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Three friends navigate life after the scarring experience of WWI in this melancholy and even somewhat eerie film from 1938.

Notable about this movie is the fact that it's about three German men, though the fact that they're played by Robert Taylor, Robert Young, and Franchot Tone makes that easy to forget. As the dark cloud of WWII was descending on Europe, it was kind of a gutsy move for Hollywood to think anyone would be able to care about a group of protagonists who were the enemy of the film's central conflict and still the enemy in the real conflict developing overseas. But the point of the movie is that war in general and WWI in particular left everyone shattered, no matter what side you were on. The film does a fantastic job of capturing the fatalistic, doomed quality that WWI implanted in the human psyche and that fueled what would be dubbed the Lost Generation of artists coming out of it. I'm personally fascinated by WWI and its psychological effects on the world, and so this movie was of particular interest to me.

I was also interested to see Margaret Sullavan in the role that brought her her sole career Academy Award nomination. She plays a dying woman who falls in love with one of the friends and changes the group's dynamic. Her impending death is a stand in for the impending death of everyone, something that before the war was an abstract notion but after it feels close and real. Death is an ever-present shadow in this movie, and its role in the film's ending makes it both haunting and uplifting at the same time.

Grade: A

Following the Great War (aka World War I), three German soldiers vow to stick together through thick and thin. The "Three Comrades" are: temporarily disillusioned Robert Taylor (as Erich Lohkamp), cautiously optimistic Franchot Tone (as Otto Koster) and politically idealistic Robert Young (as Gottfried Lenz). They begin a soon-to-be struggling automobile repair business. The hesitatingly optimistic trio become a quartet upon meeting beautifully fatalistic Margaret Sullavan (as Patricia "Pat" Hollmann). This is, of course, Germany between the two World Wars of the 20th century...

This allegorical film is too American for its own good, but the story holds up well. It benefits greatly by being from a 1936 novel by "All Quiet on the Western Front" (1929) author and young war veteran Erich Maria Remarque. The additional dialog by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edward E. Paramore Jr. is more astute than askew...

The intent is for Mr. Taylor's protagonist to carry the better qualities of the "Three Comrades" to a full representation of Germany. But, coming on like a cross between Greta Garbo and June Allyson, Ms. Sullavan takes the film away. And, considering the events of the 1940s, her character represented a bigger part of the whole. Sullavan was honored as "Best Actress" of 1938 by the "New York Film Critics" for her prescient performance. Her comrades contribute memorably and director Frank Borzage does exceptionally well with his "Hallelujah Chorus" revenge and some great closing scenes.

******** Three Comrades (6/2/38) Frank Borzage ~ Margaret Sullavan, Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone, Robert Young

Seems to me that Frank Borzage was the only director in Hollywood to use movies to reflect events in pre-war Germany actually in Germany. Sure at its heart this is a big weepie built around an idealised love story but it is set against the backdrop of Weimar Germany in forment and while there's no mention in the script of Nazis or Hitler, the cause of the background unrest must have been fairly obvious to audiences of the day.

The film is well-known for being the one major screenplay bearing the name of F. Scott Fitzgerald, who'd at this stage in his career turned to Hollywood for work although it's been said that his final draft was just too florid as to be unfilmable and required some doctoring before shooting. I'm an admirer of Fitzgerald's literary works but I can see here where much of the dialogue would work better on the printed page as often here it does come across as prosaic and unnatural, not the way everyday people would speak. Of course the movie is an adaptation of a novel I've not read by E. M. Remarque, best known for his "All Quiet on The Western Front" which I have read and which seemed an altogether grittier and more realistic story than we get here.

The plot falls into place quickly after we meet the three idealistic young men, Taylor the romantic, Young the militarist and Tone somewhere in between and they pick up Sullavan, literally on the road, where she appears to be the mistress of a rich, older man, but of course she abandons him immediately to fall into line with her three new beaus.

So it's a kind of four musketeers story, only with one female member and I do get that some friendships are more ardent than others especially in troubled times, but the way that Young and Tone platonically adore Sullavan from the wings with seemingly no love interest of their own while Taylor walks off with the prize stretches credulity a bit and I got the impression it might have created a bit more dramatic tension if they'd perhaps competed for her affections.

