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.
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.