User Reviews

Warner Bros had a reputation for pumping them out in the early 30's like chocolate covered Goobers at a Saturday Matinee. The story was typical Warner Bros from that time period.

Anne Dvorak, married to a successful lawyer and mother of a cute little 6 year old boy, becomes restless and looking for excitement, takes the boy and runs off with a small time hood. She eventually turns into a drunk (and worse). Her best friends (played by Joan Blondell and Bette Davis) give up on her and turn the boy over to his father. She continues to sink deeper and deeper into the filth as her husband divorces her and marries her best friend Joan. Meanwhile, her boyfriend, in a desperate attempt to pay off a gambling debt, kidnaps and holds the boy for ransom. The end is melodramatic and no real surprise, but it is exciting.

This film is interesting for a couple of reasons. It represents the kind of film that Warners did best in those years. Action, pathos, and the underworld. It is also interesting because of the casting. Although Humphrey Bogart plays a thug, he wasn't Mr Big in this one. He was just a run of the mill thug. Ann Dvorak seems to have switched characters with Bette Davis or Joan Blondell. She becomes more and more corrupt as the picture wears on until you are convinced she is beyond redemption. Bette and Joan, on the other hand, become more and more saintly until they are practically beatified by pictures end. I should mention the stock support players as well. Add Lyle Talbot (as the dispicable boyfriend), Edward Arnold (as Mr Big), Jack La Rue and Allen Jenkins (as the reliable hoods), and you have a Warner Bros winner.

Finally, there is the pre-code shenanigans. For a change, Joan Blondell doesn't sit on the edge of the bed, in her slip, rolling on a pair of stockings. Bette Davis does. By the way, this is the only picture I have ever seen where Bette Davis shamelessly displays her legs. And a fine set of legs at that. Look for the scene I just described as well as a scene at the beach. In another scene that would never have made it past the Hayes Office, Ann Dvorak comes out of the bedroom rubbing her nose when she realizes her son was kidnapped. Humphrey Bogart glances knowingly at the boys, rubs his nose, and sarcastically winks. A DOPE FIEND! There is a scene where she is passed out on the double bed. There is booze, cigarettes and ashtray on the bed, and a couple of cigars on the nightstand. In another scene she is splayed out on the couch with a drink in her hand, booze bottles all over the apartment when her little boy walks into the room. His face and clothes are filthy and he says he is hungry. She glances over at him, points to a tray of half eaten o'rdoevres, and says "eat that".

These little tidbits don't necessarily make it a great movie, but the cast and the story do.

The title is based on a saying that if three people share a match tragedy follows.

Story of three woman--Mary (Joan Blondell), Vivian (Ann Dvorak) and Ruth (Bette Davis). They are friends in grade school but go their own separate ways--Mary ends up in jail, Vivian marries a wealthy husband and Ruth becomes a stenographer. Ten years after school they meet and share a match--and tragedy follows. There's a LOT more to this but I won't spoil it by giving it away.

This moves VERY quickly--so fast that you don't have time to question some of the more silly aspects of the story. It's also pretty potent (this was made pre-Code) with some fairly graphic scenes toward the end. The acting is basically pretty good except for Davis. She's pretty terrible--but this was one of her first films. Even she dismissed this in later years. Blondell however is great and Dvorak is just perfect. She has some difficult scenes to play and pulls them off. Lyle Talbot is also very good (and very handsome) as Michael. There's also a pre-stardom Humphrey Bogart (looking surprisingly young) playing a vicious hood.

Fast, racy and loads of fun. Just don't think about it too much afterwards. I give it an 8.

After viewing the video version of this movie again last night, I was surprised at how most of the movie stands up today. As with many "from the headlines" movies produced by Warner Brothers and First National in the early 1930s, the pace is rapid. I prefer the latter part of the movie to the earlier scenes, which provide a lengthy prologue to the main story. It is unfortunate that the lead actress, Ann Dvorak, is almost forgotten today, for she was a beautiful and talented actress, who more often than not was more capable than the material she was given. Hers is an unusual character, but an interesting and not too hysterical performance. It's also fun to watch future stars like Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart in supporting roles, as well as to savour supporting performances by Jack LaRue, Allen Jenkins and Lyle Talbot. The climax is quite remarkable, although the tacked on happy ending jars with the mood of the movie as a whole. Well worth watching on the late show, cable, or if you find a copy of the video.

