Three Comrades

source: Three Comrades

Moviecut—Three Comrades

Three Comrades

In some circles this is infamous as the only movie on which Scott Fitzgerald got a screen credit albeit shared with Frank who-he Paramore though Fitzgerald's name was in slightly bigger type. On the other hand the producer credit went to Joe Manckowicz and he has been accused of re-writing our Scott. Whatever, it's all a long time ago and what remains is a wonderful valentine to friendship with four principals whom it is impossible to visualize played by other actors. Even when it veers toward the twee and the schmaltz is almost impossible not to succumb to its charm and nostalgia. Margaret Sullavan was a delight in everything she did and always came across as June Allyson with a steel core. Many people here have awarded the acting honours to Franchot Tone and it's difficult to disagree but having said that the two Roberts, Taylor and Young complement both Tone and each other to a fare-thee-well. In short this is a film I can watch time and time again.

Absorbing character drama and tearjerker that focuses on the deep friendship between three German war veterans. For once, the appearance of a woman doesn't threaten these men's friendship but actually binds them closer together. Could perhaps have benefited from a more fatalistic outlook given the characters' pasts, but is solid entertainment nevertheless. Was there ever, I wonder, an operation which required the patient to lie perfectly still for a fortnight afterwards?

My mother, a movie fan who loved "women's pictures" used to say nobody could cry as beautifully and elegantly as M.S. who both cried and gave audiences a chance to weep in many films. The tragic ending for the love triangle in this movie, must be seen to be believed. Margaret's character is in a hospital room with a balcony(?!!) and she decides she wants to perish while she's young and beautiful, so she goes to the window and gives herself a fatal chill, then collapses in Robert Taylor's arms, all while wearing an ethereal white dress...they don't make them like that anymore.But I would recommend this film especially to W Scott Fitzgerald fans,as they will enjoy his work on the screenplay.

Though it is 1920 in the film, the growing unrest in Germany is evident of the beginnings of the rise of Nazism. The term is never used and rather serves as a backdrop to a love story surrounded by three close German friends who fought together in World War 1. Didn't Margaret Sullavan's dying performance remind you of Greta Garbo stepping out to see the heather once more in Camille? Ironically, Robert Taylor was her co-star in that film as well. The film explores the relationship of the 3 guys after World War 1 showing their trials and tribulations. The chance meeting with Sullavan and Taylor's total devotion to her with his friends sticking close by. This isn't a film of 3 guys loving the same woman; rather, it is an affirmation of their friendship and devotion to each other and the sacrifices made.

"Three Comrades" is one of Frank Borzage's most poignant and memorable love stories. Based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque on post-World War I Germany, it concerns three war veterans - Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone, and Robert Young - returning to Berlin on the brink of Nazism and poverty. They share the love of one woman played by Margaret Sullavan who provides them with hope and eternal transcendence. "Three Comrades" is less emotionally gripping than Borzage's other anti-Nazi films starring Sullavan - "Little Man What Now?"(1934) & "The Mortal Storm"(1940) - but it is imbued with a tender, soft-focus romantic aura and Borzage's characteristic signature, the redemptive powers of love. Like her role in Borzage's "Little Man", Sullavan is extraordinarily luminous and touching. Aside from Borzage's ethereal touch, I think she is the one that makes the film truly memorable and poignant. The final moment is particularly priceless.