Three on a Match | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Mervyn LeRoy |
Produced by | |
Screenplay by | Lucien Hubbard |
Story by | |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Sol Polito |
Edited by | Ray Curtiss |
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Release date
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Running time
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63 mins. |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Three on a Match is a 1932 American pre-Code crime drama released by Warner Bros. The film was directed by Mervyn LeRoy and stars Joan Blondell, Warren William, Ann Dvorak and Bette Davis. The film also features Lyle Talbot, Humphrey Bogart, Allen Jenkins and Edward Arnold.
Three women who went to the same elementary school, Mary (Joan Blondell), Ruth (Bette Davis), and Vivian (Ann Dvorak), meet again as young adults after some time apart. They each light a cigarette from the same match and discuss the superstition that such an act is unlucky and that Vivian, the last to light her cigarette, will be the first to die.
Mary is a show girl who has established stability in her life after spending some time in a reform school, while Ruth works as a stenographer. Vivian is the best off of the three, married to successful lawyer Robert Kirkwood (Warren William) and with a young son Robert Jr. (Buster Phelps), but she has grown dissatisfied with her life. Just before she is about to leave on an ocean cruiser with her son, Mary comes along with two men going to a party on the ship, before it leaves. Gambler Michael Loftus (Lyle Talbot) one of the two men flirts around with Vivian and persuades her to run away with him.
Vivian and Michael Loftus run a very shabby life, so that Mary concerned about Vivian's neglect of her son, tells Robert (nearly mad about the disappearance of his son) where to find his boy. Mary and Ruth are very fond of Junior so that Robert proposes to Mary and hires Ruth to look after the child. Mary and Robert marry the same day his divorce from Vivian becomes final.