A wonderful performance by the actresses and actors. Ann Dvorak is the star in this movie. Though she had great talent, somehow she never made it to the top of Hollywood stardom. The film, though dated, shows the hardships of the great depression for most people. It's wonderful to see the buildings, the people, their clothes, their language (slang, et cetera), and the automobiles, the streets, and all the things that make up a historical period of a bad economic time. In the film, Ann Dvorak depicts a woman who is financially secure, but throws it all away for the sake of thrills.

This was a fast-paced 63-minute story that was a combination women's film and film noir. With a cast that included Joan Blondell, Warren William, Ann Dvorak, Lyle Talbot, Bette Davis, Edward Arnold and Anne Shirley, you know it isn't going to be boring.

Dvorak has the principal role, playing a "dame" who is bored with her husband and her life and flies the coop. She winds up with a petty crook who needs money to pay off off his evil crime boss. The couple winds up in a kidnapping scheme which goes bad in a scene that is quite shocking.

The lingo of the day is interesting to hear as is Davis' youthful face. Arnold also looks really young, far more than I remember seeing him in other movies. Speaking of young, did I mention Humphrey Bogart and Glenda Farrell were also in this? Yes, it's full of surprises for classic film buffs. In another note: Shirley is billed under the name "Dawn O'Day."

I am glad this is now available on DVD. It looks great!

The three lead actresses in this filmed soaper were all splendid in their roles. I never cared much for Bette Davis in her later roles but she was extremely competent it this film. Joan Blondell is always a delight and Ann Dvorak did a great job playing a mostly unsympathetic character. As this story progresses we see the usual tough guys played by Bogie, alan Jenkins, Jack Larue and Edward Arnold. The only thing that slightly marred it for me was the presence of Lyle Talbot, whom I have never liked in any role. But, that aside, this is a pretty good story, albeit somewhat far fetched, about three girlhood friends who renew their friendship later in life. It's interesting to see how the times have changed their personnae.

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.

The story begins in 1919 where the song, "Smiles" is on top of the charts. Jack Dempsey wins his championship title by knocking out Jess Willard, and the advent of the Prohibition era. Three girls, Mary (Virginia Davis), Vivian (Dawn O'Day) and Ruth (Betty Carrs) are students at Public School 62. Mary is a wild girl who cuts class to smoke "cigarettes"; Ruth is a studious girl with the highest grades in her class; and Vivian is a snob voted the most popular girl in her class. Next segment: 1921, Warren G. Harding is elected as president of the United States with his campaign slogan, "the era of good feeling." The girls graduate and go on their separate ways, with the troublesome Mary, who will face her future serving time in reform school. 1925 starts with the underscoring of "The Prison Song," the debut of True Facts Magazine, and of how the youth of today has gone wild. The former classmates, now adults, are focused to what they are currently doing: Mary (Joan Blondell), serving time for grand larceny in a reform school; Vivian (Ann Dvorak), attending an exclusive school, and reading bedtime stories to youngsters; and Ruth (Bette Davis), in secretarial school. Next segment, 1930, with "Dancing With Tears in My Eyes" heading the musical charts. Mary Keaton, a struggling actress using Mary Bernard as her stage name, is reunited with Vivian, now married to a successful attorney, Robert Kirkwood (Warren William), and mother to a little boy, Junior (Buster Phelps). Although Vivian has everything to live for, she's unhappy, in fact, just plain bored. As for Ruth, she's a secretary with ambition. Upon their reunion in a restaurant, they talk over old times, light up their cigarettes from a single match and laugh off the superstition, "Three on a Match," where the third member to use the match is to become the unlucky one. Later, while on an ocean cruise alone with Junior, Vivian meets Mike Loftus (Lyle Talbot), a compulsive gambler whom she's immediately attracted. After going with this loser, she finds her new existence and illicit affair exciting, until realizing that too much partying, liquor and cigarettes is ruining her life as well as Junior's. Following a brief segment of 1931, the chapter concludes in 1932, showing what happens to the "three on a match."

