Three Comrades (1938) User Reviews

The Lost Generation

[evanston_dad · 8/10 · 8 June 2020]

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

Make That Four Comrades

[wes-connors · 8/10 · 7 May 2013]

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

Great cast and touching story of love

[PudgyPandaMan · 8/10 · 3 March 2009]

Margaret Sullavan shines in her performance as Patricia Hollman. No wonder she was nominated for an Oscar. She is aided by Robert Taylor, Robert Young and Franchot Tone who finish out the talented cast. They portray 3 WWI buddies that stick together after the war is over and become partners in a Taxi business.

Sullavan has such an easy charm about her and never appears to be acting. Her soft, low voice is just mesmerizing to listen to. Taylor, Young and Tone are equally convincing as best friends and genuinely appear to enjoy each others company. Sullavan's character marries Taylor's, but in the bargain gets the other 2 men as close friends.

As she becomes ill, they all rally to help her. What woman wouldn't want to be surrounded by 3 men who clearly adore her? The black and white cinematography is adequate. There are times that the studio sets and process shots (driving in car) are very artificial looking, but that is expected from the late 1930's.

Overall, this film left me with a good feeling about the value of true friends and true love. One is truly blessed if you can have both.

Margaret Sullavan Luminous in a Borzage Classic

[Kalaman · 26 January 2004]

"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.

"There is fighting in the city...."

[theowinthrop · 7/10 · 30 April 2005]

Yes, but between whom? THREE COMRADES is remembered today for it's classy acting by Margaret Sullivan, Robert Taylor, Robert Young, and Franchot Tone, for it's setting in Germany after World War I, and for it's screenplay, which is the closest thing to a complete movie script that F. Scott Fitzgerald ever wrote. Actually his original script has been published (about twenty five years ago), and shows it was far more outspoken in pinpointing politics than this film is. Hollywood, in 1938, was aware of the Nazis and of their racial and political policies, but they were also aware of the opposition to any type of open criticism of the right in Europe by the U.S. Congress. So Fitzgerald's script was toned down. His work is still pretty good, but one misses the bite he would have fully given if the script had not been tampered with. It does give a pretty good view of the political confusion and economic dislocation following the end of the World War, but for all an audience knows the fighting in the city might be over rival soccer teams!

Another Borzage classic

[lqualls-dchin · 10/10 · 29 May 2005]

In the early sound era, one of the most respected directors in Hollywood was Frank Borzage: in fact, he won the very first Academy Award for Best Director (and would win a second one five years later). Yet his work is now virtually unknown. THREE COMRADES came during his tenure at MGM, where he would stay for the next five years (previously, he had been one of the star directors at Fox, and then worked at Columbia and Warner Brothers); it reunited him with Margaret Sullavan, with whom he had worked on LITTLE MAN WHAT NOW in 1934, and it would represent the only official screen credit for F. Scott Fitzgerald. There are moments (especially in the romance between the poor aristocrat Patricia and the young mechanic Erik) in which you can hear the lilt and romanticism of Fitzgerald's sensibility. THREE COMRADES was one of those movies that played a lot of television in late 1950s-early 1960s, and the moving story of three comrades (played by Robert Taylor, Robert Young and Franchot Tone) and the young woman who enters their lives (played by the great Sullavan, in her Academy Award-nominated performance) trying to find some solace and happiness in the rubble of Germany in the period immediately following the first World War is remarkably touching. Though often criticized for the (many) compromises that went into the making (this was a major studio production in 1938, beset with all the production code and commercial considerations of the era), there's still enough of Remarque's powerful story, Fitzgerald's elegant dialog, and Borzage's romanticism (as well as the superb performance by Margaret Sullavan) to make this one of the most memorable American movies of the 1930s.

Nobody cried like Margaret Sullavan

[pounders-1 · 7/10 · 4 April 2006]

My mother, a movie fan who loved "women's pictures" used to say nobody could cry as beautifully and elegantly as M.S. who both cried and gave audiences a chance to weep in many films. The tragic ending for the love triangle in this movie, must be seen to be believed. Margaret's character is in a hospital room with a balcony(?!!) and she decides she wants to perish while she's young and beautiful, so she goes to the window and gives herself a fatal chill, then collapses in Robert Taylor's arms, all while wearing an ethereal white dress...they don't make them like that anymore.But I would recommend this film especially to W Scott Fitzgerald fans,as they will enjoy his work on the screenplay.

