Three Comrades

Seems to me that Frank Borzage was the only director in Hollywood to use movies to reflect events in pre-war Germany actually in Germany. Sure at its heart this is a big weepie built around an idealised love story but it is set against the backdrop of Weimar Germany in forment and while there's no mention in the script of Nazis or Hitler, the cause of the background unrest must have been fairly obvious to audiences of the day.

The film is well-known for being the one major screenplay bearing the name of F. Scott Fitzgerald, who'd at this stage in his career turned to Hollywood for work although it's been said that his final draft was just too florid as to be unfilmable and required some doctoring before shooting. I'm an admirer of Fitzgerald's literary works but I can see here where much of the dialogue would work better on the printed page as often here it does come across as prosaic and unnatural, not the way everyday people would speak. Of course the movie is an adaptation of a novel I've not read by E. M. Remarque, best known for his "All Quiet on The Western Front" which I have read and which seemed an altogether grittier and more realistic story than we get here.

The plot falls into place quickly after we meet the three idealistic young men, Taylor the romantic, Young the militarist and Tone somewhere in between and they pick up Sullavan, literally on the road, where she appears to be the mistress of a rich, older man, but of course she abandons him immediately to fall into line with her three new beaus.

So it's a kind of four musketeers story, only with one female member and I do get that some friendships are more ardent than others especially in troubled times, but the way that Young and Tone platonically adore Sullavan from the wings with seemingly no love interest of their own while Taylor walks off with the prize stretches credulity a bit and I got the impression it might have created a bit more dramatic tension if they'd perhaps competed for her affections.

Still they are four handsome leads and they do their best with what they're given, unlikely as it sometimes is, with Tone probably the best of them. Borzage directs with considerable visual style, capturing winter-time particularly well and I especially admired the overhead shot of Sullavan rising from her bed at the end, although the final scene of the fab four striding into the distance walks a fine line between being affecting and downright corny.

Still, compared to many another Hollywood film from around the same time, I was pleased to watch a film at least taking some sort of moral stand and reflecting contemporary events even if it was a little hard-going and hard to swallow at times.

Three friends navigate life after the scarring experience of WWI in this melancholy and even somewhat eerie film from 1938.

Notable about this movie is the fact that it's about three German men, though the fact that they're played by Robert Taylor, Robert Young, and Franchot Tone makes that easy to forget. As the dark cloud of WWII was descending on Europe, it was kind of a gutsy move for Hollywood to think anyone would be able to care about a group of protagonists who were the enemy of the film's central conflict and still the enemy in the real conflict developing overseas. But the point of the movie is that war in general and WWI in particular left everyone shattered, no matter what side you were on. The film does a fantastic job of capturing the fatalistic, doomed quality that WWI implanted in the human psyche and that fueled what would be dubbed the Lost Generation of artists coming out of it. I'm personally fascinated by WWI and its psychological effects on the world, and so this movie was of particular interest to me.

I was also interested to see Margaret Sullavan in the role that brought her her sole career Academy Award nomination. She plays a dying woman who falls in love with one of the friends and changes the group's dynamic. Her impending death is a stand in for the impending death of everyone, something that before the war was an abstract notion but after it feels close and real. Death is an ever-present shadow in this movie, and its role in the film's ending makes it both haunting and uplifting at the same time.

Grade: A

Following the Great War (aka World War I), three German soldiers vow to stick together through thick and thin. The "Three Comrades" are: temporarily disillusioned Robert Taylor (as Erich Lohkamp), cautiously optimistic Franchot Tone (as Otto Koster) and politically idealistic Robert Young (as Gottfried Lenz). They begin a soon-to-be struggling automobile repair business. The hesitatingly optimistic trio become a quartet upon meeting beautifully fatalistic Margaret Sullavan (as Patricia "Pat" Hollmann). This is, of course, Germany between the two World Wars of the 20th century...

This allegorical film is too American for its own good, but the story holds up well. It benefits greatly by being from a 1936 novel by "All Quiet on the Western Front" (1929) author and young war veteran Erich Maria Remarque. The additional dialog by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edward E. Paramore Jr. is more astute than askew...

The intent is for Mr. Taylor's protagonist to carry the better qualities of the "Three Comrades" to a full representation of Germany. But, coming on like a cross between Greta Garbo and June Allyson, Ms. Sullavan takes the film away. And, considering the events of the 1940s, her character represented a bigger part of the whole. Sullavan was honored as "Best Actress" of 1938 by the "New York Film Critics" for her prescient performance. Her comrades contribute memorably and director Frank Borzage does exceptionally well with his "Hallelujah Chorus" revenge and some great closing scenes.

******** Three Comrades (6/2/38) Frank Borzage ~ Margaret Sullavan, Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone, Robert Young

This movie was notable for: the subtle and mysterious acting of Margaret Sullavan; the screenplay by Scott Fitzgerald (which was literary and a bit on the wordy side); and the interesting look at Germany immediately after WWI. Personally, I would have liked to have seen more about the politics and tensions in Germany (playing up Robert Young's role), and less of the Camille-esque love & decline plot. But that's just me.

I thought that the film was carried by Franchot Tone and Margaret Sullavan. Tone's role is nicely played down; he consistently does the right thing, even when it might appear to be the morally wrong thing. He's sure, calm, and direct at every turn. I always enjoy watching him. Sullavan was fascinating. It isn't often you see someone who appears to be an intellectual in a role that didn't necessarily call for that type. She is lovely, dignified, but hardly the standard "babe who attracts three best friends." They seem to like her for her complexity. And that in itself is unusual.

This movie was strange. It should have been better than it was -- the emphasis on the love story slows things up and even feel a bit silly. (When Pat starts wearing traditional German garb in the kitchen just cracked me up.) But the good moments, when they come, making viewing this film worthwhile.

"Three Comrades" is one of Frank Borzage's most poignant and memorable love stories.

Based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque on post-World War I Germany, it concerns three war veterans - Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone, and Robert Young - returning to Berlin on the brink of Nazism and poverty. They share the love of one woman played by Margaret Sullavan who provides them with hope and eternal transcendence.

"Three Comrades" is less emotionally gripping than Borzage's other anti-Nazi films starring Sullavan - "Little Man What Now?"(1934) & "The Mortal Storm"(1940) - but it is imbued with a tender, soft-focus romantic aura and Borzage's characteristic signature, the redemptive powers of love.

Like her role in Borzage's "Little Man", Sullavan is extraordinarily luminous and touching. Aside from Borzage's ethereal touch, I think she is the one that makes the film truly memorable and poignant. The final moment is particularly priceless.