Whenever THREE ON A MATCH is shown on television (presently on Turner Classic Movies) it plays as a Bette Davis movie, even though she's the one with limited screen time, least dialog and smoking scenes. Joan Blondell, the leading member of the trio, is good in her role, but it's Ann Dvorak giving a standout performance, in what's considered by many to be her best screen role. Of the trio, it's Bette Davis who worked herself to becoming the "Queen of Warner Brothers" before the end of the decade. As for Blondell, she's as memorable as Dvorak is underrated. Warren William, then groomed to stardom, is also given little screen opportunity in this production. This was to be his first of five films opposite Joan Blondell, and their combination together works quite well on screen. Betty Carrs, the child actress appearing as Ruth in the early portion of the story, has a striking resemblance to Bette Davis, giving the basic idea as to how Bette Davis herself looked during her childhood years; Dawn O'Day would later become known as Anne Shirley, leading adolescent actress for RKO Radio in the 1930s and early 1940s.; and Virginia Davis, the least known of the three, once known as the the live action character of Alice in cartoon shorts for Walt Disney in the 1920s.

With limited actors listed in the opening credits, there are many familiar faces from the Warners stock company to go around: Glenda Farrell (The reform school inmate); Grant Mitchell (The school principal); Clara Blandick (Mary's mother); Frankie Darro (Bobby); Hardie Albright (Philip Randall, Kirkwood's lawyer assistant); and Sidney Miller (Willie Goldberg). Allen Jenkins, Humphrey Bogart (in gangster debut) and Jack LaRue play the meanest looking thugs in screen history, with Edward Arnold as "Ace," their leader, who's introduced late in the story in front of the mirror pulling hairs from his nose with the tweezers.

Like most Warner Brothers Depression-era dramas of the 1930s, THREE ON A MATCH plays on the grim side. No nonsense, no glamor, heavy on melodrama and a touch of "film noir." Even Blondell and Dvorak play their own down-on-their luck characters in separate scenes without the use of makeup. It's quite grim, especially with a "too-close- for- comfort" scene involving child abduction. All in all, as depressing as it can be, it's quite watchable, particularly since it's a very short 63 minute production that plays like a novel with very short chapters. There's great moments of nostalgia, especially with it's newsreel-type opening of events that occurred during any given specific era of time giving this an added plus.

THREE ON A MATCH is also available on video cassette as part of the "FORBIDDEN Hollywood" series, hosted by respected film critic, Leonard Maltin. Over the years, THREE ON A MATCH has developed into a minor classic from the 1930s. It was remade by Warner Brothers in 1938 as Broadway MUSKETEERS with Ann Sheridan, Margaret Lindsay and Marie Wilson in the Blondell, Dvorak and Davis roles, with a little girl, Janet Chapman, filling in the role as the doomed girl's child. The original ranks the best and stronger of the two. They can both be seen and compared on Turner Classic Movies. (*** matches)

Unevenly distributed story of three school girls who cross paths again, as adults. Ann Dvorak (as Vivian Revere) is, arguably, the film's star; she plays a sensible, dark-haired beauty who seems to be on the receiving end of life's luckier breaks, but remains unsatisfied. Joan Blondell (as Mary Keaton) receives almost as much attention; she's a "bad girl" who becomes an actress after a stint in reform school. Ms. Blondell contrasts Ms. Dvorak by turning from "bad" to "good". Bette Davis (as Ruth Westcott) rounds out the trio; she's a sweet and sexy blonde, who fills in both swimsuit and secretarial pools.

Dvorak's unfulfilled, desperate housewife steals the high acting honors; her drug and alcohol drenched characterization is a triumph. Her 1932 performances in "Three on a Match" and "Scarface" might have earned Dvorak some "Best Actress" notice, if times were different. Interestingly, Ms. Davis' performance is adequate, but bland; while Blondell is heartfelt and likable. The three actresses illustrate perfectly how essential it is for a capable performer to get the good part; this is a lesson Davis learned very well -- she wasn't going to let the kind of distribution of roles evident in "Three on a Match" go on for long.

