This film begins as a wonderful period piece taking place in Silver Bow, Montana, which today is a suburb of Butte. At the beginning of the film the Elliot family (headed up by wonderful character actors Beulah Bondi and Henry Travers) are preparing to attend an election night ball to celebrate the election of Teddy Roosevelt. At the ball, daughter/sister Bette Davis (Elliot) meets Frank Medlin (a rather young looking Errol Flynn). Of course, the main story line of the film follows the marriage (disasterous) of Davis and Flynn. But the story is about the 3 sisters, so it follows their lives, as well.
Among the many character actors in the film are Dick Foran (who also made many budget singing-westerns), Anita Louise, Donald Crisp, Ian Hunter, and Alan Hale (who often appeared in films with Flynn).
If you prefer films where there is a straight-forward plot that goes from beginning to end, this film might disappoint you. Rather, this is a story of the marriages of three sisters (as the title suggests), with all the ups and downs of what is as true about marriages at the turn of the last century as is true today at the turn of the current century. The strength of the film is the acting.
The scenes of the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco (where Flynn/Davis were living) is not on the scale of MGM's film "San Francisco" (made two years earlier), but it is still very well done, although it focuses on the smaller scale of the destruction in the apartment where Bette Davis is living after husband Flynn leaves her. There is no doubt that this was a fairly big budget film.
This film was so good, that I decided I'd like to read the novel. I found one copy of the novel online for $2,500! Nothing available digitally. Guess I won't be reading that anytime soon.
There is one disappointment here -- the ending. I don't want to spoil it, but in the film Bette Davis' character makes a bad decision at the end of the film. Ironically, the original screened version of the film had the right decision, but preview audiences disliked...well, you'll find out. Even Bette Davis later admitted the final film version had the wrong ending.
Nevertheless, it's a wonderful film.
Among the many character actors in the film are Dick Foran (who also made many budget singing-westerns), Anita Louise, Donald Crisp, Ian Hunter, and Alan Hale (who often appeared in films with Flynn).
If you prefer films where there is a straight-forward plot that goes from beginning to end, this film might disappoint you. Rather, this is a story of the marriages of three sisters (as the title suggests), with all the ups and downs of what is as true about marriages at the turn of the last century as is true today at the turn of the current century. The strength of the film is the acting.
The scenes of the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco (where Flynn/Davis were living) is not on the scale of MGM's film "San Francisco" (made two years earlier), but it is still very well done, although it focuses on the smaller scale of the destruction in the apartment where Bette Davis is living after husband Flynn leaves her. There is no doubt that this was a fairly big budget film.
This film was so good, that I decided I'd like to read the novel. I found one copy of the novel online for $2,500! Nothing available digitally. Guess I won't be reading that anytime soon.
There is one disappointment here -- the ending. I don't want to spoil it, but in the film Bette Davis' character makes a bad decision at the end of the film. Ironically, the original screened version of the film had the right decision, but preview audiences disliked...well, you'll find out. Even Bette Davis later admitted the final film version had the wrong ending.
Nevertheless, it's a wonderful film.