Frank Bozage’s Three Comrades is a 1938 romance drama that stars Robert Taylor (Waterloo Bridge, High Wall), Margaret Sullavan (The Shop Around the Corner, The Mortal Storm), Franchot Tone (Phantom Lady, Sadie McKee) and Robert Young (The Black Camel, The Defence Rests). Margaret Sullavan was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in this picture.
Per Warner’s press release about Three Comrades: “World War I is over, let the living begin. So, three German soldiers open a repair shop and get on with their lives. Erich (Robert Taylor) finds unexpected love with frail Patricia (Margaret Sullavan), Gottfried (Robert Young) falls in with a verboten anti-nationalist group. Otto (Franchot Tone) approaches each day with worldly cynicism. And through all that’s to come, these men know they will remain Three Comrades. This lyrical adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s novel is one of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s rare screenwriting credits. Melodrama virtuoso Frank Borzage (The Mortal Storm) is at the top of his directorial form here, and as Patricia, Sullavan remains the film’s luminous soul, its cherished fourth comrade.”
Three Comrades is a wonderful drama that will take pokes at your heart in some scenes. I can see why Margaret Sullivan was nominated for an Academy Award for this film. Her performance is simply outstanding and outshines all the male leads in this movie. Both Robert Young and Robert Taylor along with Franchot Tone do also hand in their usual excellent performances, but Margaret Sullivan was heads and shoulders above them in this movie. Along for the ride giving excellent performances in this movie are a pair of screen legends in Lionel Atwill (Doctor X, Mark of the Vampire) and Guy Kibbee (42nd Street, Rain). There are some aspects of this film that later have similar themes in The Best Years of Our Lives from 1946 with three males returning home from war and attempt to make lives for themselves as civilians.
To the delight of fans of this movie, Three Comrades has been given a Blu-ray release thanks to the Warner Archive Collection! As mentioned by Warner Archive the film has received a “1080p HD Master from 4K Scan of best surviving preservation elements”. As with all Warner Archive releases that I have seen, this is another marvelous release. The picture quality of this feature is phenomenal with a gorgeous black and white image that shines. The picture looks incredibly clean as a whistle with excellent contrast, and a well modulated grayscale. Blacks are nice and rich, showing plenty of shadow detail, with creamy cheerful whites to compliment the image and co-exist nicely. Details are remarkably striking, be it close-ups to the performers’ faces or the beautiful scenery by cinematographer Joseph Ruttenberg.
The soundtrack for Three Comrades is English DTS HD-MA 2.0 Mono. The dialogue is clear and easy to follow, The musical scores by Franz Waxman sound completely on point. Action sounds are also clear without any distortions. None of the audio sounds interfere with each other, having balanced fidelity which allows for the feature to have a wonderful listening experience. No issues with crackling, pop-ups or hissing were detected.
English SDH subtitles are offered.
Special Features include a pair of short films: The Face Behind the Mask, which is a ten-minute short film director by Jacques Tourneur, and How to Raise a Baby starring Robert Benchley. This runs for about three minutes and ends rather abruptly. The original theatrical trailer is the other extra.
Three Comrades on Blu-ray is another winner from Warner Archive, with superb audio and video quality to go with a few extras, making this another recommended offering.
Three Comrades
Director – Frank Bozage
Cast- Margaret Sullivan, Robert Taylor, Robert Young
Country of Origin-USA
Distributor – Warner Archive/ Warner Home Video
Number of Discs –1
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date-5/24/2025