Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 5,6 (click to see context) from:
''Three on a Match'' is a 1932 American [[UsefulNotes/ThePreCodeEra pre-Code]] crime drama film directed by Mervyn [=LeRoy=] and starring Creator/JoanBlondell, Creator/BetteDavis, Ann Dvorak, and Warren William.
to:
''Three on a Match'' is a 1932 American [[UsefulNotes/ThePreCodeEra pre-Code]] crime drama film directed by Mervyn [=LeRoy=] Creator/MervynLeRoy and starring Creator/JoanBlondell, Creator/BetteDavis, Ann Dvorak, and Warren William.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Vivian quickly grows bored with motherhood and a stable marriage to the wealthy and mature Robert, and is immediately attracted to the sexy and dangerous gambler, Michael. [[DidNotThinkThisThrough Needless to say]], abandoning safety and security during the Great Depression in order to chase thrills does not end well once Michael goes broke and starts having to borrow money from loan sharks.
* BittersweetEnding: Junior survives his kidnapping, but Vivian perishes.
* BittersweetEnding: Junior survives his kidnapping, but Vivian perishes.
Changed line(s) 18,19 (click to see context) from:
* CallBack: After all three of the girls light cigarettes on the same match, they comment about the old "three on a match" superstition about how the third will die an early death. After Vivian--who, yes, was the third to light her cigarette--dies an early death, the film ends with Mary and Ruth lighting two cigarettes off the same match.
* CouldntFindAPen: Vivian finds herself locked in a bedroom with no pen to write a message and no way to get it out anyway. So she writes her message--alerting the cops that kidnapped Robert Junior is in a 4th floor room--on her own dress in lipstick, then flings herself out the window to her death.
* CouldntFindAPen: Vivian finds herself locked in a bedroom with no pen to write a message and no way to get it out anyway. So she writes her message--alerting the cops that kidnapped Robert Junior is in a 4th floor room--on her own dress in lipstick, then flings herself out the window to her death.
to:
* CallBack: After all three of the girls light cigarettes on the same match, they comment about the old "three on a match" superstition about how the third will die an early death. After Vivian--who, yes, was the third to light her cigarette--dies an early death, the film ends with Mary and Ruth lighting two cigarettes off the same match.
match before throwing it down on the hearth in tribute to Vivian.
* CouldntFindAPen: Vivian finds herself locked in a bedroom with no pen to write a message and no way to get it out anyway. So she writes hermessage--alerting message -- alerting the cops that kidnapped Robert Junior is in a 4th floor room--on room -- on her own dress in lipstick, then flings herself out the window to her death.
* CouldntFindAPen: Vivian finds herself locked in a bedroom with no pen to write a message and no way to get it out anyway. So she writes her
Changed line(s) 24 (click to see context) from:
* HeroicSacrifice: Vivian hears the gangsters talking about how they're going to have to kill little Robert Jr. With no other way to signal for help, she writes "KIRKWOOD BOY ON 4TH FLOOR" on her dress with lipstick and then jumps out the 4th floor window to her death.
to:
* HeroicSacrifice: Vivian hears the gangsters talking about how they're going to have to kill little Robert Jr. With no other way to signal for help, she writes "KIRKWOOD BOY ON 4TH FLOOR" on her dress with lipstick and then jumps out the 4th floor window [[RedemptionEqualsDeath to her death.death]].
* MamaBear: Though Vivian abandons Junior for months to pursue a life of sex, drugs and excitement, she becomes protective once he's held hostage and sacrifices herself to save him.
* MamaBear: Though Vivian abandons Junior for months to pursue a life of sex, drugs and excitement, she becomes protective once he's held hostage and sacrifices herself to save him.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Michael refuses to murder Junior, saying he'd rather kill himself first -- so the gangsters murder ''him'' instead.
