Three on a Match

This was a fast-paced 63-minute story that was a combination women's film and film noir. With a cast that included Joan Blondell, Warren William, Ann Dvorak, Lyle Talbot, Bette Davis, Edward Arnold and Anne Shirley, you know it isn't going to be boring.

Dvorak has the principal role, playing a "dame" who is bored with her husband and her life and flies the coop. She winds up with a petty crook who needs money to pay off off his evil crime boss. The couple winds up in a kidnapping scheme which goes bad in a scene that is quite shocking.

The lingo of the day is interesting to hear as is Davis' youthful face. Arnold also looks really young, far more than I remember seeing him in other movies. Speaking of young, did I mention Humphrey Bogart and Glenda Farrell were also in this? Yes, it's full of surprises for classic film buffs. In another note: Shirley is billed under the name "Dawn O'Day."

I am glad this is now available on DVD. It looks great!

THREE ON A MATCH turns out to be bad luck for a trio of young women meeting again years after their high school graduation.

This pre-Code Warner Bros. drama takes the old theme of a good girl gone bad, but deliberately shies away from platitudes or even any hope for redemption. The film's fallen woman lands in the gutter quite literally and the movie leaves her there, with the plot offering no loopholes for her possible regeneration.

Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak & Bette Davis portray the three friends whose lives take them down very different paths. Blondell, as the bad girl turned actress, steals the film with her blonde brashness and good humor. Dvorak, as the rich girl with the husband & child, is so relentlessly unsatisfied and morose that she becomes quite a burden for the viewer to bear. Demure Davis, as the poor secretary, is given very little to do and gets to exhibit none of the fire which would characterize her performances in years to come.

The male members of the cast give good support to the ladies. Warren William, who so often played the villain, here is given the sympathetic role of Dvorak's harried husband; he gives his usual sophisticated performance. Lyle Talbot plays a society cad & coward, destroyed by gambling & booze. Although he has but one scene, Edward Arnold is most effective as a menacing crime boss - we first come upon him while he is calmly plucking hairs out of his nose! Humphrey Bogart & Allen Jenkins play his dangerous enforcers.

Movie mavens will spot in uncredited roles Grant Mitchell as the girls' high school principal, Clara Blandick as Blondell's distraught mother, Herman Bing as an exuberant school band leader and the glorious Glenda Farrell, not quite yet a star, as a reformatory inmate.

An amusing aspect of the film is how it shows the passage of time by incorporating popular tunes of the era, including "Smiles," "The Sheik of Araby," "The Prisoner's Song," "Charleston," "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes," "I Found A Million Dollar Baby" & "Happy Days Are Here Again."

**************************

Notice the reference to Ivar Kreuger, the real-life industrialist who attempted to monopolize the match market. Crimes and scandal dogged his organization and he died a suicide in Paris in March of 1932, seven months before the premiere of THREE ON A MATCH. On New Year's Eve, 1932, Warner Bros. would release THE MATCH KING, starring Warren William and loosely based on Kreuger's nefarious life.

Another neglected eye-opener from the pre-Code era. No doubt, this cynical essay on wanton motherhood helped bring down the wrath of the censors two years hence. Ann Dvorak is a bored upper-class matron who flees to Europe with toddler son in tow, seeking excitement and a sexual adventure she can't admit to herself. She finds them in the person of shady character Lyle Talbott, with whom she shacks-up neglecting her boy in the process. Dvorak shines in those scenes that graphically chart her growing degradation, which I take from her appearance to include heavy drug use. The ending is frankly pretty predictable, Code or no Code.

The movie is no unmixed triumph. The Blondell--William relationship seems highly improbable, while Bette Davis's contrived role as the third girl on the match remains largely a waste. In fact, the movie's second half comes nowhere near the vitality or subtlety of the first half-- note the nuances of that early bedroom scene where we become privy to Dvorak's failing marriage. It's a little gem. The second half, on the other hand, is not helped by the caricatured gangsters, especially in their final scene which unlike the rest of the movie is also poorly directed. Nonetheless, the 60 minutes comes as a revelation to those of us accustomed to the conventions of a 30-year Code period.

