BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

PudgyPandaMan 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.

Robert J. Maxwell Kind of interesting, a story of three young men (Robert Taylor, Robert Young, and Franchot Tone) who are trying to make a living in bleak 1920s Germany after having fought a losing war.The men are close friends and each tries to find some means of self expression. Taylor is a self-conscious working-class guy with no particular skills, and he drinks too much. Young is an idealist who becomes involved in left-wing politics. Tone is an auto mechanic and semi-engineer. Together they start a small business, an auto repair shop and taxi service (with one taxi).Into their world comes Margaret Sullavan, an impoverished aristocrat who falls for Taylor, overcomes his shyness by her brashness, and marries him. She has reason to hurry. She's dying of tuberculosis.In contrast to what might happen in real life, she doesn't immediately get rid of hubby's friends. Instead, as in a Howard Hawks movie, she becomes a member of the group. The men all love her in their different ways, as they do each other.On the surface it's just a romantic drama in a studio-bound Germany but the story, if not gripping, is involving. I was struck by some of the lines, though I had no idea F. Scott Fitzgerald was involved in writing them. Taylor is searching about for some way to apologize to Sullavan for some imagined gaffe. Young advises: "Bring her flowers. Flowers cover everything, even graves." (The three men are haunted by the war and the memory of friends they lost.) This is a small thing, not a flight of poetry, but the script is sprinkled with these small things. Fitzgerald might not have had anything to do with lines like that, but I doubt that Remarque did either. I read the novel in German years ago and remember the prose as far more naturalistic and less romantic than this.It's a tragic story and a bit of a downer but it's well worth catching. Probably endorsed by the Pooh Bas because of the commercial success of Eric Maria Remarque's earlier novel/movie, "All Quiet on the Western Front." I don't know why a guy named Kramer had to go and change his name to the more pretentious Remarque, but that's his business. Good flick.

Daryl Chin (lqualls-dchin) 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.

mamalv 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.