The title refers to a now extinct one-time superstition that if three people were to light their cigarettes from the same match, the third person to do so would meet with misfortune. Once attributed to World War I, when it was sometimes thought that lighting a match long enough to light three cigarettes would attract enemy gunfire, it later emerged that a match company had "created" the superstition to cut down on the sharing of matches and thus increase sales.
Director Mervyn LeRoy disliked Bette Davis's acting in this film. She, in turn, hated his directing and called him a "hack," feeling that her talent was being wasted playing supporting roles and dismissing the film. LeRoy said during an interview after the film release that Davis would not become a star. Davis remained cool toward him thereafter. This rift came back to haunt LeRoy when Davis' star began to ascend.
This movie was part of a promotion campaign that Ivar Kreuger, the Swedish Match King, used to sell more matches by cutting down on sharing. Warren William's next film was Le Roi des allumettes (1932), which was loosely based on Kreuger's life and suicide. Warren played the title role in that film.
Acting debut of Jack Webb (as a boy in the schoolyard). Years later, after Webb garnered celebrity as the star and producer of Badge 714 (1951), he hired buddy Sidney Miller, who played classmate "Willie Goldberg" here, to appear in two episodes.