Broadway Musketeers

I found this remake of Three on a Match to be a bit more enjoyable than the original, thanks in no small part to the presence of Ann Sheridan.

Nobody could pull off (no pun intended) an above-the-shoulder striptease like Miss Sheridan. Wowser! I know she didn't care much for her well-known nickname but you can see why the name stuck.

Elsewhere in the movie John Litel does his usual job of providing solid support and little Janet Chapman is something else. She has to be one of the most likable child actors that I've ever seen in the movies.

It's interesting to note that the very last scene in Broadway Musketeers, Ann Sheridan and Janet Chapman embracing, is nearly identical to the final shot of Little Miss Thoroughbred, also directed by John Farrow.

This movie is a remake of "Three on a Match" starring Ann Dvorak, Bette Davis and Joan Blondell, but if you haven't seen "Three on a Match" then see that first then this, some things were changed but its pretty good and you see a resemblance, the title "Broadway Musketeers" was a wrong name for the movie, but its worth watching, if you can catch it on Turner Classic Movies, I've got it. Margaret Lindsay, Ann Sheridan, and Marie Wilson star in this remake, but I have to say the first one was better, Margaret Lindsay plays the part Ann Dvorak plays, a rich girl who's not happy and goes the wrong way, the beautiful Ann Sheridan plays the showgirl, burlesque dancer like Joan Blondell played in the first one, she cleans up her life and replaces Margaret's character lifestyle, Marie Wilson plays the part Bette Davis, plays the stenographer, her character isn't much. Like I said this isn't the best film, but these girls are more beautiful and glamorous then Bette Davis, Joan Blondell, and Ann Dvorak were, they added some glamour to the movie, and this film didn't make them stars like Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak, Humphrey Bogart and Bette Davis became, but worth watching. Ann Sheridan was the only one to become big but she's much forgotten today, but in the late 30s and 40s she was the top pin-up girl, beautiful girl she was, glamour queen.

Isabel Dowling (Margaret Lindsay), Fay Reynolds (Ann Sheridan), and Connie Todd (Marie Wilson) are best friends from their days at the orphanage. Fay gets arrested for performing in a nightclub and the other two bail her out. They plan to meet every year on the same day and in the same restaurant. It is a chaos of melodrama as their worlds collide. Isabel's life falls apart while Fay replaces her.

This is a remake of Three on a Match (1932) and I marginally didn't like that one. I do like this version ever so slightly better. While still melodramatic, it may not be as chaotic as its previous version. For one, let's look at the jumping out the window scene. In this version, she is planning out her deliberate sacrifice. In the original, she's going crazy putting on lipstick and jumps out in madness. This version is a compelling act while the original is campy melodrama. This version is better.

One of the better Pre-Code movies was "Three on a Match" (1932). Not only was it a terrific film but it's one of Bette Davis' earliest films. It also is extremely lurid--the sort of way only Pre-Code films could be. Now, six years later, Warner Brothers have remade the picture as "Broadway Musketeer"...but with many of the more salacious scenes missing (such as the ultra-violent ending in the original). Considering how wonderful "Three on a Match" was, I just couldn't understand remaking it...but on a lark I decided to give this other film a try.

The film has nothing to do with Broadway...and none of the characters have anything to do with the theater. Instead, it's about three women who grew up together in an orphanage, Isabelle (Margaret Lindsay), Fay (Ann Sheridan) and Connie (Marie Wilson). The film begins long after the three friends went their separate ways. Isabelle is married to a very successful man and has everything a woman could have wanted, Fay performs a racy* routine in nightclubs and Marie is a stenographer...an underdeveloped part. However, despite Isabelle having a child and loving husband, she's longing for excitement and ultimately destroys herself and loses her family. At the same time, Fay and Connie step in to pick up the pieces of Isabelle's family. What's next? Well, for starters, Isabelle manages to make things even worse---even after her husband divorces her.

This is a very competent film and the cast is fine. However, they certainly aren't better than the original cast and the script is amazingly tame and lacks the edge and excitement of the original. Worth seeing, perhaps...but I suggest you just see "Three on a Match".

*The racy dance is hilariously tame--so much so that you could perform it at a Baptist picnic!! This is one case where the Post- Code standards just didn't make any sense, as she was arrested for this lewd dance...a dance where all of her clothes remained on her body and the gyrations were minimal!

In the tradition of B pictures not one of the three Broadway Musketeers is in any kind of Broadway show, though Ann Sheridan is in burlesque and definitely off Broadway. Broadway Musketeers is a remake of Three On A Match a film from the early 30s.

Ann Sheridan, Margaret Lindsay, and Marie Wilson are three women who grew up in an orphanage and grew up tough. When Sheridan gets busted for removing a bit much, Lindsay bails her out with some of husband John Litel's money.

Lindsay is in a loveless marriage to Litel. She's definitely too frisky for domesticity That comes at the sacrifice f being a mother to little Janet Chapman. When on a girl's night out Sheridan introduces her to playboy Richard Bond she decides she can have one time with him as a husband.

As for Sheridan she wants to settle down and Litel is seeing the qualities he missed in Lindsay.

I'll not mention the rest of the plot. But in the original Three On A Match Bette Davis played a colorless good girl friend to both Sheridan and Lindsay. Could any film aficionado in their wildest imagination see Marie Wilson in a role originally done by Bette Davis? Yet here we have it and Marie Wilson gives it a bit of color with her dumb blonde personality.

And wait to you see whom Wilson lands as a husband.