Three on a Match

Directed by Mervyn LeRoy, Three on a Match details the exploits of childhood friends Mary (Joan Blondell), Ruth (Bette Davis), and Vivian (Ann Dvorak) and, in particular, follows Vivian as her hard-partying ways eventually wreak havoc on the lives of everyone around her (including her concerned husband, Warren William’s Robert Kirkwood). Filmmaker LeRoy, working from Lucien Hubbard’s screenplay, admittedly takes his time in launching into the movie’s propulsive narrative, as Three on a Match‘s opening stretch, which details the protagonists’ adolescent comings and goings, is perhaps not quite as captivating and enthralling as LeRoy has obviously intended – although such concerns prove to be moot once the action shifts to the central characters’ progressively salacious exploits as adults. It’s clear, certainly, that the picture’s proliferation of admittedly surprising twists and turns in its second half secures its place as a far more entertaining and engaging drama than one might’ve anticipated, and there’s little doubt, as well, that the strong work from the uniformly compelling roster of performers goes a long way towards cultivating an engrossing atmosphere – with the blisteringly-paced final stretch, which contains everything from blackmail to kidnapping, ensuring that the whole thing concludes on an impressively memorable note. (And this is to say nothing of the impressively grim finale.)

*** out of ****