To An Uncertain Future

[bkoganbing · 9/10 · 8 December 2005]

Three Comrades, a story of three men and the girl who marries one of them and the bleak future they face in post World War I Germany, is a tender a touching story brought to the screen by some great talents. You can't do too much better than an Erich Maris Remarque novel and a screenplay by none other than F. Scott Fitzgerald. The whole thing is directed by Frank Borzage who is a master at directing tender romances.

Erich Maria Remarque is better known for writing All Quiet on the Western Front. That story is about a group of young men who enlist in the German Army in World War I and the illusions that are quickly shattered with military service at the Western Front. Three Comrades essentially picks up where All Quiet on the Western Front leaves off. The characters played by Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone, and Robert Young could easily be those same kids grown up now, three survivors of those who marched to war in 1914-1915.

These are working class people who just want to get back to civilian life. They want to go in business together, a car repair garage seems the thing, taking advantage of something useful the military taught them.

All react differently to the war. Robert Taylor finds the girl of his dreams in Margaret Sullavan and their love makes them both forget or at least put on the back burner, the horror of World War I. Robert Young is an idealist who still looks for a cause to believe in and finds it in some of the left wing parties of the Weimar Republic. Franchot Tone acts like an older brother figure to both Taylor and Young. He's cynical, but not bitter. He wants a life of peace, but as we see in the film, he's quite capable of using his military training to exact some revenge. Tone's performance in fact is the best in the film.

I won't say more, except that for two of the protagonists things end tragically. For which two, buy or rent the film. The Nazis are there also, their movement is just getting started. In 1938 with the Nazis in power in Germany, the audience knew what the two surviving protagonists did not, that their worst fears are realized.

As we see the two survivors, accompanied by the ghostly apparitions of their dead comrades, the future is bleak and uncertain. The audience hopes that both survivors are in a place of refuge and peace, as unlikely as that might be.

Tender romance with post-World War I background...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 26 November 2006]

All the troubles that were brewing in Germany are vaguely realized by MARGARET SULLAVAN, ROBERT TAYLOR, FRANCHOT TONE and ROBERT YOUNG in this film version of Erich Maria Remarque's novel about three comrades and their relationship with a lovely girl.

Given the essentials of the plot, which has the girl dying of tuberculosis but wanting to marry the man of her dreams (ROBERT TAYLOR) when urged to do so by one of his comrades (FRANCHOT TONE), there's a tendency for the story to become a bit mawkish and sentimental before it reaches its sad ending.

What saves the film from banality are the touching performances of all concerned, especially MARGARET SULLAVAN as the doomed young woman. She is earnest and touching and fully deserved her Academy Award nomination. ROBERT TAYLOR is gentle and sincere as the man she gives her love to.

It's directed in leisurely fashion by Frank Borzage and it's slow in the telling, which may discourage fans not too fond of weepies from the '30s era. It holds up pretty well but is nowhere as effective as MGM's THE MORTAL STORM in which Sullavan and Young also participated. That was a much stronger drama dealing more directly with the threat of Nazism, while THREE COMRADES strives only to be a tender romance with the tension of what was to come only implied rather than shown.

Trivia note: F. Scott Fitzgerald has one of his rare screen credits as co-author of the screenplay at a time when he was lured to Hollywood but found little success there.

A sensitive and poignant story of love and friendship in post-war Germany.