The men are almost as much fun as the women. Warren William is natural (and unrehearsed) as Dvorak's "perfect" husband, and tempting Lyle Talbot proves himself a sexy lure. Great gangsters include Humphrey Bogart as an intuitive "Harve", Allen Jenkins as a solid "Dick", and Edward Arnold as a sure "Ace". However, Buster Phelps' "Junior" is dreadfully out-of-place; as his performance belongs in a Shirley Temple film, not here; otherwise, Mervyn LeRoy's direction is outstanding. The film seems to put itself on "fast forward" much of the time, giving some of its flawed story elements an even more disjointed feeling.

Thankfully, the movie's title is explained therein: "The saying 'Three on a Match means one will die soon' did not originate in the war, where it was said that to hold a match burning long enough for three lights would attract enemy fire. It did originate with Ivar Kreuger, the Swedish match king, who wanted the world to use more matches. It is reported that the saying brings his companies $5,000,000 more revenue annually." You'll see which actress gets the third match.

******* Three on a Match (10/28/32) Mervyn LeRoy ~ Ann Dvorak, Joan Blondell, Bette Davis, Warren William

The story follows three girls - Mary (Joan Blondell), Vivien (Ann Dvorak), and Ruth (Bette Davis) - as they graduate from what today would be eighth grade, in the 1920s in what was then the end of public school education. As now, the only real thing you have in common with the people you go to public school is a zipcode. These three have been acquaintances but not friends, as they seem to go their completely separate ways.

Mary is the wild one - she winds up in reform school for grand larceny. Vivien is the dreamy one - she ends up married to a rich guy, a good guy, Robert Kirkwood played by Warren William, usually the cad of the precodes, but not here. Robert is a square guy making a very good living as an attorney, and cares that his wife is not haaappy (I put those extra a's in there on purpose). Ruth continues to be the one on the straight and narrow, pursuing one of the few careers open to a woman in those days - secretary.

Mary gets out of jail and becomes a chorus girl, and one day a chance meeting at a beauty shop leads to a reunion lunch for the three where they share "three on a match" when lighting their cigarettes. There is an old wives' tale that says one will die when this is done.

Vivien winds up abandoning her husband and taking up with a wild no-good cad, mainly because he is exciting and romantic -Mike (Lyle Talbot) - at least until Viv's money runs out. Mary is the promiscuous gal who has a moral center, and Kirkwood falls for her as she seems to really care for him and his son. Ruth is banished to the banal role of governess after Mary and Kirkwood marry.

Viv and Mike wind up in a tenement, hooked on coke after the fun of partying and excessive drinking grows dull. And to make matters worse Mike winds up owing two thousand dollars in gambling debts to a hood who has all of the tough guys of the 30s working for him -Humphrey Bogart, Allen Jenkins, and Jack La Rue. Remember Bogie is not the big star here yet, or even contract Warner Brothers, but he makes the biggest impression of the henchman.

So Mike and Viv are broke and Mike is desperate for cash or the hoods will kill him. What happens next involves some very unexpected turns in the plot and some frank precode moments, even more frank than what has happened so far as the film comes to a startling conclusion.

I don't really have many criticisms other than the moral seems to be that if you stay on the straight and narrow all of your life like Bette Davis' character does, you are doomed to remain unnoticed and in the shadows, alone and working low paying jobs. I like how what is going on in the plot is shown against the backdrop of first the roaring 20s and then the Great Depression - Viv is almost the personification of these two , in order. I thought that Buster Phelps as the Kirkwood son was extremely irritating here, not cute. And in spite of the fact that three years pass at the end of the film he looks the exact same age from beginning to end!

If you like the precodes, this is essential viewing.

Three girls, friends from grade school, cross paths again years later and sum up their lives: Joan Blondell is a brassy showgirl, Bette Davis works as a stenographer, and Ann Dvorak is unhappily married to a wealthy lawyer. Entertaining "woman's picture" might disappoint Bette's fans (of the three leads, her role offers the least in dramatic opportunities); however, Blondell and Dvorak are sensational. The script is sharp and engaging, and Humphrey Bogart pops up in a supporting role. Compact at just 65mns, but it's a minor gem from director Mervyn LeRoy and screenwriter Lucien Hubbard, adapting an original story by Kubec Glasmon and John Bright. A remake followed six years later entitled "Broadway Musketeers". **1/2 from ****

When William Wellman was filming The Public Enemy he originally had James Cagney and Edward Woods in each other's parts. Noting in the daily rushes how Cagney's personality came through even in the supporting part, Wellman made the decision to reshoot and switch the roles. A star was born because of that.

