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Three on a Match (1932)
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Overview
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Director:
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Release Date:
29 October 1932 (USA)
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Plot:
Although Vivian Revere is seemingly the most successful of a trio of reunited schoolmates, she throws it away by descending into a life of debauchery and drugs. full summary | add synopsis
NewsDesk:
(2 articles)
Toxic Birthday Suits
(From FilmExperience. 2 December 2009, 7:00 AM, PST)
Actress Davis Dies At 90
(From WENN. 18 August 2009, 5:06 AM, PDT)
(From FilmExperience. 2 December 2009, 7:00 AM, PST)
Actress Davis Dies At 90
(From WENN. 18 August 2009, 5:06 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
Mom's Not Quite Herself Today
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Cast
(Complete credited cast)| Virginia Davis | ... | Mary Keaton as a Child | |
| Joan Blondell | ... | Mary Keaton, aka Mary Bernard | |
| Anne Shirley | ... | Vivian Revere as a Child (as Dawn O'Day) | |
| Ann Dvorak | ... | Vivian Revere Kirkwood | |
| Betty Carse | ... | Ruth Wescott as a child (misspelled Westcott in opening credits) | |
| Bette Davis | ... | Ruth Wescott (misspelled Westcott in opening credits) | |
| Warren William | ... | Robert Kirkwood | |
| Lyle Talbot | ... | Michael Loftus | |
| Humphrey Bogart | ... | Harve | |
| Allen Jenkins | ... | Dick | |
| Edward Arnold | ... | Ace |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
63 min
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Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Certification:
Finland:(Banned) (1933) (uncut version) |
USA:Unrated
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Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Scenes of frenzy caused by the enactment of Prohibition were originally used in The Public Enemy (1931).
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Quotes:
Mary Keaton, aka Mary Bernard:
Will you stop remindin' me of Heaven when I'm so close to the other place?
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Movie Connections:
Featured in Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood (2008) (TV)
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Soundtrack:
Oh! What a Pal Was Mary
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This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (29 total)
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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.