Three on a Match Overview:

Three on a Match (1932) was a Crime - Drama Film directed by Mervyn LeRoy and produced by Raymond Griffith, Darryl F. Zanuck and Samuel Bischoff.

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REMAKE AVENUE: Three on a Match, 1932 and Broadway Musketeers, 1938

on Jan 11, 2021 From Caftan Woman

Mervyn LeRoy directed Three on a Match for Warner Brothers in 1932 with a screenplay by Lucien Hubbard based on a story by Kubec Glasman and John Bright. The film's 63 minutes is packed with the verve typical of LeRoy's work in this era (Five Star Final, Little Caesar, Big City Blues). Joan Bl... Read full article


Depressed Heroines & Classic Film: Three on a Match

By Judy on Sep 19, 2020 From Cary Grant Won't Eat You

Is there anything scarier than Bette Davis playing nice? I see that sunny face, that sugary smile, and I’m just waiting for the other sledgehammer to drop. It’s unnerving in films like Three on a Match (1932) that she acts like a sweetheart throughout. It’s a terrible waste, of co... Read full article


Depressed Heroines & Classic Film: Three on a Match

By Judy on Sep 19, 2020 From Cary Grant Won't Eat You

Is there anything scarier than Bette Davis playing nice? I see that sunny face, that sugary smile, and I’m just waiting for the other sledgehammer to drop. It’s unnerving in films like Three on a Match (1932) that she acts like a sweetheart throughout. It’s a terrible waste, of co... Read full article


Three on a Match (1932): The Epitome of Hollywood Pre-Code

By 4 Star Film Fan on Aug 2, 2019 From 4 Star Films

The Pre-Code era of Hollywood is a legitimate marvel because in a span of only a few solitary years was a period of filmmaking bursting at the seams with vice, corruption, and licentiousness that we would never see again until the late 1960s. One could say that each of these elements was merely an e... Read full article


Pre-Code Perfection: Three on a Match (1932)

By Carol Martinheira on Jan 8, 2019 From The Old Hollywood Garden

Pre-Code Perfection: Three on a Match (1932) On January 8, 2019January 8, 2019 By CarolIn Uncategorized Three on a Match (dir. Mervyn LeRoy, 1932) might just be my favorite movie from what is possibly my favorite year in cinema, 1932. A Pre-Code masterpiece that stays ... Read full article


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Quotes from

Junior (Kirkwood boy): Please don't hurt my mommy!
Harve: I'll bear that in mind.


Mary Keaton, aka Mary Bernard: [At the State Reform School for girls, an inmate is at the piano singing the song "Diane", which includes the lyric "I'm in heaven when I see you smile".] Will ya stop remindin' me of heaven... when I'm so close to the other place?
Prisoner at Checkers Table: What's the matter Mary? Don't you like our little hotel?
Mary Keaton, aka Mary Bernard: Oh, I think it's swell. The ventilation is great, my room has a southern exposure, the rates are cheap, but somehow or other the atmosphere is too confining.
Fat Prisoner: Don't let it getcha down, kid. At least we don't have to wait in line for a bowl of soup like they do outside.
Mrs. Black, Prisoner at Checkers Table: Don't be always a-stewin', dearie. You only get your insides in an uproar, and for what? You're in and you're gonna stay in till they get even with ya for bustin' the rules.
Mary Keaton, aka Mary Bernard: Yeah, I'm in alright, but that don't mean I hafta like it.


Vivian Revere Kirkwood: [Strung out] I've had the willies for a month. Everything depresses me - including this house.


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Facts about

The set of Vivian's ocean liner cabin was used the following year in _Baby Face_.
Scenes of frenzy caused by the enactment of Prohibition were originally used in The Public Enemy.
Director Mervyn LeRoy disliked the acting job Bette Davis did in this film. She, in turn, hated his directing and called him a "hack," feeling that her talent was being wasted playing supporting roles. This rift came back to haunt LeRoy when Davis's star began to ascend.
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Also directed by Mervyn LeRoy




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Also produced by Raymond Griffith




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Also released in 1932




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