[mamalv · 9/10 · 11 March 2005]

What a lovely movie, with such touching performances by all involved it will fill your heart. The three comradesin post war Germany, are Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone, and Robert Young. As the war has ended the three friends try to start life again by opening a auto repair shop. They are all three, different in their ideals and their goals, but are loyal to each other in a wonderful way. Along the way, they meet Margaret Sullivan, a young woman who's past is filled with illness and a mysterious friend by the name of Herr Schultz. He seems to be her benefactor, but the relationship is never defined by more than that. She falls in love with Erich (Taylor) but does not want to marry him, because she is ill, and knows that she will ultimately die. Otto (Tone) persuades her to marry him because even if their time together is short, love is all that matters. She marries him, and falls ill, having never told Erich about her fate. Gottfried (Young) is the idealist who falls the victim of the times, and is killed which breaks up the three comrades. They continue on not telling Pat (Sullivan) he is dead so that she will take an operation to get better. She does, but in the end, sacrifices herself, dying in the arms of her husband (Taylor). It is all and all a beautiful movie, that tells of love and friendship, without selfishness, or pride. Robert Taylor is great in what I would say is a refined, and quiet performance. His love for her is shown in many ways, without words, just a kind of gentleness. This follows the 1936 role of the doomed lover, Armand Duval in Camille, which I consider one of his best performances. Armand was torn and unhappy, Erich is blissful and ardent. Margaret Sullivan is beautiful and valiant as Pat, and her performance gives to Taylor, as did Garbo, a chance to show what a fine actor he really was. A lovely film.

Friendship of three army buddies--and one woman--between the world wars

[kijii · 6/10 · 25 November 2016]

This MGM movie, based on a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, is the story of three German army buddies, tracing there comradeship from WWI into the years between the world wars.

After the Great War, three army buddies--Erich Lohkamp (Robert Taylor), Otto Koster (Franchot Tone) and Gottfried Lenz (Robert Young)--open an auto repair shop together. Although the story seems to center around the courtship and marriage of Erich Lohkampr and Oscar-nominee, Margaret Sullavan (Patricia Hollmann), it really demonstrates the closeness of all four friends; their individual hardships and struggles; and how much they all care for each other, as the harbingers of WWII start to show themselves in the streets of Germany between the wars.

The movie was OK, I can't say that it was great. In fact, the movie didn't even approach the greatness of Erich Maria Remarque's book, All Quiet on the Western Front and the movie based on that novel.

Hymn to friendship.

[dbdumonteil · 9/10 · 2 October 2003]

If I had to choose a film that enhances friendship,I would take "three comrades" any day.Frank Borzague's movie will bring tears to your eyes,and yet it's not a melodrama,it's rather a chronicle.

Made in 1938,it could have been a propaganda movie -in several respects,the admirable "mortal storm" was- but politics remain very vague in "three comrades" .Gottfried's character is committed ,but which side is he on?Against Hitler ,some may say,but the movie takes place circa 1920 at a time when he was not still a threat;against socialists and communists maybe ,but the scenarists do not specify Gottfried 's ideas.This vagueness is even "clearer" ,so to speak,at the end of the movie when Franchot Tone notices "they're fighting in town".Only "they".Actually, "mortal storm",which IMHO,is superior to 'three comrades ' will set the record straight and this extraordinary work,probably Borzague's masterpiece ,will influence such later works as "la caditi dei degli" (Visconti) and "the four horsemen of the Apocalypse".

"Three comrades" focuses on the relationship between three men who were soldiers during WW1 -and thus predates Wyler's "best years of our lives" - and a woman whom one of them falls in love with.This is a wonderful quartet:Franchot Tone,Robert Young,Robert Taylor and Margaret Sullavan.What's extraordinary is the purity of their friendship.When Tone and Young help Taylor -his wife suffers from tuberculosis-,they ask nothing in return for themselves.

Admirable sequences:as she knows her days are numbered,Pat (Sullavan) ,on the beach ,can hear the cuckoo ,and she does not want to stop listening because "the more you hear it,the more you"ll live".A very dramatic scene ,at the end ,recalls those happy times at the seaside:Pat cannot stand the ticking of the watch any longer,and ,out of despair,her husband throws it on the floor."Time stands still" Pat says.When Sullavan leaves her bed,for a last farewell,a high angle shot foretells the tragedy .

Another stunning moment is Tone's revenge after his pal's death:he tracks down the murderer near the church where a choir is singing Handel's "Messiah" .There's also a good use of a modest but effective split screen for the phone calls.

