Three Who Loved

Conrad Nagel and Robert Ames are friends who work in the same bank and live in the same boarding house. Nagel dreams of being a lawyer and invests his money; Ames has no ambition ... until Betty Compson arrives as an immigrant from Sweden. The guys become rivals for Compson's attention as she learns English. Nagel is too careful and she falls for Ames and assumes he will marry her.

At the bank, Nagel (who is the head teller) is at Ames' window when someone rushes in to tell him he needs $10,000 immediately to save his stock portfolio. He grabs the money from Ames' cash drawer but can't replace it before a bank examiner discovers the loss.

Nagel struggles with guilt until the cops pick up Ames who holds a one-way ticket to Rio. Ames never planned to marry Compson. Nagel lets him take the wrap and marries Compson.

Five years later, Compson is bored in her marriage. She has a slight accent and has become a society party giver. Even her son (Dickie Moore) doesn't interest her much. She's about to leave Nagel when Ames shows up, escaped from prison. Compson is willing to run away with him, but he wants revenge on Nagel.

During the following argument, Ames tells her he never wanted to marry her. Nagel, meanwhile, has written a letter of confession. Coompson is still willing to run away until Ames shoves her aside and snarls, "I don't want you!" The cops arrive. Will justice be served? Compson is very good (as always), Nagel is very noble, and Ames is good at being snarky. Robert Emmett O'Connor is the cop, Bodil Rosing in the landlady, Marjorie Beebe has a bit as a flirting bank customer.

Bank clerk Conrad Nagel wants to marry Swedish Betty Compson. However, he's so busy working for his future, studying for the bar, that she is bored. Fellow clerk Robert Ames squires her around, and they fall in love. When Nagel finds out, he orders Ames to marry her. Ames gets ready to skip town, but $10,000 is missing from the bank -- Bagel has embezzled it -- and Ames goes up the river. Miss Compson marries Nagel, but five years later, Ames escapes fom prison.

It's one of those soap operas in which everyone wants someone he or she can't have, and is miserable as a result. I suppose that's realistic, but the oversaturated script co-written by Beulah Marie Dix doesn't appeal to me. With Robert Emmett O'Conner, Dickie Moore, and Fred Santley.

New York bank teller Conrad Nagel (as John Hanson) is doing well enough to send for Swedish sweetheart Betty Compson (as Helga Larson). They plan to marry when Mr. Nagel can afford to buy a house. Until then, she lives in the same boardinghouse. Because Nagel spends evenings studying to become a lawyer, he arranges for co-worker Robert Ames (as Phil Wilson) to take Ms. Compson out regularly, to have fun. She is bored watching Nagel study his law books. For some reason, Nagel doesn't seem to know his pal is interested in women. Or, maybe he sees Mr. Ames admiring other women, but trusts his friend won't take advantage of Compson. You won't be surprised when Ames and Compson hook up. Then happenstance provides Nagel with a way to win her back. Five years later, the love triangle spins to a resolution.

**** Three Who Loved (7/3/31) George Archainbaud ~ Conrad Nagel, Betty Compson, Robert Ames, Robert Emmett O'Connor

"Three Who Loved" could have been an interesting psychological melodrama in which basically good people do bad or foolish things, while selfish, self-centered individuals are colored gray, not black. But somewhere along the way someone decided that such complexity would be too much for moviegoers to handle. Thus, characterizations are inconsistent and simplistic, while the plot is filled with coincidences and melodramatic cliches (and it's made even worse by an atrocious, absurd ending). Betty Compson was a capable performer, but she's totally lost in the part of the foolish immigrant who exchanges love and security for thrills and good times. An ill-fitting blond wig and a Swedish accent straight out of the Beaver, Utah, School for Actors do not help matters any. Director George Archainbaud, a well-known name during the silent era, apparently slept throughout the production. With movies such as "Three Who Loved," it's no wonder that the careers of popular silent players Compson and Conrad Nagel floundered in the early 1930s.

Stodgy, inept, illogical melodrama throws a lot of emotions on the screen, but they're not consistent, and they don't pay off. Bank teller Conrad Nagel is studying to be a lawyer, while his best bud, fellow clerk Robert Ames, likes to chase the broads and hit the speakeasies. Nagel's bride, Betty Compson with an uncertain Scandinavian accent, arrives on the boat and first seems besotted with her fiance, but becomes increasingly intrigued by his pal. Ames steals her away from Nagel, though he doesn't love her and doesn't really intend to marry her-so why? Nagel, up till now so studious and ethical that he's dull, makes a bad investment and covers it with bank notes, then is able to pin the crime on Ames, who lands in Sing Sing. Nagel then marries Compson, though she's already said she doesn't love him, and five years later they're raising Dickie Moore. Ames breaks out of prison and heads to the mansion Nagel built for Compson, where he demands she hide him yet confesses he never really cared for her. Nagel decides he has to come clean with Detective Robert Emmett O'Connor, playing what he always played, but a hilariously unlikely ending puts everything right. The emotions don't hang true on this one, and I don't believe any of it, but Nagel is good, and Ames, who died shortly after making it, had the makings of a good slimy villain.