Three Comrades (1938 film)
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''Three Comrades'' is a 1938
drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Frank Borzage Frank Borzage (; April 23, 1894 – June 19, 1962) was an Academy Award-winning American film director and actor, known for directing '' 7th Heaven'' (1927), '' Street Angel'' (1928), '' Bad Girl'' (1931), '' A Farewell to Arms'' (1932), ''Man's ...
and produced by
Joseph L. Mankiewicz Joseph Leo Mankiewicz (; February 11, 1909 – February 5, 1993) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Mankiewicz had a long Hollywood career, and won both the Academy Award for Best Director and the Academy Award for Best ...
for
MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
. The screenplay is by
F. Scott Fitzgerald Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularize ...
and Edward E. Paramore Jr., and was adapted from the novel '' Three Comrades'' by
Erich Maria Remarque Erich Maria Remarque (, ; born Erich Paul Remark; 22 June 1898 – 25 September 1970) was a German-born novelist. His landmark novel '' All Quiet on the Western Front'' (1928), based on his experience in the Imperial German Army during Worl ...
. It tells the story of the friendship of three young
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
soldiers following
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, during the
Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
and the rise of
Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
. The film stars Robert Taylor,
Margaret Sullavan Margaret Brooke Sullavan (May 16, 1909 – January 1, 1960) was an American stage and film actress. Sullavan began her career onstage in 1929 with the University Players. In 1933, she caught the attention of film director John M. Stahl and had ...
,
Franchot Tone Stanislaus Pascal Franchot Tone (February 27, 1905 – September 18, 1968) was an American actor, producer, and director of stage, film and television. He was a leading man in the 1930s and early 1940s, and at the height of his career was known ...
and Robert Young. Sullavan was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Actress The Academy Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year. ...
.


Plot

On the last day of World War I, November 11, 1918, three German fighter pilots - Erich Lohkamp, Otto Koster, and Gottfried Lenz - are having a final drink with their compatriots. They toast each other, expressing fatalistic attitudes about the future. With their only hope being in their friendship, the three comrades open a taxi and auto repair business and are barely able to eke out a living. One day several years later (1920), while driving to a country inn in Otto's precious souped-up jalopy roadster, "Baby", to celebrate Erich's birthday (the youngest and least cynical of the three), the friends get into a back road car race with a Herr Breuer, who is driving a luxury car, accompanied by Patricia Hollmann. The boys win their little race and they - along with Breuer and Pat - all arrive at the country inn together. While drinking together, the friends learn that Pat is a young German aristocrat who is now impoverished, while Breuer is a rich fascist sympathizer seeking a sugar daddy relationship with Pat. Though Pat is worldly, she is drawn to the innocent Erich, and gives him her telephone number. Otto and Gottfried encourage the relationship, feeling that their love will be the group's only salvation, but Erich feels that Pat's background will keep them apart, so he tells his friends he has thrown away Pat's number. Nevertheless, Erich - with strong encouragement from Gottfried - eventually calls Pat (he had not thrown away her number after all), and the two agree to a date. Pat and Erich start seeing each other and, one night, Pat invites Erich to the opera, where they run into Breuer. Breuer invites them to join him at a fancy nightclub, where Erich's borrowed formal white tie & tails starts to disintegrate, to the taunting laughter of Breuer and his drunken, rich friends. Erich leaves in embarrassment, thinking his poor status shames him in Pat's eyes. But later that night, he finds Pat waiting for him outside his apartment, where she convinces him that her feelings for him are stronger than any difference in their social or economic situation - and the two realize that they are truly and equally in love. Some time later, both Gottfried and Otto separately do their best to persuade Pat and Erich to follow their hearts despite the poverty: Gottfried tries to convince Erich to marry Pat, while Otto tries to convince Pat to marry Erich. When Pat resists Otto's entreaties and he presses her for an answer, she reveals that she had been very ill and will be ill again because of her lungs (with
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
). Otto convinces her that she should marry Erich regardless, no matter how brief their happiness might be, and she finally agrees. On their honeymoon, Pat collapses as she and Erich (who does not know of her illness) are playing on the beach. When the local doctor reveals her condition to Erich, and says that she may die if her hemorrhaging does not stop very soon, Erich calls Otto to find Pat's specialist, Dr. Felix Jaffe. Driving wildly through fog in his beloved "Baby", Otto returns with Dr. Jaffe just in time to save Pat, but the doctor warns that she must go to a sanitarium no later than the middle of October. Through the summer, Otto, Erich, Gottfried and Pat are happy together, even though they worry about her health. The idealistic Gottfried, however, is torn between his devotion to his friends and his belief in the teachings of political pacifist, Dr. Heinrich Becker. On the day that Pat must leave for the sanitarium, Erich and Otto witness a fascist thug shooting Gottfried to death while trying to kill Dr. Becker. Now faced with the loss of Gottfried as well Pat's absence, Erich and Otto sell their shop and drift through the next months, roaming the streets in "Baby", seeking Gottfried's killer. At Christmas, Otto finally finds the murderer, trailing him to a church where Handel's Messiah Hallelujah Chorus is being sung, and kills him in a shootout as the chorus reaches its climax. That same night, Erich receives a telegram from Pat that she must have an operation to collapse her lung. Her doctor at the sanitarium warns her that, after the operation, Pat must stay bedridden and very very still for two weeks or endanger her life. When Otto and Erich visit her, Erich learns about her need for extreme stillness after the operation and that the operation will cost over 1,000 marks. Erich tells the doctor to proceed with the operation and Otto decides to sell "Baby" to pay for it. When Otto goes to see her after the operation, he admits that Gottfried is dead and that he has sold "Baby", and she tells him that their self-sacrifices for her must stop, as her need for future care will be endless - and expensive - and will ruin Erich's and Otto's lives. Otto encourages her to live for Erich and, as they finish speaking, Erich arrives and Otto leaves. Pat speaks to Erich of the three of them escaping to Rio right away. Erich tells her to simply focus on getting better and steps outside to say goodbye to Otto. When alone, Pat slowly walks out to the room's balcony - a simple movement that she knows will likely cause her death. She is seen from below by Erich as she collapses. He rushes to her side just in time to hear her say: "It's right for me to die, darling. It isn't hard...and I'm so full of love." For the three comrades and Patricia, death is not a repudiation of the love they shared. After Pat's funeral, as they hear fighting in their city between fascist thugs and pro-democracy protesters, Otto and Erich decide to move to South America. As they leave the cemetery, you can see the spirits of Gottfried and Pat walking beside them.