The last pictures herald the "mortal storm" and the hard rain that's gonna fall.

"Three comrades" is a hymn to friendship:like love,it never dies,as the very last picture shows.

In Germany, Before the War

[Lejink · 6/10 · 3 May 2020]

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.

Badly overdone, and also nonsensical.

[friedlandea · 4/10 · 13 June 2019]

Why did Hollywood so often have such a handsome fellow as Robert Taylor attract such sickly, suicidal women? There's Garbo in "Camille" (terminally ill). There's Vivian Leigh in "Waterloo Bridge" (suicidal). Here there's Margaret Sullavan (terminally ill and simultaneously suicidal). I suppose that's what you get when you act in tearjerkers. I have nothing against tearjerkers. I love "Camille." I love "Wuthering Heights." But this one is over the top. And it doesn't make sense. Three young men are mustered out of WWI. They seem to be educated. All were officers, one with the rank of captain. Yet the best they plan in civilian life is plebeian, to be mechanics and taxi-drivers? Don't blame economic depression. They don't even aspire to anything else. Three dull musketeers. Along comes a fourth, Margaret Sullavan's Patricia. But she's no d'Artagnan. She's more like Pard, the jinxed little dog in "High Sierra." She marries one but hangs around all three, doing absolutely nothing. She fits right in. None of them do anything. Robert Young's Gottfried has some bewildering political convictions - Henry Hull's harangue is a masterpiece of gobbledygook: "There is a cure for all your ills! Find it within yourselves!" - to occupy himself. None of the rest have a life. Even their diet is boring. They eat the same porkchops at the same restaurant every night. Franchot Tone's Otto seems to be a pleasant guy. That's all I can say about him. Robert Taylor's Erich? Go ahead. Name one feature, one dimension that makes his character interesting. Pat spends her time coughing pathetically and bemoaning her uselessness (which is true). She possesses a grand piano, but she can't play it. I don't know why Margaret Sullavan got an Oscar nomination for this. She is much better in "The Mortal Storm" and much, much better (and also far more convincing as a dying woman) in 1943's "Cry, Havoc."

Then, the nonsensicalities: Gottfried is trapped, an armed mob clamoring for his death. Otto rushes to rescue him. Wait. First, he must take time out to buy flowers and kiss Pat goodbye at the train station. That's the way to prioritize, Otto. Of course, he returns to the siege too late. Exit Gottfried. Pat won't tell Erich that she has health issues. Otherwise he might be alert and careful not to overtax her. Is he ever surprised when she fails to do a chin-up and falls almost fatally ill! She won't go to the sanitarium. She goes. Apparently, an expensive operation can cure her. She does it. She's cured, if she rests a few weeks in bed. Great. She can live a normal life, find a job, contribute to the prosperity of the menage a trois (Gottfried is dead). No. Now, AFTER the operation, AFTER she has forced them to sell their livelihood, now she decides to make it all pointless by committing suicide, getting out of bed. I give up. The two survivors go off to Brazil or somewhere. Good. We won't have to hear about their further adventures. Give me "Wuthering Heights" any day. I won't even bother about the film's political cowardice, not daring to label Nazi mobs as what they are. I understand the studio's fear. HUAC came into being that very year, 1938. Its target? Anyone connected to the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League.

Excellent cast and some good story ideas, but it just misses the mark

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 13 April 2007]

MGM pulled out the stops on this film because it cast four of its bigger stars--Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone, Robert Young and Margaret Sullavan. It also featured good direction from reliable Frank Borzage and all the glitz and glamor the studio could give. So, despite this, why was the movie a bit of a disappointment? Well, it all rests on the rather vague and sappy script. Sure, there are some wonderful and interesting aspects of the plot, but at times the impact is blunted because the film seemed unwilling to take much of a stand regarding the chaos in post-war Germany AND the script got so bogged down in soapy romance. I would have much preferred that the film focus on what was occurring in Germany in 1919-1922 instead of interjecting the romance. Or, they could have made it a romance (but a less silly one) and skipped the post-war drama. But together, there wasn't enough decent romance and the chaos in Germany was only shown here and there--I really wanted to see more of the social and political factors that later led to the rise of Fascism and Communism in the country. Instead, it was just too episodic and diluted--perhaps because MGM was afraid of offending Germans or German-Americans. And as for the romance, it got really, really silly at the very end and ended on a sappy note. Why, exactly, Ms. Sullavan did what she did made little sense to me (unless she was SUPPOSED to be a stupid person in the film).

