Three on a Match

Released Oct 29, 1932

1h 4m

Drama

List

83%

Tomatometer

6 Reviews

72%

Audience Score

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.

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J. R. Jones

Chicago Reader

Intimations of dope addiction drive the compact plot, which resorts to some stiff exposition early on but careens toward a slam-bang ending.

Jul 14, 2022

Full Review

Eileen Jones

The Jacobin

...startling frankness about sex, vice, violence, antiauthoritarian rage...

Aug 26, 2023

Full Review

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

...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...

Rated: 3/4

Nov 6, 2020

Full Review

Yasser Medina

Cinefilia

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]

Rated: 5/10

Jul 20, 2020

Full Review

Daniel Barnes

Dare Daniel

A typical LeRoy sequence moves from object to person to environment with brutal fluidity.

Rated: 3.5/5

May 9, 2019

Full Review

John Beifuss

Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

Strong, sordid stuff.

Rated: 4/4

Jun 23, 2014

Full Review

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Steve D

Thrill-less thriller with nothing to say.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/02/24

Full Review

ashley h

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.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

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.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

Full Review

Audience Member

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.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

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!!

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

something interesting, yet really old school.. I saw it merely for Bette Davis' sake.. I love that Lady.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

Full Review

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Mervyn LeRoy

Director

Warren William

Robert Kirkwood

Joan Blondell

Mary Keaton

Ann Dvorak

Vivian Revere as a Child

Bette Davis

Ruth Wescott

Lyle Talbot

Michael Loftus

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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
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