GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

JohnHowardReid Copyright 25 October 1932 by First National Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Warners' Strand: 28 October 1932. 7 reels. 64 minutes. SYNOPSIS: Ten years after graduating from public school, three girls meet again. Mary, the tomboy, has been through reform school and is now on the stage. Vivian, the snob, is married to Henry Kirkwood, a rich lawyer. Ruth, the honor student, is a business girl. Reminiscing, the girls light their cigarettes from a single match and laugh off the superstition that bad luck will befall the third person (Vivian) to use the said match. Vivian, suddenly bored with her life, decides to take her son, Junior, on an ocean cruise, and invites her girl friends to her bon voyage party. Mary arrives with a gambler, Mike Loftus, to whom Vivian is immediately attracted, and instead of sailing, she runs off with him.NOTES: Re-made in 1938 as Broadway Musketeers. COMMENT: Is this the only teaming of Bogart and Davis? Both, alas, have very small roles. But this fact is the movie's only disappointing aspect. It's a fast-moving gangster yarn, superbly photographed, with a great music score and admirably lively direction from Mervyn LeRoy. I loved the montage cuts of newspapers and events which not only give the proceedings a realistic topicality but add to the marvellous rapidity of the pace. It is Dvorak who walks away with the acting honors, but what a great cast! Curiosity-value plus. The story obviously inspired The Group and later similar studies, but the original Match is far more entertaining. No padding, no boring marking-time, but solid, believable drama all the way.

Scarecrow-88 The tragic consequences following a young woman (Ann Dvorak, sensational) who impulsively leaves her rich, successful lawyer husband (Warren William) for a no-good gambler (Lyle Talbot) who owe thousands to a menacing loan shark (Edward Arnold, very bullish). When Talbot fears for his life he first approaches William for the dough, threatening to expose his wife's provocative activities to the newspapers, turning so desperate he kidnaps his and Dvorak's child. Arnold enlists his hoods (led by a thuggish Humphrey Bogart in one of his standard issue Warner Bros gangster parts, bullying and intimidating) to hold sway over Talbot and Dvorak, demanding a far greater ransom than what was first asked for. Dvorak makes a startling decision only a mother could do for a child, the ultimate sacrifice in a potent, shocking finale, produced during the Pre-Code era of the 30s. Joan Blondell (who seems to have star treatment—and she is quite beautiful—but has the less interesting part opposite Dvorak) is one of Dvorak's childhood friends, along with Bette Davis (who has an underwritten part as a secretary). Watching Dvorak's life unravel and diminish is haunting and sad, as Blondell (who would marry the betrayed William after Dvorak divorces him), once in prison for grand larceny, rises from a difficult predicament to secure a better life. Dvorak, unhappy with William, despite the luxury and comfortable trappings of wealth and family, finds excitement and worldly pleasure with Talbot, missing from the married life, selfish in her own desires, not thinking about the repercussions of her behavior, particularly in regards to her son, who Blondell cares deeply for. The film, directed by Mervyn LeRoy (The Bad Seed; Mister Roberts), establishes time and place and how the city is affected by what was going on at the time, such as the Depression and rise in gangster activity. Very quickly paced and doesn't have a lot of fat, "Three on a Match" is mostly melodrama, using images just as importantly as dialogue and performance, with plenty of subtlety. The film does a fine job of making us aware of Dvorak's plight, as each scene she reappears after time away from the screen, she looks more and more worse for wear, such as the fidgeting while waiting on a street corner for Blondell (by this time married to her ex-husband) for some money or the dark circles under her eyes--the worsening state reminds us of those who fall under the spell of meth or crack.

zardoz-13 Director Mervyn LeRoy, who helmed "Little Caesar" and "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang," directed this seamy but above-average urban saga about three women who attended the same grammar school Public School No. 62 and then departed to got their separate ways in life. Fun-loving Mary Keaton wound up in reform school. Academically gifted Ruth Westcott, who graduated with highest honors, entered a business college to learn how to become both a stenographer and a typist. Finally, Vivian Revere went to an elite boarding school. Ultimately, Vivian (Ann Dvorak of "G-Men") wedded a wealthy lawyer Robert Kirkwood(Warren William of "Midnight Madonna") and they have a little boy. Mary (Joan Blondell) survives the reformatory and becomes a chlorine in the chorus line. Ruth (Bette Davis of "Waterloo Bridge") works in a business office as a secretary. Although it may not appear to be a seamy, unsavory proletarian melodrama, "Three on a Match" presents images of child abuse, suicide, alcoholism, and despicable debauchery.The problem with poor Vivian is that she does not appreciate all the good fortune that she has achieved. She does not love her husband, refuses to kiss him on the mouth, and wants to separate from him. Robert Kirkwood agrees to send her and his son on a cruise. After Kirkwood leaves the ship to attend to legal matters, Vivian runs into Mary aboard the ship before it heaves anchor. Mary is enjoying a party with several people, one of whom is a shady character (Lyle Talbot) who eventually gets Vivian drunk and preys on her weakness for alcohol. Vivian leaves the ship under mysterious circumstances and Kirkwood sends out detectives to find her with no luck. Mary realizes the wrong that she has done and worries about the welfare of Vivian's child. Eventually, Vivian turns into an alcohol and there is the implication that she is snorting cocaine. She divorces Kirkwood and he remarries. He takes Mary Keaton has his wife and they live happily until Vivian needs money and her evil boyfriend kidnaps her son to pay off his debts to a gangster (Edward Arnold) who employs a nasty thug (Humphrey Bogart in a minor role). Meantime, the cops close in on the kidnappers and a desperate Vivian writes a note on her gown about the whereabouts of her son and crashes through an upstairs window and dies when she strikes the stairs outside the apartment building. Mervyn LeRoy does a good job with this trim 64 minute drama. He establishes the historical setting of the events and that adds to the realism. This is an example of Pre-Code Hollywood entertainment and it is well above average. Bette Davis exposes more of her flesh that she ever would in later pictures, and Warren William (who went on to play the first Perry Mason) is cast ironically as a sympathetic character.

headly66 The plot is a little thin and kind of predictable but the movie has a good feel to it and is a precursor of films to come with it's style of using the childhood to adulthood buildup and does it well. Bette Davis looks very pretty but is under used and the other female leads give good performances especially Joan Blondell. Bogart is good as a tough guy but his line delivery is still in it's early stages. The heroin (some say cocaine but are wrong. She just snorted it instead of shooting it and then the guy scratches his arm asking for some, plus she is moaning in the next room, cocaine addicts don't moan) reference is cool but it's a little hard to believe this upstanding citizen and good mother turns into a drug and alcohol addicted trollop within a couple weeks. A good romp to the past before the coding system toned it all down.