For a much better film set in Germany that actually DOES blend romance and post-WWI drama, see THE MORTAL STORM. It was also made by MGM and once again stars Margaret Sullavan and Robert Young and is absolutely brilliant thanks to a daring script and engaging characters.

A classic weepie

[MOscarbradley · 9/10 · 15 March 2015]

"Three Comrades" was one of the few films on which F. Scott Fitzgerald got a writing credit. He co-wrote it with Edward E Paramore Jr from a novel by Erich Maria Remarque who wrote "All Quiet on the Western Front" and it's a beautiful job of work. It's set in Germany after the First World War, (you'll have no trouble accepting the American cast as Germans), and is about three friends, (Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone and Robert Young), and their relationship with a frivolous, sophisticated and dying girl. She's played magnificently by Margaret Sullavan, (she won the New York Film Critic's prize for Best Actress), and she's the lynchpin of this Frank Borzage classic which is deeply romantic and highly intelligent at the same time. It's a love story that doesn't shy away from the political situation pertaining in Germany at the time without ever being preachy. Indeed, it's one of the great films about friendship and it's very easy to accept Taylor, Tone and Young as men who really care for one another, (Tone is superb and even Taylor and Young don't let the side down), but this is Sullavan's movie. It's a luminous performance, perhaps her finest. Her disappearance from the movies and tragically early death was one of the cinema's greatest losses.

a bit sappy, but interesting

[becky-bradway · 7/10 · 27 July 2013]

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.

The Magical Sullavan Peaks in a Moving F. Scott Fitzgerald-Adapted Lost Generation Romance

[EUyeshima · 9/10 · 18 October 2011]

How does one not fall in love with Margaret Sullavan? The husky calm of her unique voice could invoke so many emotional inflections that combined with her will-o'-the-wisp beauty it's a shame she is not well remembered beyond her one indisputable classic, Ernst Lubitsch's "The Shop Around the Corner" (1940) with James Stewart. Take, for example, this 1938 romantic drama based on Erich Maria Remarque's ("All Quiet on the Western Front") 1936 novel with a screenplay co-written by none other than F. Scott Fitzgerald, his only screen credit. Not surprisingly, it's about the Lost Generation who came of age during World War I, and she elevates the movie into something quite magical as Patricia Hollmann, a beautiful aristocrat fallen on hard times and dying of tuberculosis. She becomes the center of gravity for three close war buddies eking out a living fixing cars and driving a cab in a pre-Hitler Germany torn asunder by unemployment and economic strife.

The main focus of the story is on the unbridled love that develops between Patricia and Erich, the most openly naïve of the three and probably the most in need of purpose in his life. Just graduating from his glamour-boy phase swooning over Garbo in "Camille", Robert Taylor is no dramatic match for Sullavan but gives Erich enough sincerity to avoid embarrassment. Better are Robert Young as the headstrong Gottfried and especially Franchot Tone as wise Otto whose unconditional friendship is nearly as touching as the central romance. In the second of four collaborations with Sullavan, director Frank Borzage imbues the film with his trademark romanticism particularly lush in this handsome MGM production captured pretty well in the 2009 DVD. No surprise, the ending death scene may seem hackneyed by today's standards, but it compares favorably to Bette Davis's similarly heroic demise in "Dark Victory". This is well worth seeking out if only to rediscover Sullavan at her most radiant. She earned the New York Film Critics Award and an Oscar nomination and sadly made only 16 films in her career. Read her daughter Brooke Hayward's harrowing memoir, "Haywire", to find out why.

A soothing drama about post-war reintegration, tender romance, and comradeship - Borzage ticks all the boxes in a short time.