Another star had to wait a bit to be born because no one was as bright on the Three On a Match Set. Three friends from Public School 62 in Manhattan meet as adults. Ann Dvorak is the pretty one who's married a wealthy lawyer in the person of Warren William and she's rich and spoiled. Joan Blondell was the troublemaker back in the day and she's done a stretch in the joint, but she's calmed down and now is starring in a revue. The good girl was Bette Davis who went to business college and is now a secretary. They meet for lunch and light their cigarettes from the same match. The third one to light is Dvorak and the rest of the story is how she blows it all and Blondell picks up the pieces.

But can you imagine if someone had the wit to see what talent Bette Davis had then? Dvorak's part was the kind of role Bette Davis used to go to town with. Three on a Match is at best a passable melodrama. Had Davis played Dvorak's part, she would have made it a classic. She did just that for many a mediocre property in her career.

The four leads in the film are Dvorak, Blondell, William and Lyle Talbot and Talbot probably gives the best performance in the film as a weak and shallow playboy. Down in the cast is not only Bette Davis, but Humphrey Bogart in a brief role as muscle to gambler/racketeer Edward Arnold. Bogey's good in what little he has and Arnold has one brief, but memorable scene confronting Talbot about his debts.

Talbot in a moment of insanity hits upon a desperate attempt to raise money and suffice it to say it costs a whole lot of the cast big time. Ann Dvorak has a great scene in trying to escape from the clutches of the villains, but what Davis would have done with it might have made her a star.

No one had the wit to see this was a Bette Davis picture with Bette Davis ready and available. Pity.

THREE ON A MATCH turns out to be bad luck for a trio of young women meeting again years after their high school graduation.

This pre-Code Warner Bros. drama takes the old theme of a good girl gone bad, but deliberately shies away from platitudes or even any hope for redemption. The film's fallen woman lands in the gutter quite literally and the movie leaves her there, with the plot offering no loopholes for her possible regeneration.

Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak & Bette Davis portray the three friends whose lives take them down very different paths. Blondell, as the bad girl turned actress, steals the film with her blonde brashness and good humor. Dvorak, as the rich girl with the husband & child, is so relentlessly unsatisfied and morose that she becomes quite a burden for the viewer to bear. Demure Davis, as the poor secretary, is given very little to do and gets to exhibit none of the fire which would characterize her performances in years to come.

The male members of the cast give good support to the ladies. Warren William, who so often played the villain, here is given the sympathetic role of Dvorak's harried husband; he gives his usual sophisticated performance. Lyle Talbot plays a society cad & coward, destroyed by gambling & booze. Although he has but one scene, Edward Arnold is most effective as a menacing crime boss - we first come upon him while he is calmly plucking hairs out of his nose! Humphrey Bogart & Allen Jenkins play his dangerous enforcers.

Movie mavens will spot in uncredited roles Grant Mitchell as the girls' high school principal, Clara Blandick as Blondell's distraught mother, Herman Bing as an exuberant school band leader and the glorious Glenda Farrell, not quite yet a star, as a reformatory inmate.

An amusing aspect of the film is how it shows the passage of time by incorporating popular tunes of the era, including "Smiles," "The Sheik of Araby," "The Prisoner's Song," "Charleston," "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes," "I Found A Million Dollar Baby" & "Happy Days Are Here Again."

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Notice the reference to Ivar Kreuger, the real-life industrialist who attempted to monopolize the match market. Crimes and scandal dogged his organization and he died a suicide in Paris in March of 1932, seven months before the premiere of THREE ON A MATCH. On New Year's Eve, 1932, Warner Bros. would release THE MATCH KING, starring Warren William and loosely based on Kreuger's nefarious life.

This briskly paced, hard hitting melodrama from Warner Bros. in 1932, THREE ON A MATCH, has some strong performances from a superb cast, but it's ANN DVORAK and LYLE TALBOT who have the most interesting roles and make the most of their intense moments.

