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the audience applauded

Powerful

Overrated and overhyped

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

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.

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.

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. You can't do too much better than an Erich Maris Remarque novel and a screenplay by none other than F. Scott Fitzgerald. 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. Three Comrades essentially picks up where All Quiet on the Western Front leaves off. 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. They want to go in business together, a car repair garage seems the thing, taking advantage of something useful the military taught them. All react differently to the war. 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. Robert Young is an idealist who still looks for a cause to believe in and finds it in some of the left wing parties of the Weimar Republic. Franchot Tone acts like an older brother figure to both Taylor and Young. He's cynical, but not bitter. He wants a life of peace, but as we see in the film, he's quite capable of using his military training to exact some revenge. 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. For which two, buy or rent the film. The Nazis are there also, their movement is just getting started. In 1938 with the Nazis in power in Germany, the audience knew what the two surviving protagonists did not, that their worst fears are realized.As we see the two survivors, accompanied by the ghostly apparitions of their dead comrades, the future is bleak and uncertain. The audience hopes that both survivors are in a place of refuge and peace, as unlikely as that might be.

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.