Still they are four handsome leads and they do their best with what they're given, unlikely as it sometimes is, with Tone probably the best of them. Borzage directs with considerable visual style, capturing winter-time particularly well and I especially admired the overhead shot of Sullavan rising from her bed at the end, although the final scene of the fab four striding into the distance walks a fine line between being affecting and downright corny.

Still, compared to many another Hollywood film from around the same time, I was pleased to watch a film at least taking some sort of moral stand and reflecting contemporary events even if it was a little hard-going and hard to swallow at times.

"Three Comrades" is one of Frank Borzage's most poignant and memorable love stories.

Based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque on post-World War I Germany, it concerns three war veterans - Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone, and Robert Young - returning to Berlin on the brink of Nazism and poverty. They share the love of one woman played by Margaret Sullavan who provides them with hope and eternal transcendence.

"Three Comrades" is less emotionally gripping than Borzage's other anti-Nazi films starring Sullavan - "Little Man What Now?"(1934) & "The Mortal Storm"(1940) - but it is imbued with a tender, soft-focus romantic aura and Borzage's characteristic signature, the redemptive powers of love.

Like her role in Borzage's "Little Man", Sullavan is extraordinarily luminous and touching. Aside from Borzage's ethereal touch, I think she is the one that makes the film truly memorable and poignant. The final moment is particularly priceless.

This MGM movie, based on a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, is the story of three German army buddies, tracing there comradeship from WWI into the years between the world wars.

After the Great War, three army buddies--Erich Lohkamp (Robert Taylor), Otto Koster (Franchot Tone) and Gottfried Lenz (Robert Young)--open an auto repair shop together. Although the story seems to center around the courtship and marriage of Erich Lohkampr and Oscar-nominee, Margaret Sullavan (Patricia Hollmann), it really demonstrates the closeness of all four friends; their individual hardships and struggles; and how much they all care for each other, as the harbingers of WWII start to show themselves in the streets of Germany between the wars.

The movie was OK, I can't say that it was great. In fact, the movie didn't even approach the greatness of Erich Maria Remarque's book, All Quiet on the Western Front and the movie based on that novel.

In the early sound era, one of the most respected directors in Hollywood was Frank Borzage: in fact, he won the very first Academy Award for Best Director (and would win a second one five years later). Yet his work is now virtually unknown. THREE COMRADES came during his tenure at MGM, where he would stay for the next five years (previously, he had been one of the star directors at Fox, and then worked at Columbia and Warner Brothers); it reunited him with Margaret Sullavan, with whom he had worked on LITTLE MAN WHAT NOW in 1934, and it would represent the only official screen credit for F. Scott Fitzgerald. There are moments (especially in the romance between the poor aristocrat Patricia and the young mechanic Erik) in which you can hear the lilt and romanticism of Fitzgerald's sensibility. THREE COMRADES was one of those movies that played a lot of television in late 1950s-early 1960s, and the moving story of three comrades (played by Robert Taylor, Robert Young and Franchot Tone) and the young woman who enters their lives (played by the great Sullavan, in her Academy Award-nominated performance) trying to find some solace and happiness in the rubble of Germany in the period immediately following the first World War is remarkably touching. Though often criticized for the (many) compromises that went into the making (this was a major studio production in 1938, beset with all the production code and commercial considerations of the era), there's still enough of Remarque's powerful story, Fitzgerald's elegant dialog, and Borzage's romanticism (as well as the superb performance by Margaret Sullavan) to make this one of the most memorable American movies of the 1930s.

Yes, but between whom? THREE COMRADES is remembered today for it's classy acting by Margaret Sullivan, Robert Taylor, Robert Young, and Franchot Tone, for it's setting in Germany after World War I, and for it's screenplay, which is the closest thing to a complete movie script that F. Scott Fitzgerald ever wrote. Actually his original script has been published (about twenty five years ago), and shows it was far more outspoken in pinpointing politics than this film is. Hollywood, in 1938, was aware of the Nazis and of their racial and political policies, but they were also aware of the opposition to any type of open criticism of the right in Europe by the U.S. Congress. So Fitzgerald's script was toned down. His work is still pretty good, but one misses the bite he would have fully given if the script had not been tampered with. It does give a pretty good view of the political confusion and economic dislocation following the end of the World War, but for all an audience knows the fighting in the city might be over rival soccer teams!