Surprisingly, although they have little footage, even HUMPHREY BOGART and BETTE DAVIS, on the sidelines, show a flair for acting in minor parts. Davis looks refreshingly wholesome as the good girl who ends up as a stenographer, while JOAN BLONDELL and Dvorak have the meatier roles. Blondell is a showgirl with some snappy lines who takes over when Dvorak begins her downward slide--yes, drugs, adultery, a neglected child, and her liaison with a shiftless playboy (LYLE TALBOT) spell ruin for Dvorak who has a gutsy final scene that will take you by surprise. No happy endings here--at least, not for everyone.

Dvorak really takes advantage of her spotlighted role, appearing first as the dutiful wife of WARREN WILLIAM with a lovable little boy, but restless and unable to say why when she confesses her unhappiness to hubby William, who suggests she take a trip abroad with her son. The result leads to tragedy involving gangsters (HUMPHREY BOGART, EDWARD ARNOLD, JACK "Lash" LA RUE, ALLEN JENKINS) who become involved in a plot to kidnap her boy when playboy Talbot needs to pay his gambling debts.

It's amazing how much story is packed into one hour and four minutes, but somehow Mervyn LeRoy keeps it all spinning, giving the harsh story with its Depression-era atmosphere a gritty flavor that never once lets up. Hard to believe that this is the same director who let ANTHONY ADVERSE become such a sprawling, poorly paced historical romance that stretched well over two hours.

Ann Dvorak, Joan Blondell, and Bette Davis are "Three on a Match" in this 1932 precode film also starring Warren William, Humphrey Bogart, and Lyle Talbot. The story concerns three girls who grow up together - one, Vivian (Dvorak) is from a good family and marries a wealthy attorney (William); Mary (Blondell) ends up in reform school and goes into show business when she gets out; and Ruth (Davis) becomes a secretary. The three reconnect in adulthood, but the most successful one, Vivian, is bitterly unhappy. She eventually leaves her husband for a friend (Talbot) of Mary's and becomes a nympho drug addict. Ruth and Mary become concerned for her child and work with the boy's father to get him out of the bad situation.

Heavy melodrama with a showy performance by Dvorak. Davis is unbelievably young and very pretty; she has hardly anything to do. Bogart is a thug whose boss is owed money by Talbot - he, too, has s small role. The film is almost like a history lesson - as each year goes by, we see sheet music for the popular song of the day and newspaper headlines.

Short and entertaining, it's so interesting to see Bogart and Davis, who would end up on top 50 lists of greatest film stars in history, laboring away at these tiny parts. No one can say they didn't pay their dues.

Three on a Match (1932)

A tightly interwoven plot about three "types" of women, from their school days into adulthood, played out with snap and sizzle. This is one fast, loaded movie, playing loose with morals and fast with stereotypes, and playing against them at times. There is little more painful than a man or woman falling to ruins, and it's made so reasonable, so nearly exciting, and so really reprehensible it's a surprise and a cinematic thrill.

Yes, a terrific movie, and not just for 1932. The interplay between the lead women (including a tart young Bette Davis) is great, and as the plot moves into a full blooded crime film (with Warner Brothers knew how to make better than any of them), it really screams. Throw in Humphrey Bogart (a decade before Casablanca) and you have something you have to watch.

But these are the obvious reasons, the film buff draws. Watch lead actresses Joan Blondell and Ann Dvorak for their sheer ability, and their likability. And for how they can be themselves before the code kicked in in two years. Mervin Leroy is a great director, of course (the same year he did the incomparable I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang) and seeing his range and control is a treat. Don't miss it. Just an hour long, too.

Mary (Joan Blondell), Vivian (Ann Dvorak) and Ruth (Bette Davis) were longtime friends, dating back to their school days. Mary seems to be the one headed down the wrong road, but she works her way out. Vivian has a life most women want, but it's not enough for her. She feels she needs more excitement, so she leaves her wealthy lawyer husband and takes off with their small son. She hooks up with a bad guy, turns to alcohol, ignores her son. Mary and Ruth are disgusted with her and, worried for the son, takes him back to his father. Giving up on Vivian and her wild, wicked ways, her husband divorces her. He has grown close to Mary, and they end up getting married. Vivian's thug boyfriend needs money so he kidnaps the son and holds him for ransom. The end is melodramatic and no real surprise, but it is exciting. One scene really caught me by surprise--when Ann is obviously high and staggering about, Humphrey Bogart glances knowingly at the boys, rubs his nose, and sarcastically winks. I was surprised by this, that this gesture was used back in 1932 the same way it is today to say someone is a cokehead.

