Three Comrades
Tags: romantic, murder

Plot synopsis:
The city, which is never referred to by name (however, it is likely Berlin), is crowded by a growing number of jobless and marked by increasing violence between left and right. The novel starts out in the seedy milieu of bars where prostitutes mingle with the hopeless flotsam that the war left behind. While Robert and his friends manage to make a living dealing cars and driving an old taxi, economic survival in the city is getting harder by the day. It is in this setting that Robert meets Patrice Hollmann, a mysterious beautiful young woman with an upper-middle-class background. Their love affair intensifies as he introduces her to his life of bars and races and Robert's nihilistic attitude slowly begins to change as he realizes how much he needs Pat.
The story takes an abrupt turn as Pat suffers a near-fatal lung hemorrhage during a summer holiday at the sea. Upon their return, Robert and Pat move in with each other but her days in the city are numbered, as she is scheduled to leave for a Swiss mountain sanatorium come winter. It is this temporal limitation of their happiness which makes their remaining time together so precious.
After Pat has left for Switzerland, the political situation in the city heats up and Lenz, one of the comrades, is killed by a militant, not mentioned in the book by the actual name but supposed to be a Nazi. On top of this, Otto and Robert face bankruptcy and have to sell their workshop. In the midst of this misfortune, a telegram arrives informing them of Pat's worsening state of health. The two remaining comrades don't hesitate and drive the thousand kilometers to the tuberculosis sanatorium in the Alps to see her.
Reunited, Robert and an increasingly moribund Pat celebrate their remaining weeks before her inevitable death amidst the snow-covered summits of Switzerland. It is in the last part of the book that this beautiful love story finds closure and leaves the main character, a nihilist who has found love, forever changed.

Review: 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.
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..
A sensitive and poignant story of love and friendship in post-war Germany..
The three comradesin post war Germany, are Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone, and Robert Young.
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.
Based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque on post-World War I Germany, it concerns three war veterans - Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone, and Robert Young - returning to Berlin on the brink of Nazism and poverty.
"Three Comrades" is less emotionally gripping than Borzage's other anti-Nazi films starring Sullavan - "Little Man What Now?"(1934) & "The Mortal Storm"(1940) - but it is imbued with a tender, soft-focus romantic aura and Borzage's characteristic signature, the redemptive powers of love.
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.
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.
THREE COMRADES is remembered today for it's classy acting by Margaret Sullivan, Robert Taylor, Robert Young, and Franchot Tone, for it's setting in Germany after World War I, and for it's screenplay, which is the closest thing to a complete movie script that F.
It does give a pretty good view of the political confusion and economic dislocation following the end of the World War, but for all an audience knows the fighting in the city might be over rival soccer teams!.
He co-wrote it with Edward E Paramore Jr from a novel by Erich Maria Remarque who wrote "All Quiet on the Western Front" and it's a beautiful job of work.
It's set in Germany after the First World War, (you'll have no trouble accepting the American cast as Germans), and is about three friends, (Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone and Robert Young), and their relationship with a frivolous, sophisticated and dying girl.
She's played magnificently by Margaret Sullavan, (she won the New York Film Critic's prize for Best Actress), and she's the lynchpin of this Frank Borzage classic which is deeply romantic and highly intelligent at the same time.
Indeed, it's one of the great films about friendship and it's very easy to accept Taylor, Tone and Young as men who really care for one another, (Tone is superb and even Taylor and Young don't let the side down), but this is Sullavan's movie.
The "Three Comrades" are: temporarily disillusioned Robert Taylor (as Erich Lohkamp), cautiously optimistic Franchot Tone (as Otto Koster) and politically idealistic Robert Young (as Gottfried Lenz).
This is, of course, Germany between the two World Wars of the 20th century...This allegorical film is too American for its own good, but the story holds up well.
It benefits greatly by being from a 1936 novel by "All Quiet on the Western Front" (1929) author and young war veteran Erich Maria Remarque.
Sullavan was honored as "Best Actress" of 1938 by the "New York Film Critics" for her prescient performance.
Her comrades contribute memorably and director Frank Borzage does exceptionally well with his "Hallelujah Chorus" revenge and some great closing scenes.******** Three Comrades (6/2/38) Frank Borzage ~ Margaret Sullavan, Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone, Robert Young.
All the troubles that were brewing in Germany are vaguely realized by MARGARET SULLAVAN, ROBERT TAYLOR, FRANCHOT TONE and ROBERT YOUNG in this film version of Erich Maria Remarque's novel about three comrades and their relationship with a lovely girl.Given the essentials of the plot, which has the girl dying of tuberculosis but wanting to marry the man of her dreams (ROBERT TAYLOR) when urged to do so by one of his comrades (FRANCHOT TONE), there's a tendency for the story to become a bit mawkish and sentimental before it reaches its sad ending.What saves the film from banality are the touching performances of all concerned, especially MARGARET SULLAVAN as the doomed young woman.