Changed line(s) 29 (click to see context) from:
* SatelliteCharacter: The one played by Bette Davis, oddly enough. Vivian has the dramatic downward arc as her sensual and chemical appetites lead her into drug addiction and death; Mary has the dramatic upward arc as she marries Robert and becomes stepmother to Robert Jr. Ruth, the third friend, has little to do. She gets a job as governess to little Robert but if her character had been written out of the story, the story wouldn't be changed at all.
to:
* SatelliteCharacter: The one played by Bette Davis, oddly enough. Vivian has Ruth is established in childhood as the dramatic downward arc smartest of the trio, as her sensual well as level-headed and chemical appetites lead her into drug addiction and death; Mary has the dramatic upward arc as she marries Robert and becomes stepmother to Robert Jr. Ruth, the third friend, has little to do. She caring, but gets a job as governess to little Robert but if her no character had been written out development, love interest, or character arc -- she goes from having a stable office job to being relegated to the role of Junior's governess, with hardly any lines towards the end of the story, the story wouldn't be changed at all.film.
* SecondLove: Mary and Robert end up HappilyMarried after spending time together while taking care of Junior.
* SecondLove: Mary and Robert end up HappilyMarried after spending time together while taking care of Junior.
Changed line(s) 33 (click to see context) from:
to:
* WouldHurtAChild: Harve pressures Michael to kill little Robert, as Robert knows him and can lead the police back to him. Michael is [[EveryoneHasStandards appropriately horrified.]]
* WoundedGazelleGambit: Vivian pretends to be suffering to incite Mary's sympathy as she begs for money, but it turns out to secretly be a manipulation to get money to pay off Michael's debt.
* WoundedGazelleGambit: Vivian pretends to be suffering to incite Mary's sympathy as she begs for money, but it turns out to secretly be a manipulation to get money to pay off Michael's debt.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 28 (click to see context) from:
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The climax of the story involves cute little Robert Junior getting kidnapped away from his father and stepmother by Michael and his money-hungry gangster friends. Filming started only a few weeks after the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh's little son Charles Jr., and the film was completed before Bruno Hauptmann was arrested for the crime.
to:
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The story's climax of the story involves cute little Robert Junior getting kidnapped away from his father and stepmother by Michael and his money-hungry gangster friends. Filming started only a few weeks after the real-life kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh's little son Charles Jr., and the film was completed before Bruno Hauptmann was arrested for the crime.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 28 (click to see context) from:
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The climax of the story involves cute little Robert Junior being kidnapped away from his father and stepmother by Michael and his money-hungry gangster friends. Filming started only a few weeks after the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh's little son Charles Jr., and the film was completed before Bruno Hauptmann was arrested for the crime.
to:
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The climax of the story involves cute little Robert Junior being getting kidnapped away from his father and stepmother by Michael and his money-hungry gangster friends. Filming started only a few weeks after the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh's little son Charles Jr., and the film was completed before Bruno Hauptmann was arrested for the crime.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 9,10 (click to see context) from:
Time skip again to the present day, and the old schoolfriends are getting back together after a chance encounter between Mary and Vivian at the beauty parlor. Mary has avoided any further brushes with the law and is struggling to make it as a showgirl, while Ruth is working as a secretary. Vivian has hit the financial jackpot, meanwhile, marrying wealthy lawyer Robert Kirkwood (William). However, Vivian is dissatisfied with her life, emotionally distant from her husband, and generally uninterested in looking after their preschooler son, Robert Jr. When Vivian meets the handsome, roguish Michael Loftus (Lyle Talbot), she makes a precipitous decision to abandon her marriage, a decision that leads to tragedy--but new love for Mary.
to:
Time skip again to the present day, and the old schoolfriends are getting back together after following a chance encounter between Mary and Vivian at the beauty parlor. Mary has Mary, having avoided any further brushes with the law and law, is now struggling to make it as a showgirl, while Ruth is working as a secretary. secretary and Vivian has hit the financial jackpot, meanwhile, jackpot--financially, at least--by marrying wealthy lawyer Robert Kirkwood (William). However, But Vivian is dissatisfied with her life, emotionally distant from her husband, and generally uninterested in looking after their preschooler son, Robert Jr. When And when Vivian meets the handsome, roguish Michael Loftus (Lyle Talbot), she makes a precipitous decision to abandon her marriage, a decision that leads to tragedy--but new love for Mary.
