Three Comrades (1938)

64% of users liked it
(239 ratings)

Based on a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, Three Comrades represented one of the few successful screenwriting efforts of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in Germany in the years just following World War I, the film stars Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone and Robert Young as three battle-weary, thoroughly… More Based on a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, Three Comrades represented one of the few successful screenwriting efforts of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in Germany in the years just following World War I, the film stars Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone and Robert Young as three battle-weary, thoroughly disillusioned returning soldiers. The three friends pool their savings and open an auto-repair shop, and it is this that brings them in contact with wealthy motorist Lionel Atwill--and with Atwill's lovely travelling companion Margaret Sullavan. Taylor begins a romance with Sullavan, who soon joins the three comrades, making the group a jovial, fun-seeking foursome (this plot element bears traces of Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, as well as the 1931 film The Last Flight). Though Sullavan suffers from tuberculosis (her shady past is only alluded to), she is encouraged by her male companions to fully enjoy what is left of her life. This becomes increasingly difficult when one of the comrades, Young, is killed during a political riot (it's a Nazi riot, though not so-labelled by ever-careful MGM). In the end, the four comrades are only two in number, with nothing but memories to see them through the cataclysmic years to come. Despite its Hollywoodized bowdlerization of the Remarque original, Three Comrades remains a poignant, haunting experience. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 38 min.
Directed By: Frank Borzage
Genres: Drama, Romance, Classics

In Theaters: Jun 3, 1938 Wide
On DVD: Apr 28, 1993
Studio: Warner Home Video

Critic Reviews

Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
Borzage very often captures some potent emotions, almost despite the material.
Dan Callahan, Slant Magazine
Sullavan won the New York Film Critic's prize for her role here, and it was deserved: if Ernst Lubitsch's The Shop Around the Corner stands as her best movie, then this is certainly her best performance.

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Featured Audience Ratings

AJ V

I watched this a while ago, I barely remember it, but it was okay, not good enough that I remember it though.

Cast

            Robert Taylor as Erich Lohkamp

            Margaret Sullavan as Pat Hollmann

            Franchot Tone as Otto Koster

            Robert Young as Gottfried Lenz

            Guy Kibbee as Alfons

            Lionel Atwill as Franz Breuer

            Henry Hull as Dr. Heinrich Becker

            Charles Grapewin as Local Doctor

            Monty Woolley as Dr. Jaffe

            Ricca Allen as Housekeeper

            Jessie Arnold as Nurse

            Barbara Bedford as Rita

            Henry Brandon as Man with Patch

            Ralph Bushman as Comic

            George Chandler as First Comic

            Spencer Charters as Herr Schultz

            Harvey Clark as Bald-Headed Man

            William Haade as Younger Vogt man

            Donald Haines as Comic

            Priscilla Lawson as Frau Brunner

            Mitchell Lewis as Boris

            Marjorie Main as Old Woman

            Claire McDowell as Frau Zalewska

            Edward McWade as Major Domo

            Esther Muir as Frau Schmidt

            Ferdinand Munier as Burgomaster

            Sarah Padden as Frau Schultz

            Leonard Penn as Tony

            Phillip Terry as Young Soldier

            Morgan Wallace as Owner of Wrecked Car

            E. Alyn Warren as Bookstore Owner

            Norman Willis
            
            George Zucco as Dr. Plauten

            Ted Offenbecker as Adolph

            Walter Bonn as Adjutant

            Roger Converse as Becker's Assistant

            George Offerman as Adolph
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