Three Came Home

Released Feb 20, 1950

1h 46m

Drama

List

100%

Tomatometer

9 Reviews

69%

Audience Score

500+ Ratings

Agnes Keith (Claudette Colbert) and husband Harry (Patric Knowles) have lived in Borneo for years. Harry is a British officer, while Agnes has written a well-known book on the country. Their lives are disrupted when the Japanese invade in December 1941. With men sent to one prison camp, and women and children to another, the couple must survive apart despite cruel treatment by their captors. For three years, their physical stamina will be tested by malaria and sadistic prison wardens.

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Variety Staff

Variety

Many of the scenes are tearjerkers in the better sense of the word.

Oct 18, 2008

Full Review

Trevor Johnston

Time Out

Claudette Colbert suffers courageously in a Japanese internment camp, in Nunnally Johnson's adaptation of the true-life testimony of writer Agnes Newton Keith. Hayakawa's impressive, too.

Jun 24, 2006

Full Review

Bosley Crowther

New York Times

Agnes Newton Keith's tremendous story of some marginal barbarities of the recent war she saw and bravely endured... has received surpassing illustration from Twentieth Century-Fox in a bold and heroic screen drama of the same title.

Mar 25, 2006

Full Review

Roger Moore

Movie Nation

Both of its time and ahead of its time in that regard, a dated Hollywood classic well worth referring back to

Rated: 2.5/4

Dec 28, 2021

Full Review

Josephine O'Neill

Daily Telegraph (Australia)

Jean Negulesco's direction, though full of repetitive shots, catches such moments of dramatic and poignant contrast.

Oct 4, 2019

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Claudette Colbert gives an extremely powerful performance in this well-directed WWII prison drama, based on the memoirs of American writer Agnes Newton Keith.

Rated: B+

Dec 7, 2010

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Steve D

Heavy handed but powerful.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

04/03/24

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S R

It must've been something for its day to show women being abused as prisoners, but it hasn't stood up well over time. Regardless, it's a decent film. Saw on TCM.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

09/18/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I think Claudette Colbert's acting is usually emotionless and disappointing, but her performance in this movie was finally something significantly spectacular.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/19/23

Full Review

kevin w

If war is hell for men, what must it be like for women? Caught with their men in Borneo in front of an invading Japanese army, and then taken prisoner, the movie focuses on an American wife (and their son) of a British public servant - ordered to remain at their posts. How they survive is played for poignancy, and Claudette Colbert (nearly too matronly for the role) is up for that task. The work belongs though to Sessue Hayakawa and his stunning portrayal of a man of the world figuratively caught and imprisoned by the same war. His reaction to the bombing of Hiroshima is reason alone to see this surprisingly (for a 'woman's movie') harrowing tale.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Claudette Colbert is sensational in the central role of real life author Agnes Keith, who along with her husband and young son was interred by Japanese soldiers during World War 2 This is a moving and sensitively handled drama which occasionally descends into melodrama. Sessue Hayakawa is also impressive as Col. Saga.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/05/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Quite a pacy telling of a fairly well-worn story about the Japanese invasion of Borneo during WW2. Claudette Colbert seemed so watery and dreary for a lead that my sympathies quickly shifted over to Colonel Suga - a much more entertaining Japanese officer 'with a heart', especially towards the end. The very ending is corny but all in all, not bad. 7.25/10

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

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Jean Negulesco

Director

Claudette Colbert

Agnes Newton Keith

Patric Knowles

Harry Keith

Sessue Hayakawa

Colonel Suga

Florence Desmond

Betty Sommers

Sylvia Andrew

Henrietta

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Synopsis

Agnes Keith (Claudette Colbert) and husband Harry (Patric Knowles) have lived in Borneo for years. Harry is a British officer, while Agnes has written a well-known book on the country. Their lives are disrupted when the Japanese invade in December 1941. With men sent to one prison camp, and women and children to another, the couple must survive apart despite cruel treatment by their captors. For three years, their physical stamina will be tested by malaria and sadistic prison wardens.

Director: Jean Negulesco
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Co: Twentieth Century Fox
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 20, 1950, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 11, 2016
Runtime: 1h 46m

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