Cast

* Robert Taylor as Erich Lohkamp *
Margaret Sullavan Margaret Brooke Sullavan (May 16, 1909 – January 1, 1960) was an American stage and film actress. Sullavan began her career onstage in 1929 with the University Players. In 1933, she caught the attention of film director John M. Stahl and had ...
as Patricia Hollmann *
Franchot Tone Stanislaus Pascal Franchot Tone (February 27, 1905 – September 18, 1968) was an American actor, producer, and director of stage, film and television. He was a leading man in the 1930s and early 1940s, and at the height of his career was known ...
as Otto Koster * Robert Young as Gottfried Lenz *
Guy Kibbee Guy Bridges Kibbee (March 6, 1882 – May 24, 1956) was an American stage and film actor. Early years Kibbee was born in El Paso, Texas. His father was editor of the '' El Paso Herald-Post'' newspaper, and Kibbee learned how to set type at age ...
as Alfons *
Lionel Atwill Lionel Alfred William Atwill (1 March 1885 – 22 April 1946) was an English stage and screen actor. He began his acting career at the Garrick Theatre. After coming to the U.S., he subsequently appeared in various Broadway plays and Hollywood f ...
as Breuer *
Henry Hull Henry Watterson Hull (October 3, 1890 – March 8, 1977) was an American character actor perhaps best known for playing the lead in Universal Pictures's ''Werewolf of London'' (1935). For most of his career, he was a lead actor on stage and a ch ...
as Dr. Becker *
Charley Grapewin Charles Ellsworth Grapewin (December 20, 1869 – February 2, 1956) was an American vaudeville and circus performer, a writer, and a stage and film actor. He worked in over 100 motion pictures during the silent and sound eras, most notably portr ...
as Local Doctor *
Monty Woolley Edgar Montilion "Monty" Woolley (August 17, 1888May 6, 1963) was an American film and theater actor.Obituary ''Variety'', May 8, 1963, page 223. At the age of 50, he achieved a measure of stardom for his role in the 1939 stage play ''The Man Wh ...
as Dr. Jaffe


Reception

Frank Nugent Frank Stanley Nugent (May 27, 1908 – December 29, 1965) was an American screenwriter, journalist, and film reviewer, who wrote 21 film scripts, 11 for director John Ford. He wrote almost a thousand reviews for ''The New York Times'' before lea ...
, critic for ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', called ''Three Comrades'' "a beautiful and memorable film. Faithful to the spirit and, largely, to the letter of the novel, it has been magnificently directed, eloquently written, and admirably played." He praised nearly all of the main actors, particularly Sullavan ("Hers is a shimmering, almost unendurably lovely performance."), but was less impressed with Taylor ("who is good occasionally but more often is merely acceptable"). According to MGM records, the film earned $1,193,000 in the United States and Canada and $850,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $472,000. The film was nominated for the
American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Leade ...
's 2002 list AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions.


References


External links

* * * * 1938 films 1938 drama films American drama films American black-and-white films Films based on German novels Films based on works by Erich Maria Remarque Films scored by Franz Waxman Films directed by Frank Borzage Films produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz Films set in Germany Films set in 1918 Films set in 1920 Films set in the 1920s Films with screenplays by F. Scott Fitzgerald Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films {{1930s-drama-film-stub