There are no wasted minutes in this film which may as well be 3 and a half hours long for all the detail and implication filled in within the 63 minutes running time of "Three on a Match."

The casting of Betty Carse to portray the young Ruth Westcott, played by Bette Davis was brilliant- The young Carse looks almost identical to pictures I have seen of young Bette Davis. Sadly, this is the only film for Betty Carse. The same goes for Virginia Davis/Joan Blondell and Anne Shirley/Anne Dvorak- Although not cast quite as well as Miss Davis's part. Although the film's action pivots around Anne Dvorak's character, both Miss Davis and Joan Blondell balance things out.

From start to finish, Mervyn LeRoy tells you this tale in a manner to get your complete attention... There is no slack in the pace, no dead air, and each shot tells volumes of exposition. The final minutes of the film have a special "Impact."

One example of LeRoy's minimization is with Anne's character, interacting with a very young Humphrey Bogart: With a couple of gestures by Dvorak and one nose-twitch of Bogart, it is established that Vivian Revere Kirkwood and Michael Loftus by implication (Played by Lyle Talbot) are not just drug addicts, but specifically Cocaine addicts, and this tells a whole unspoken tale.

Other delightful things in this flick are Warren William, who amazingly is playing a clean character and not his usual sleaze. Other faces are Edward Arnold and Allen Jenkins... Even a young Jack Webb.

Although this is a smart part for Davis, it is certainly not her best work, but it is good work. She was definitely Cheesecake in this film especially in the Beach scenes, but that never defined her incredible acting ability which only increased up until her very last picture.

Joan Blondell is her regular smart-mouthed witty self, which gets her in trouble, that she is able to climb out of, actually rising very high above: Joan also got better with age, especially in The Cincinnati Kid as "Lady Fingers"- She had developed a form of elegance she never had when she was younger, this film is a precursor to that, as the character starts at low ladder rung but rises to higher social status.

But Anne Dvorak really sells us Vivian Revere who redeems herself with her last breath. This was probably her finest hour on film, if it is not, it makes me interested in seeing more of her body of work.

Three grade-school friends grow up to be Ann Dvorak, Joan Blondell and Bette Davis. Ann does best, marrying rich man Warren William and having a son, while the other two struggle. However, she wants to enjoy life, so she goes off with Lyle Talbot. After Williams gets back his son and the other two ladies start looking after him, Dvorak and Talbot drop pretty hard into drugs and rough company like Humphrey Bogart.

The story spends a lot more time on showing the audiences the terrible, terrible world of sin, which looks like a lot of fun until Bogey shows up. Clearly, Warners were trying to do something interesting with Miss Davis, putting her in this movie with the two more popular starlets. Apparently she and director Mervyn Leroy had disagreements on how to play her character. In days to come, Bette wouldn't take that from anyone, but at this stage she was trying to make her bones at Warner Brothers and Leroy was one of their leading directors.

It's nice to see Warren William in a sympathetic role, and DP Sol Polito's camerawork is first rate.

Dvorak's descent into addiction is a well drawn characterization, as is Warren William's role as a wealthy man who watches her collapse into depravity.

Talbot is so wooden they could just as well have used a cardboard cut-out. The only thing approaching a characterization in his role comes from the hairdresser.

Blondell does Blondell. She's good at what she does and never does anything else. Not quite two dimensional, but it's always a pleasant little caricature.

Davis has always been grossly over-rated and this is just another example. Director LeRoy detested her as an actress and was quite vocal about it. She got better over the decades, but not much.

Early Bogart, before he went so hard on the bottle that he lost his paunch; that cynical laugh when Dvorak wipes her cocaine wrecked nose is sinister. He is the one (and only) actor in this film who actually improved into his modern reputation.

Interesting enough to rate a three, not enough talent displayed on the screen to get any higher though. Not up to LeRoy usual standards.