What a lovely movie, with such touching performances by all involved it will fill your heart. The three comradesin post war Germany, are Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone, and Robert Young. As the war has ended the three friends try to start life again by opening a auto repair shop. They are all three, different in their ideals and their goals, but are loyal to each other in a wonderful way. Along the way, they meet Margaret Sullivan, a young woman who's past is filled with illness and a mysterious friend by the name of Herr Schultz. He seems to be her benefactor, but the relationship is never defined by more than that. She falls in love with Erich (Taylor) but does not want to marry him, because she is ill, and knows that she will ultimately die. Otto (Tone) persuades her to marry him because even if their time together is short, love is all that matters. She marries him, and falls ill, having never told Erich about her fate. Gottfried (Young) is the idealist who falls the victim of the times, and is killed which breaks up the three comrades. They continue on not telling Pat (Sullivan) he is dead so that she will take an operation to get better. She does, but in the end, sacrifices herself, dying in the arms of her husband (Taylor). It is all and all a beautiful movie, that tells of love and friendship, without selfishness, or pride. Robert Taylor is great in what I would say is a refined, and quiet performance. His love for her is shown in many ways, without words, just a kind of gentleness. This follows the 1936 role of the doomed lover, Armand Duval in Camille, which I consider one of his best performances. Armand was torn and unhappy, Erich is blissful and ardent. Margaret Sullivan is beautiful and valiant as Pat, and her performance gives to Taylor, as did Garbo, a chance to show what a fine actor he really was. A lovely film.

All the troubles that were brewing in Germany are vaguely realized by MARGARET SULLAVAN, ROBERT TAYLOR, FRANCHOT TONE and ROBERT YOUNG in this film version of Erich Maria Remarque's novel about three comrades and their relationship with a lovely girl.

Given the essentials of the plot, which has the girl dying of tuberculosis but wanting to marry the man of her dreams (ROBERT TAYLOR) when urged to do so by one of his comrades (FRANCHOT TONE), there's a tendency for the story to become a bit mawkish and sentimental before it reaches its sad ending.

What saves the film from banality are the touching performances of all concerned, especially MARGARET SULLAVAN as the doomed young woman. She is earnest and touching and fully deserved her Academy Award nomination. ROBERT TAYLOR is gentle and sincere as the man she gives her love to.

It's directed in leisurely fashion by Frank Borzage and it's slow in the telling, which may discourage fans not too fond of weepies from the '30s era. It holds up pretty well but is nowhere as effective as MGM's THE MORTAL STORM in which Sullavan and Young also participated. That was a much stronger drama dealing more directly with the threat of Nazism, while THREE COMRADES strives only to be a tender romance with the tension of what was to come only implied rather than shown.

Trivia note: F. Scott Fitzgerald has one of his rare screen credits as co-author of the screenplay at a time when he was lured to Hollywood but found little success there.

This movie was notable for: the subtle and mysterious acting of Margaret Sullavan; the screenplay by Scott Fitzgerald (which was literary and a bit on the wordy side); and the interesting look at Germany immediately after WWI. Personally, I would have liked to have seen more about the politics and tensions in Germany (playing up Robert Young's role), and less of the Camille-esque love & decline plot. But that's just me.

I thought that the film was carried by Franchot Tone and Margaret Sullavan. Tone's role is nicely played down; he consistently does the right thing, even when it might appear to be the morally wrong thing. He's sure, calm, and direct at every turn. I always enjoy watching him. Sullavan was fascinating. It isn't often you see someone who appears to be an intellectual in a role that didn't necessarily call for that type. She is lovely, dignified, but hardly the standard "babe who attracts three best friends." They seem to like her for her complexity. And that in itself is unusual.

This movie was strange. It should have been better than it was -- the emphasis on the love story slows things up and even feel a bit silly. (When Pat starts wearing traditional German garb in the kitchen just cracked me up.) But the good moments, when they come, making viewing this film worthwhile.

I first read Erich Maria Remarque's novel back in my sophomore year at the university and I was perplexed by its characters, how they all cared for one another despite everything that was thrown at them - this is the kind of camaraderie sadly not present in most of the people nowadays. This 1938 movie version of the novel shows it in abundance too but somewhat watered down.

