Three on a Match (1932)

Synopsis: After 10 years apart, three childhood schoolmates unexpectedly bump into each other and immediately resume their friendship in spite of their very different positions in society. While reminiscing,... After 10 years apart, three childhood schoolmates unexpectedly bump into each other and immediately resume their friendship in spite of their very different positions in society. While reminiscing, they light three cigarettes from the same match, defying a popular 1930s superstition that this will result in death for one of them. Joan Blondell plays Mary Keaton, a former delinquent who has become an actress; Bette Davis plays the sharp-witted Ruth Westcott, who works as a stenographer; and Ann Dvorak plays wife and mother Vivian Revere. In a sharply paced production, the lives of all three are turned on their heads. Vivian longs to rid herself of her unhappy marriage, and when Mary introduces her to Mike Loftus (Lyle Talbot), Mary thinks she's found the new exciting life she's seeking. But Mike is an unsavory and debt-ridden gambler who concocts a scheme involving blackmail, kidnapping, and violence. On top of the extensive plot, director Mervyn LeRoy (I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG, LITTLE CAESAR) manages to eulogize the entire roaring '20s in just over an hour while making film history by casting Humphrey Bogart in his first role as a gangster. [More]

Starring: Bette Davis, Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak, Warren William

Starring: Bette Davis, Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak, Warren William, Humphrey Bogart, Lyle Talbot, Glenda Farrell, Anne Shirley, Edward Arnold

Director: Mervyn LeRoy

Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Producer: Samuel Bischoff

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