Added DiffLines:
* AMinorKidroduction: We're first introduced to Mary, Vivian, and Ruth as elementary-school classmates in 1919.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 2,9 (click to see context) from:
[[caption-width-right:350:Davis, Blondell, Dvorak]]
''Three on a Match'' is a 1932 [[UsefulNotes/ThePreCodeEra pre-Code]] drama film directed by Creator/MervynLeRoy, starring Creator/JoanBlondell, Ann Dvorak, Warren William, and Creator/BetteDavis.
The film starts out with Mary, Vivian, and Ruth (Blondell, Dvorak, and Davis) as young schoolmates at a New York public school. Mary is established as the rebellious one, while Vivian is the most popular and Ruth is the most studious. Some {{time skip}}s show that Ruth went to secretarial school while Mary went to reform school after getting arrested for larceny.
Time skip again to the present day, and the old schoolfriends are getting back together after a chance encounter between Mary and Vivian at the beauty parlor. Mary has avoided any further brushes with the law and is struggling to make it as a showgirl. Ruth is working as a secretary. Vivian hit the financial jackpot, marrying wealthy lawyer Robert Kirkwood (William). However, Vivian is dissatisfied with her life, emotionally distant from her husband, and generally uninterested in looking after their preschooler son, Robert Jr. When Vivian meets handsome, roguish Michael Loftus, she makes a precipitous decision to abandon her marriage, a decision that leads to tragedy--but new love for Mary.
''Three on a Match'' is a 1932 [[UsefulNotes/ThePreCodeEra pre-Code]] drama film directed by Creator/MervynLeRoy, starring Creator/JoanBlondell, Ann Dvorak, Warren William, and Creator/BetteDavis.
The film starts out with Mary, Vivian, and Ruth (Blondell, Dvorak, and Davis) as young schoolmates at a New York public school. Mary is established as the rebellious one, while Vivian is the most popular and Ruth is the most studious. Some {{time skip}}s show that Ruth went to secretarial school while Mary went to reform school after getting arrested for larceny.
Time skip again to the present day, and the old schoolfriends are getting back together after a chance encounter between Mary and Vivian at the beauty parlor. Mary has avoided any further brushes with the law and is struggling to make it as a showgirl. Ruth is working as a secretary. Vivian hit the financial jackpot, marrying wealthy lawyer Robert Kirkwood (William). However, Vivian is dissatisfied with her life, emotionally distant from her husband, and generally uninterested in looking after their preschooler son, Robert Jr. When Vivian meets handsome, roguish Michael Loftus, she makes a precipitous decision to abandon her marriage, a decision that leads to tragedy--but new love for Mary.
to:
Ruth (Davis), Mary (Blondell), Vivian (Dvorak).]]
''Three on a Match'' is a 1932 American [[UsefulNotes/ThePreCodeEra pre-Code]] crime drama film directed by
The film starts out with
Time skip again to the present day, and the old schoolfriends are getting back together after a chance encounter between Mary and Vivian at the beauty parlor. Mary has avoided any further brushes with the law and is struggling to make it as a
Changed line(s) 29 (click to see context) from:
* TitleDrop: The three friends discuss the "three on a match" superstition, which, apparently, was invented by a guy who made matches.
to:
* TitleDrop: The three friends discuss the "three on a match" superstition, which, apparently, was invented by a guy who made matches.matches.
----
----
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
No longer a trope.
Changed line(s) 29,30 (click to see context) from:
* TitleDrop: The three friends discuss the "three on a match" superstition, which, apparently, was invented by a guy who made matches.
* YourCheatingHeart: Vivian leaves the passenger liner with Michael, who she has known for a matter of hours, and embarks on an affair. Divorce follows after.