[SAMTHEBESTEST · 7/10 · 3 April 2022]

Three Comrades (1938) : Brief Review -

A soothing drama about post-war reintegration, tender romance, and comradeship - Borzage ticks all the boxes in a short time. I always believed that Frank Borzage's filmography in the talkie era had been inconsistent. But I tell you, some of his films are too good and just can't be missed. Theree Comrades is one of those too good ones. Must watch or not, that depends on your taste, but I'll say you should give it a watch. It's quite like an elementary tale of multiple elements that form a powerful narrative of different proportions. Friendship, drama, romance, tragedy, patriotism, social conflicts in post war era and one's nature living life, this film covers a lot of things without 100 minutes. Don't tell me every film manages to do it without using cheap techniques. The film captures the close friendship of three German soldiers in the post-war era. The bond is strengthened by their shared love for the same woman, who is dying of tuberculosis, but there is no love triangle or qaurte in it (thankfully). Borzage's "The Mortal Storm" (1940) was pretty similar to the structure of this film, but it built a totally different tower. That film was about fighting between friends, while this one is about caring for each other. Yes, it's predictable, but never boring or corny. I liked the performances of all four actors. Irrespective of what their individual runtime is, they all have equal weightage and put in nice teamwork on the field. Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone and Robert Young's comradeship is heart-touching, and then Margaret Sullavan's female part makes it more loving. The dialogues are good too. I loved that one - "Send flowers. They cover everything. Even graves." Overall, a nice, uncanny drama that can't be explained in words so easily. You just have to feel the motion.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Though it is 1920 in the film, the growing unrest...

[edwagreen · 8/10 · 5 March 2017]

Though it is 1920 in the film, the growing unrest in Germany is evident of the beginnings of the rise of Nazism. The term is never used and rather serves as a backdrop to a love story surrounded by three close German friends who fought together in World War 1.

Didn't Margaret Sullavan's dying performance remind you of Greta Garbo stepping out to see the heather once more in Camille? Ironically, Robert Taylor was her co-star in that film as well.

The film explores the relationship of the 3 guys after World War 1 showing their trials and tribulations. The chance meeting with Sullavan and Taylor's total devotion to her with his friends sticking close by. This isn't a film of 3 guys loving the same woman; rather, it is an affirmation of their friendship and devotion to each other and the sacrifices made.

Three Comrades review

[JoeytheBrit · 7/10 · 22 April 2020]

Absorbing character drama and tearjerker that focuses on the deep friendship between three German war veterans. For once, the appearance of a woman doesn't threaten these men's friendship but actually binds them closer together. Could perhaps have benefited from a more fatalistic outlook given the characters' pasts, but is solid entertainment nevertheless. Was there ever, I wonder, an operation which required the patient to lie perfectly still for a fortnight afterwards?

lovely downer

[blanche-2 · 8/10 · 9 June 2013]

Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone, and Robert Young are "Three Comrades" in this 1938 film directed by Frank Borzage and starring Margaret Sullivan as the young woman who enters their lives.

The setting is Germany after World War I, and the three friends return from battle and open a mechanic's shop. When they meet the ethereal Pat (Sullivan), they all embrace her as a friend, but it's she and Erich (Taylor) who fall in love. Only Otto (Tone) knows that she has tuberculosis; he encourages her to marry Erich and be happy. On their honeymoon, she collapses, and Erich learns the truth.

This film represents F. Scott Fitzgerald's only writing credit in Hollywood, though he worked on other films, including "Marie Antoinette," "Red Headed Woman," "The Women," and others, uncredited in all. In "Tender Comrades" you can often hear his gentle prose.

The original script was much more political, but MGM, careful of its foreign market, excised all of that out. There is unrest in Germany post-World War I, but it's vague unrest; Gottfried (Young) has involvement in a political group that's against the current government, but we don't get too much info about it.

I don't know if it's because the film is set in Germany, a fairly depressing place until the '50s, or because we know that, though the Germans have been through a lot, they ain't seen nothing' yet, or Pat's discreet coughs, but this movie is depressing even when the characters are having a good time. It's almost as if they all play their roles as if they know the ending. I'm not giving spoilers here - it's obvious from the beginning of the film what's going to happen. No surprises.

