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Three on a Match

Play trailer Poster for Three on a Match 1932 1h 4m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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83% Tomatometer 6 Reviews 73% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
Mary (Joan Blondell), Vivian (Ann Dvorak) and Ruth (Bette Davis) are old friends who do some catching up after a chance meeting. Of the three women, Vivian, who married successful lawyer Robert (Warren William), seems to have the most glamourous life. Vivian really isn't satisfied, though, and she soon deserts Robert and her son for Mike (Lyle Talbot), a mobster. Before long, Vivian is hooked on drugs, and Mike needs cash -- so the gangster decides to kidnap Vivian's own son for ransom.

Critics Reviews

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J. R. Jones Chicago Reader 07/14/2022
Intimations of dope addiction drive the compact plot, which resorts to some stiff exposition early on but careens toward a slam-bang ending. Go to Full Review
Eileen Jones The Jacobin 08/26/2023
...startling frankness about sex, vice, violence, antiauthoritarian rage... Go to Full Review
David Nusair Reel Film Reviews 11/06/2020
3/4
...the picture's proliferation of admittedly surprising twists and turns in its second half secures its place as a far more entertaining and engaging drama than one might've anticipated... Go to Full Review
Yasser Medina Cinefilia 07/20/2020
5/10
A hasty, silly, erratic movie, devoid of any kind of surprise when it want to tell so many things without stopping to develop the characters. [Full review in Spanish] Go to Full Review
Daniel Barnes Dare Daniel 05/09/2019
3.5/5
A typical LeRoy sequence moves from object to person to environment with brutal fluidity. Go to Full Review
John Beifuss Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) 06/23/2014
4/4
Strong, sordid stuff. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Steve D 03/02/2024 Thrill-less thriller with nothing to say. See more ashley h @ashleyhobgood87 03/21/2021 Three on a Match is a decent film. It is about three old friends who do some catching up after a chance meeting. Joan Blondell and Virginia Davis give good performances. The screenplay is a little slow in places. Mervyn LeRoy did an alright job directing this movie. I liked this motion picture because of the drama and romance. See more 12/29/2016 Very entertaining. To start with you have Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak, and Warren William all delivering great performances. Add to that a 24-year-old Bette Davis in a supporting role showing off her legs in addition to her beautiful face, Humphrey Bogart working on his tough guy character 9 years before 'The Maltese Falcon', and a number of cute performances by child actors, most notably 6-year-old Buster Phelps. There are shots of newspapers headlines over the years of the previous decade, including the 'amazing feat of the new wireless telephone' (radio), and the trend of wearing 'sun suits', the 'new brief attire greatly favored for bathing resorts' for the 'fad of sun-bathing'. You see Joan Blondell in prison, listening to a stories read out of a steamy book, and then later connected to a giant hair-curling machine with wires descending from the ceiling to her metallic skullcap. The pre-Code script is a little over-the-top but that's part of the fun. It has three girls growing up into very 'types' of women, and then Dvorak's character getting so bored with her life of luxury that she slips into alcohol, drugs, and adultery, imperiling her little boy. Director Mervyn LeRoy keeps things moving and I liked how it was both short, at 63 minutes, but also packed with content. It's not "high art" or anything, but there are so many bits of interest that this is one that I would recommend to people who aren't normally interested in old movies, and I round up my review score a bit. See more 02/09/2015 It's truly a brilliant movie. The story is really about two women - but the contrivance works in that you need two people to gossip about a third, an effective device for exposition. Ann Dvorak is stunning as the socialite wife who descends to dereliction and Lyle Talbot, as her abettor, is super. It's a terrific story that makes a terrific film. See more 11/17/2014 THREE ON A MATCH (First National Pictures, 1932), directed by Mervyn LeRoy, is a realistic account into the lives of three former classmates who meet again as adults, and how one of the three goes through her path of self destruction... Pre-Code Soap Opera With Style--When you play with matches you get burned... The epitome of pre-code degradation and despair!! See more 06/11/2013 something interesting, yet really old school.. I saw it merely for Bette Davis' sake.. I love that Lady. See more Read all reviews
Three on a Match

My Rating

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Movie Info

Synopsis Mary (Joan Blondell), Vivian (Ann Dvorak) and Ruth (Bette Davis) are old friends who do some catching up after a chance meeting. Of the three women, Vivian, who married successful lawyer Robert (Warren William), seems to have the most glamourous life. Vivian really isn't satisfied, though, and she soon deserts Robert and her son for Mike (Lyle Talbot), a mobster. Before long, Vivian is hooked on drugs, and Mike needs cash -- so the gangster decides to kidnap Vivian's own son for ransom.
Director
Mervyn LeRoy
Producer
Samuel Bischoff, Darryl F Zanuck
Screenwriter
Lucien Hubbard
Distributor
Warner Bros.
Production Co
First National Pictures
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 29, 1932, Original
Runtime
1h 4m