ROBERT TAYLOR is gentle and sincere as the man she gives her love to.It's directed in leisurely fashion by Frank Borzage and it's slow in the telling, which may discourage fans not too fond of weepies from the '30s era.
One of the best 10 films of 1938 (according to The New York Times Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made), and one which I enjoyed thoroughly when I saw it on TCM.Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone, and Robert Young are the three men who all love Margaret Sullavan (who received her only Oscar nomination) in their own way.
Scott Fitzgerald (his only screen writing credit).The three leads (Taylor, Tone, and Young) were soldiers for Germany in World War I and, now that it's over, they become auto mechanics.
This movie was notable for: the subtle and mysterious acting of Margaret Sullavan; the screenplay by Scott Fitzgerald (which was literary and a bit on the wordy side); and the interesting look at Germany immediately after WWI.
Personally, I would have liked to have seen more about the politics and tensions in Germany (playing up Robert Young's role), and less of the Camille-esque love & decline plot.
But that's just me.I thought that the film was carried by Franchot Tone and Margaret Sullavan.
This is a drama about three German veterans of the first world war, comrades who open up a mechanic shop, and are genuine friends to each other.A woman enters the picture, and she is quickly adopted into their little family as a love interest of one.
However, there is a bit too much preaching in the form of the Franchot Tone character, who is obviously the spokesman for the writer.It's good to see Robert Taylor play a role of a mature minded man instead of the cliché bad guys gone good he played later.
What could have been a strong dramatic story about three WWI Comrades-in- arms coping with the trials of post war Germany, is ruined by teary melodramatics centered on Sullavan.
This MGM movie, based on a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, is the story of three German army buddies, tracing there comradeship from WWI into the years between the world wars.
After the Great War, three army buddies--Erich Lohkamp (Robert Taylor), Otto Koster (Franchot Tone) and Gottfried Lenz (Robert Young)--open an auto repair shop together.
Although the story seems to center around the courtship and marriage of Erich Lohkampr and Oscar-nominee, Margaret Sullavan (Patricia Hollmann), it really demonstrates the closeness of all four friends; their individual hardships and struggles; and how much they all care for each other, as the harbingers of WWII start to show themselves in the streets of Germany between the wars.
Robert Taylor and Margaret Sullavan.
Robert Taylor comes alive when he falls in love with Margaret Sullavan.
To a certain degree you could say that about Sullavan, but she looks and sounds the same in more or less every film she's in.The stand out performance comes from Franchot Tone.
Three Comrades, a story of three men and the girl who marries one of them and the bleak future they face in post World War I Germany, is a tender a touching story brought to the screen by some great talents.
The whole thing is directed by Frank Borzage who is a master at directing tender romances.Erich Maria Remarque is better known for writing All Quiet on the Western Front.
That story is about a group of young men who enlist in the German Army in World War I and the illusions that are quickly shattered with military service at the Western Front.
The characters played by Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone, and Robert Young could easily be those same kids grown up now, three survivors of those who marched to war in 1914-1915.These are working class people who just want to get back to civilian life.
Robert Taylor finds the girl of his dreams in Margaret Sullavan and their love makes them both forget or at least put on the back burner, the horror of World War I.
Franchot Tone acts like an older brother figure to both Taylor and Young.
Tone's performance in fact is the best in the film.I won't say more, except that for two of the protagonists things end tragically.
If I had to choose a film that enhances friendship,I would take "three comrades" any day.Frank Borzague's movie will bring tears to your eyes,and yet it's not a melodrama,it's rather a chronicle.Made in 1938,it could have been a propaganda movie -in several respects,the admirable "mortal storm" was- but politics remain very vague in "three comrades" .Gottfried's character is committed ,but which side is he on?Against Hitler ,some may say,but the movie takes place circa 1920 at a time when he was not still a threat;against socialists and communists maybe ,but the scenarists do not specify Gottfried 's ideas.This vagueness is even "clearer" ,so to speak,at the end of the movie when Franchot Tone notices "they're fighting in town".Only "they".Actually, "mortal storm",which IMHO,is superior to 'three comrades ' will set the record straight and this extraordinary work,probably Borzague's masterpiece ,will influence such later works as "la caditi dei degli" (Visconti) and "the four horsemen of the Apocalypse"."Three comrades" focuses on the relationship between three men who were soldiers during WW1 -and thus predates Wyler's "best years of our lives" - and a woman whom one of them falls in love with.This is a wonderful quartet:Franchot Tone,Robert Young,Robert Taylor and Margaret Sullavan.What's extraordinary is the purity of their friendship.When Tone and Young help Taylor -his wife suffers from tuberculosis-,they ask nothing in return for themselves.Admirable sequences:as she knows her days are numbered,Pat (Sullavan) ,on the beach ,can hear the cuckoo ,and she does not want to stop listening because "the more you hear it,the more you"ll live".A very dramatic scene ,at the end ,recalls those happy times at the seaside:Pat cannot stand the ticking of the watch any longer,and ,out of despair,her husband throws it on the floor."Time stands still" Pat says.When Sullavan leaves her bed,for a last farewell,a high angle shot foretells the tragedy .Another stunning moment is Tone's revenge after his pal's death:he tracks down the murderer near the church where a choir is singing Handel's "Messiah" .There's also a good use of a modest but effective split screen for the phone calls.The last pictures herald the "mortal storm" and the hard rain that's gonna fall."Three comrades" is a hymn to friendship:like love,it never dies,as the very last picture shows..