Thanks be to TCM for rescuing these sleepers. I doubt they were shown anytime during the censorship era, and by the time they could be shown, they were too dated and obscure. But now film buffs have a chance to discover a Hollywood era most of us didn't know existed. Three on a Match may not be the most compelling product of that time, but it does prove one thing-- despite the opinion of some, sex was not an invention of the 1960's.

After viewing the video version of this movie again last night, I was surprised at how most of the movie stands up today. As with many "from the headlines" movies produced by Warner Brothers and First National in the early 1930s, the pace is rapid. I prefer the latter part of the movie to the earlier scenes, which provide a lengthy prologue to the main story. It is unfortunate that the lead actress, Ann Dvorak, is almost forgotten today, for she was a beautiful and talented actress, who more often than not was more capable than the material she was given. Hers is an unusual character, but an interesting and not too hysterical performance. It's also fun to watch future stars like Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart in supporting roles, as well as to savour supporting performances by Jack LaRue, Allen Jenkins and Lyle Talbot. The climax is quite remarkable, although the tacked on happy ending jars with the mood of the movie as a whole. Well worth watching on the late show, cable, or if you find a copy of the video.

Warner Bros had a reputation for pumping them out in the early 30's like chocolate covered Goobers at a Saturday Matinee. The story was typical Warner Bros from that time period.

Anne Dvorak, married to a successful lawyer and mother of a cute little 6 year old boy, becomes restless and looking for excitement, takes the boy and runs off with a small time hood. She eventually turns into a drunk (and worse). Her best friends (played by Joan Blondell and Bette Davis) give up on her and turn the boy over to his father. She continues to sink deeper and deeper into the filth as her husband divorces her and marries her best friend Joan. Meanwhile, her boyfriend, in a desperate attempt to pay off a gambling debt, kidnaps and holds the boy for ransom. The end is melodramatic and no real surprise, but it is exciting.

This film is interesting for a couple of reasons. It represents the kind of film that Warners did best in those years. Action, pathos, and the underworld. It is also interesting because of the casting. Although Humphrey Bogart plays a thug, he wasn't Mr Big in this one. He was just a run of the mill thug. Ann Dvorak seems to have switched characters with Bette Davis or Joan Blondell. She becomes more and more corrupt as the picture wears on until you are convinced she is beyond redemption. Bette and Joan, on the other hand, become more and more saintly until they are practically beatified by pictures end. I should mention the stock support players as well. Add Lyle Talbot (as the dispicable boyfriend), Edward Arnold (as Mr Big), Jack La Rue and Allen Jenkins (as the reliable hoods), and you have a Warner Bros winner.

Finally, there is the pre-code shenanigans. For a change, Joan Blondell doesn't sit on the edge of the bed, in her slip, rolling on a pair of stockings. Bette Davis does. By the way, this is the only picture I have ever seen where Bette Davis shamelessly displays her legs. And a fine set of legs at that. Look for the scene I just described as well as a scene at the beach. In another scene that would never have made it past the Hayes Office, Ann Dvorak comes out of the bedroom rubbing her nose when she realizes her son was kidnapped. Humphrey Bogart glances knowingly at the boys, rubs his nose, and sarcastically winks. A DOPE FIEND! There is a scene where she is passed out on the double bed. There is booze, cigarettes and ashtray on the bed, and a couple of cigars on the nightstand. In another scene she is splayed out on the couch with a drink in her hand, booze bottles all over the apartment when her little boy walks into the room. His face and clothes are filthy and he says he is hungry. She glances over at him, points to a tray of half eaten o'rdoevres, and says "eat that".

These little tidbits don't necessarily make it a great movie, but the cast and the story do.