Three on a Match Posted 31 July 2008 in Screening log 1932 US Dir Mervyn LeRoy Cast Ann Dvorak, Bette Davis, Joan Blondell, Humphrey Bogart IMDb

Disappointed to find this is hardly a sophisticated film with it’s patched-together storyline and insensibly fast pace — clocking in at 63 minutes, the film was cut down so it could play more showtimes each day. Now that I think about it, this is probably true of many Warners/First National pictures of the period as most hover around the one-hour mark, but few are as badly affected as this one. Ostensibly the story of three women, so different as schoolmates, whose lives become intertwined in adulthood. Davis & Blondell’s stories are relegated to the backburner in favor of Ann Dvorak’s horrifyingly steep decline from high society to cocaine abuse, poverty and mob ties. It is one of the most shocking pre-Codes, but far from one of the best films of the period.

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