, no meandering sub-plots, no foreshadowing or subtext - it’s just the high speed rollercoaster ride complete with lighting-quick dialogue that defined the Warner Brothers films of the 1930’s.

The breezy pace keeps characters (or the audience) from stopping to think about their actions. There are more than a few head-scratching moments. This is most evident in the relationship between Warren William and Joan Blondell’s characters. ‘Match’ moves on so quickly to the next part of the story that the audience never gets a chance to say “Wait… what????”

The film certainly fits the bill as a pre-code film.  The violence and racy double entendres that defined the pre-code era are not as strong here as in other films, but Vivian’s blatant infidelity and lack of care for her child definitely wouldn’t fly after the Production Code was strictly enforced in 1934. It’s not explicitly mentioned, but it’s clear that Vivian also develops a drug (cocaine?) habit along with her rampant  alcoholism and develops dark circles around her eyes by the film’s end. These elements give the film a rougher, darker edge that would virtually disappear a few years later.

Joan Blondell and Ann Dvorak shine in their bad girl roles.  One starts out bad and goes good while the other starts good and goes bad. The rest of the characters are not as dynamic and as a result less memorable. Bette Davis’ character barely has an influence on the story and spends most of her screen time on the periphery.

Three On A Match is still a unique and eye-opening film and a great example of pre-code film.