Tuesday 25 February 2020

Three on a Match (1932 Mervyn LeRoy)

In all but name an early Warner Bros. Picture (released under First National identity). Typically short and snappy melodrama begins with three girls at school - as predicted the 'bad' one ends up in reform school, but then things don't turn out as expected, with privately educated Ann Dvorak running off with another man (Lyle Talbot). Meanwhile bad girl Joan Blondell ends up with her former husband Warren William, whilst Bette Davis - in her blonde years - doesn't have much to do.

Familiar supporting cast: Humphrey Bogart, Edward Arnold, Grant Mitchell, Allen Jenkins, shot with early flair by Sol Polito.

Q observes that amusingly the kid doesn't age at all. Had a great ending - shocking, surprising and effective. It seems the mother ends up on drugs - cocaine, by the implication - not something you were then allowed to suggest when the Code came into practice in 1933-4.




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