Main characters are divided into two groups: Robert Taylor and Robert Young are underperforming, especially Taylor whose Erich is a weak shadow of that man from the book, unemotional and distant. Lenz was my favorite character from the book but Robert Young didn't quite give me that feeling that I was expecting from the wisecracking cannonball Gottfried - maybe he should have been given the role of cool, level headed Otto that suited his persona better whereas Franchot Tone would just be thrilling to look at as Lenz and that leads us to the second group - those who did it splendidly.

His and Margaret Sullavan's performances were the highlight of the movie, and they carried it on their shoulders almost solely. I only wish it had more depth of the book, a little bit more pieces of dialogue and a greater focus on character development because the whole narrative felt rushed, without any real time to consider the consequences of the actions but I guess it's the thing with every movie adaptation of novels - they all seem just so superficial and bland in comparison to the source material, not all of them but most of them. You would think seeing the name F. Scott Fitzgerald as one of the screenwriters of Three comrades was a guaranteed label of quality to say the least but sadly I couldn't see his influence on it.

Overall this is a pretty darn good movie, considering this is the only movie adaptation of Remarque's novel (All Quiet on the Western front on the other hand had three already) it serves it justice just fine but as a standalone movie, without the burden of the novel, it looks bleak and rather forgettable.

Margaret Sullavan shines in her performance as Patricia Hollman. No wonder she was nominated for an Oscar. She is aided by Robert Taylor, Robert Young and Franchot Tone who finish out the talented cast. They portray 3 WWI buddies that stick together after the war is over and become partners in a Taxi business.

Sullavan has such an easy charm about her and never appears to be acting. Her soft, low voice is just mesmerizing to listen to. Taylor, Young and Tone are equally convincing as best friends and genuinely appear to enjoy each others company. Sullavan's character marries Taylor's, but in the bargain gets the other 2 men as close friends.

As she becomes ill, they all rally to help her. What woman wouldn't want to be surrounded by 3 men who clearly adore her? The black and white cinematography is adequate. There are times that the studio sets and process shots (driving in car) are very artificial looking, but that is expected from the late 1930's.

Overall, this film left me with a good feeling about the value of true friends and true love. One is truly blessed if you can have both.

"Three Comrades" was one of the few films on which F. Scott Fitzgerald got a writing credit. He co-wrote it with Edward E Paramore Jr from a novel by Erich Maria Remarque who wrote "All Quiet on the Western Front" and it's a beautiful job of work. It's set in Germany after the First World War, (you'll have no trouble accepting the American cast as Germans), and is about three friends, (Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone and Robert Young), and their relationship with a frivolous, sophisticated and dying girl. She's played magnificently by Margaret Sullavan, (she won the New York Film Critic's prize for Best Actress), and she's the lynchpin of this Frank Borzage classic which is deeply romantic and highly intelligent at the same time. It's a love story that doesn't shy away from the political situation pertaining in Germany at the time without ever being preachy. Indeed, it's one of the great films about friendship and it's very easy to accept Taylor, Tone and Young as men who really care for one another, (Tone is superb and even Taylor and Young don't let the side down), but this is Sullavan's movie. It's a luminous performance, perhaps her finest. Her disappearance from the movies and tragically early death was one of the cinema's greatest losses.

As heinous as the reports coming out of Nazi Germany during the late 1930s were, the Hays Office enforcing the production code continued to prohibit Hollywood movies from portraying any country, especially those ruled by the Third Reich, in "an unfavorable light," including its "institutions and prominent people." The June 1938 movie "Three Comrades" with its anti-Nazi script based on pacifist German writer Erich Maria Remarque's 1936 novel, was in the crosshairs of chief censor Joseph Breen when he ripped its content apart. And this was after Germany had gobbled up Austria earlier in the year and enacted increasingly repressive anti-semitic laws.

Breen suppressed any mention of Nazi involvement in the plot of "Three Comrades," and restricted it to just the year 1921, way before Adolf Hitler became a household name. "It might be better to make the Communists the 'Heavies,'" read Breen's memo to MGM. "Do not indicate by emblem (Swastika) or uniforms that the period is other than following the war (World War One)." Germany had a powerful diplomat in Los Angeles, George Gyssling, who had a strong working relationship with the Hays Office to make sure Hollywood sanitized his country's image. Familiar with Remarque's novel 'Comrades,' Gyssloing had a meeting with Breen before the MGM film went into production to make sure any mention of the Nazis was stricken from this highly charged anti-fascist adaptation.

Novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald, in his only screenwriting credit, was active in Hollywood contributing to many screenplays at the time. Fitzgerald's original script made central Remarque's portrayal of Germany's anti-Semitism in the 1930s, including Nazis brutalities. Several writers along with producer Joseph Mankiewicz reshaped Fitzgerald's script after MGM consulted with Breen. When Fitzgerald saw the movie, he wrote to his sister-in-law, "'Three Comrades' is awful. It was entirely rewritten by the producer," noting that only a third of his original script survived. When his wife Zelda saw the movie, she congratulated him in a letter for his good work.

"Three Comrades" has as its central figure Patricia Hollmann (Margaret Sullivan), who's attracted to Erich Lohkamp (Robert Taylor), one of the three ex-German World War One airmen, with the others Otto Koster (Franchot Tone) and Gotfried Lenz (Robert Young). Despite her tuberculosis Pat and Erich have a torrid affair, leading up to marriage. All three friends are partners in a car repair business, and the two share Erich's concerns for Pat's health. Sullivan earned her only Academy Awards Best Actress nomination while receiving the New York Film Critics Circle Best Actress honor. Film critic Danny Peary observed, "Sullavan is fabulous, reaching our emotions with every expression. She makes us sigh with her romantic words and glances (her characters always have different perspectives on life than those around her), delights us with her gentle humor, and makes our eyes fill with tears." Reviewer Dan Callahan called Sullivan's performance her best. "She brings the film to life gradually, delicately, making full use of Fitzgerald's wistful little poeticisms, and dying like nobody has ever died on screen before or since."

The on-screen death of idealist Gottfried (Young), protecting his pacifist friend Dr. Heinrich Becker (Henry Hull), caused consternation for the censors intent on blurring the killer's Nazi background. Perceptive contemporary viewers at the time instantly knew who was behind the murder. The Frank Borzage-directed movie, containing a memorable split screen telephone conversation between Sullivan and Taylor, made the storm clouds over Europe all the more ominous. "Three Comrades" was nominated for the American Film Institute's Most Passionate Movie.

Absorbing character drama and tearjerker that focuses on the deep friendship between three German war veterans. For once, the appearance of a woman doesn't threaten these men's friendship but actually binds them closer together. Could perhaps have benefited from a more fatalistic outlook given the characters' pasts, but is solid entertainment nevertheless. Was there ever, I wonder, an operation which required the patient to lie perfectly still for a fortnight afterwards?

Robert Taylor comes alive when he falls in love with Margaret Sullavan. Prior to this he was a zombie drifting through life. To a certain degree you could say that about Sullavan, but she looks and sounds the same in more or less every film she's in.

The stand out performance comes from Franchot Tone. He is definitely a good actor with a good voice and good lines, but not a leading actor. He carries the film alongside and compensates for Taylor's dull moments. He enables us to understand Taylor better which is down to a combination of good writing and good acting. In some ways this is more of an actor's film rather than an entertaining film for audiences because the focus is on performances like that delivered by Tone.

It's the end of world war I, so veterans Erich, Otto, and Gottfried decide to open a repair shop back in Berlin. they all meet Patricia together, so it's a tossup to see who will date her first. Robert Young, Robert Taylor, and Franchot Tone star as friends and co-workers who all hang out together. this has a good basic story, but the conversations seem very stilted at times. it may have been a translation thing. Gottfried belongs to some group (?), which will harm his friends, so we see him quit the group. and Erich keeps talking about South America, but we're not sure why. feels like things were edited out that were important links in the story. Margaret Sullavan comes across as a little cold at times, but later in the story, we find out she has a lot going on, so I guess it's justified. Pat FINALLY marries Erich...that scene has strange, choppy edits, but maybe it's just the TCM copy. Guy Kibbee is in here. and Monty Woolley, a couple years before his signature role, Man Who Came to Dinner. According to imdb, uncredited bit parts for Hal LeSeur (Joan Crawford's brother) and Marjorie Main. it's a story of love and sacrifice. and some other subplots that aren't made too clear. but the three amigos stick together. Novel by Erich Remarque, who had also written All Quiet on the Western Front and Iron Curtain! and although he died in 1970, he "has" two films in production based on his novels, which of course are based on his own experiences. it's okay.