Margaret's character is in a hospital room with a balcony(?!!) and she decides she wants to perish while she's young and beautiful, so she goes to the window and gives herself a fatal chill, then collapses in Robert Taylor's arms, all while wearing an ethereal white dress...they don't make them like that anymore.But I would recommend this film especially to W Scott Fitzgerald fans,as they will enjoy his work on the screenplay..
MGM pulled out the stops on this film because it cast four of its bigger stars--Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone, Robert Young and Margaret Sullavan.
Sure, there are some wonderful and interesting aspects of the plot, but at times the impact is blunted because the film seemed unwilling to take much of a stand regarding the chaos in post-war Germany AND the script got so bogged down in soapy romance.
Why, exactly, Ms. Sullavan did what she did made little sense to me (unless she was SUPPOSED to be a stupid person in the film).For a much better film set in Germany that actually DOES blend romance and post-WWI drama, see THE MORTAL STORM.
It was also made by MGM and once again stars Margaret Sullavan and Robert Young and is absolutely brilliant thanks to a daring script and engaging characters..
How does one not fall in love with Margaret Sullavan?
Take, for example, this 1938 romantic drama based on Erich Maria Remarque's ("All Quiet on the Western Front") 1936 novel with a screenplay co-written by none other than F.
She becomes the center of gravity for three close war buddies eking out a living fixing cars and driving a cab in a pre-Hitler Germany torn asunder by unemployment and economic strife.The main focus of the story is on the unbridled love that develops between Patricia and Erich, the most openly naïve of the three and probably the most in need of purpose in his life.
Better are Robert Young as the headstrong Gottfried and especially Franchot Tone as wise Otto whose unconditional friendship is nearly as touching as the central romance.
They are what later become the National Socialist Party.Robert Taylor, Robert Young and Franchot Tone have American voices, but are German war veterans.
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.
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.
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.
"Western Front" being about WWI from the German side (written by a German serviceman), this film starts with the day the war is over and three surviving airmen must get on with civilian life.Unfortunately, in comparison with the classic "All Quiet on the Western Front", "Three Comrades" is pretty bad.
Margaret Sullavan's character in the film is to personify the health of Germany, with her health deteriorating as Germany deteriorates.
The term is never used and rather serves as a backdrop to a love story surrounded by three close German friends who fought together in World War 1.Didn't Margaret Sullavan's dying performance remind you of Greta Garbo stepping out to see the heather once more in Camille?
Ironically, Robert Taylor was her co-star in that film as well.The film explores the relationship of the 3 guys after World War 1 showing their trials and tribulations.
Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone, and Robert Young are "Three Comrades" in this 1938 film directed by Frank Borzage and starring Margaret Sullivan as the young woman who enters their lives.The setting is Germany after World War I, and the three friends return from battle and open a mechanic's shop.
When they meet the ethereal Pat (Sullivan), they all embrace her as a friend, but it's she and Erich (Taylor) who fall in love.
There is unrest in Germany post-World War I, but it's vague unrest; Gottfried (Young) has involvement in a political group that's against the current government, but we don't get too much info about it.I don't know if it's because the film is set in Germany, a fairly depressing place until the '50s, or because we know that, though the Germans have been through a lot, they ain't seen nothing' yet, or Pat's discreet coughs, but this movie is depressing even when the characters are having a good time.
Robert Taylor had better roles and developed into a better actor post-war, though he is a revelation in the film "Escape," but he is so handsome and sweet in this film.
Tone has the burden of some heavy monologues -- some of the dialogue is tough going -- but he is good nonetheless, as is Robert Young.Margaret Sullivan was a wonderful screen presence, pretty, with a low voice, and as a stage-trained actress, she was always excellent.
Pat is really the only character that has any business being depressed throughout the film, and she comes off as a mystery woman at the beginning.
To really understand this film you have to put yourself in the place of a German citizen -- in Germany -- after World War I.
I actually think that a better way to have proceeded with this film, would have been to turn into into a story about returning WWI veterans, and it would have worked better for American audiences.
I'm not a particular fan of Robert Taylor, kind of a take-him or leave-him attitude, and every once in a while I will see some film of his and think how really good he was.
Similarly, there are few Margaret Sullavan films in which I really appreciate her (another is "The Mortal Storm")...but this is another.
In later life, Robert Young was very dissatisfied with his film career (hence, "Father Knows Best"); he should have been satisfied with this role, and his portrayal of it is excellent.