Despite this sense of foreboding, the film is very well done, if a bit slow by today's standards. Robert Taylor had better roles and developed into a better actor post-war, though he is a revelation in the film "Escape," but he is so handsome and sweet in this film. It's no wonder my mother was mad for him. Tone has the burden of some heavy monologues -- some of the dialogue is tough going -- but he is good nonetheless, as is Robert Young.

Margaret Sullivan was a wonderful screen presence, pretty, with a low voice, and as a stage-trained actress, she was always excellent. Pat is really the only character that has any business being depressed throughout the film, and she comes off as a mystery woman at the beginning. It's obvious she has a secret and has seen bad times. She plays the role as if she's not really of this earth, and she's wonderful.

Recommended, but don't see it if you haven't taken your antidepressants.

And excellent film with one huge drawback

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 7/10 · 8 June 2013]

I really didn't know what to expect from this film, and what I got was an excellent movie with one huge flaw. To really understand this film you have to put yourself in the place of a German citizen -- in Germany -- after World War I. Can you do that? I don't know the culture. I don't know the history. And that is a terrible handicap going into this film. And, for most of the film, it doesn't matter, because although it is supposedly taking place in German, it doesn't seem much different than some American setting might be. But then something comes along and you just feel out of place in the film. I actually think that a better way to have proceeded with this film, would have been to turn into into a story about returning WWI veterans, and it would have worked better for American audiences. And it may be this "feeling out of place-ness" that resulted in the film not being successful at the box office.

Having said that, this is a great little story, and the acting is absolutely top-notch. And what I wish to focus on is the acting. I'm not a particular fan of Robert Taylor, kind of a take-him or leave-him attitude, and every once in a while I will see some film of his and think how really good he was. Ironically, he didn't want to do this film, and I think he's superb in it as the male lead. Similarly, there are few Margaret Sullavan films in which I really appreciate her (another is "The Mortal Storm")...but this is another. A wonderful performance. Franchot Tone was, in my view, an underrated actor, who once in a while really shined through. This is one such film for him, also. In later life, Robert Young was very dissatisfied with his film career (hence, "Father Knows Best"); he should have been satisfied with this role, and his portrayal of it is excellent. Guy Kibbee is in an unusual role as a tavern owner. I was never impressed with Lionel Atwill...and I'm still not. And Henry Hull...did he ever do anything in a film other than blow hot air????? It was interesting to see Monty Woolley as a medical specialist...not particularly good or bad...just interesting.

So, I invited you to see this film and see if you feel comfortable as a member of the audience inside a culture and history of which you have no understanding. Aside from that, it's an excellent film.

Deadly Boring

[au561 · 2/10 · 8 March 2017]

This is a fine and interesting movie up until Miss Sullavan appears. Then the ride to Boringville begins. She is neither a good enough actress nor attractive enough to hold your attention. She does not make her character at all dear enough to care about, which makes you wonder why the three male leads come to adore her. This was almost impossible to sit through. What could have been a strong dramatic story about three WWI Comrades-in- arms coping with the trials of post war Germany, is ruined by teary melodramatics centered on Sullavan. Too bad.

An unsuccessful sequel to "All Quiet on the Western Front"

[greenmesamountaina · 6/10 · 8 September 2017]

"Three Comrades" could be summed up as a sequel to "All Quiet on the Western Front". "Western Front" being about WWI from the German side (written by a German serviceman), this film starts with the day the war is over and three surviving airmen must get on with civilian life.

Unfortunately, in comparison with the classic "All Quiet on the Western Front", "Three Comrades" is pretty bad. It has no "A" actors, it feels rushed through, and only the dialogue sparkles, the result of being written by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Margaret Sullavan's character in the film is to personify the health of Germany, with her health deteriorating as Germany deteriorates. The film is perceptive in diagnosing what will be the outcome of things from a 1938 perspective. But the film feels muddled nonetheless.

An interesting sidenote: Eric Maria Remarque, who wrote the novels upon which both above mentioned films were based, had to leave Germany because of his views. Later, during the war, his sister was beheaded by the Nazis as punishment for Remarque, who they could not reach.