* YourCheatingHeart: Vivian leaves the passenger liner with Michael, who she has known for a matter of hours, and embarks on an affair. Divorce follows after.
to:
* TitleDrop: The three friends discuss the "three on a match" superstition, which, apparently, was invented by a guy who made matches.
* YourCheatingHeart: Vivian leaves the passenger liner with Michael, who she has known for a matter of hours, and embarks on an affair. Divorce follows after.matches.
* YourCheatingHeart: Vivian leaves the passenger liner with Michael, who she has known for a matter of hours, and embarks on an affair. Divorce follows after.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 10,11 (click to see context) from:
Not to be confused with the TV game show, ''Series/ThreeOnAMatch''. Creator/HumphreyBogart, several years away from becoming an A-list star, has a supporting part as Harve, one of the gangsters.
to:
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 4,7 (click to see context) from:
''Three on a Match'' is a 1932 [[UsefulNotes/ThePreCodeEra pre-Code]] film directed by Creator/MervynLeRoy, starring Creator/JoanBlondell, Ann Dvorak, Warren William, and Creator/BetteDavis.
The film starts out with Mary, Vivian, and Ruth (Blondell, Dvorak, and Davis) as young schoolmates at a New York public school. Mary is established as the rebellious one, while Vivian is the most popular and Ruth is the most studious. Some time skips show that Ruth went to secretarial school while Mary went to reform school after getting arrested for larceny.
The film starts out with Mary, Vivian, and Ruth (Blondell, Dvorak, and Davis) as young schoolmates at a New York public school. Mary is established as the rebellious one, while Vivian is the most popular and Ruth is the most studious. Some time skips show that Ruth went to secretarial school while Mary went to reform school after getting arrested for larceny.
to:
''Three on a Match'' is a 1932 [[UsefulNotes/ThePreCodeEra pre-Code]] drama film directed by Creator/MervynLeRoy, starring Creator/JoanBlondell, Ann Dvorak, Warren William, and Creator/BetteDavis.
The film starts out with Mary, Vivian, and Ruth (Blondell, Dvorak, and Davis) as young schoolmates at a New York public school. Mary is established as the rebellious one, while Vivian is the most popular and Ruth is the most studious. Sometime skips {{time skip}}s show that Ruth went to secretarial school while Mary went to reform school after getting arrested for larceny.
The film starts out with Mary, Vivian, and Ruth (Blondell, Dvorak, and Davis) as young schoolmates at a New York public school. Mary is established as the rebellious one, while Vivian is the most popular and Ruth is the most studious. Some
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 4,5 (click to see context) from:
''Three on a Match'' is a 1932 film directed by Creator/MervynLeRoy, starring Creator/JoanBlondell, Ann Dvorak, Warren William, and Creator/BetteDavis.
to:
''Three on a Match'' is a 1932 [[UsefulNotes/ThePreCodeEra pre-Code]] film directed by Creator/MervynLeRoy, starring Creator/JoanBlondell, Ann Dvorak, Warren William, and Creator/BetteDavis.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 17 (click to see context) from:
* CallBack: After all three of the girls light cigarettes on the same match, they comment about the old "three on a match" superstition about how the third will die an early death. After Vivian dies an early death, the film ends with Mary and Ruth lighting two cigarettes off the same match.
to:
* CallBack: After all three of the girls light cigarettes on the same match, they comment about the old "three on a match" superstition about how the third will die an early death. After Vivian dies Vivian--who, yes, was the third to light her cigarette--dies an early death, the film ends with Mary and Ruth lighting two cigarettes off the same match.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_0771_6.JPG]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Davis, Blondell, Dvorak]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Davis, Blondell, Dvorak]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 23 (click to see context) from:
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The climax of the story involves cute little Robert Junior being kidnapped away from his father and stepmother by Michael and his money-hungry gangster friends. Filming started only a few weeks after the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh's little son Charles Jr.
to:
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The climax of the story involves cute little Robert Junior being kidnapped away from his father and stepmother by Michael and his money-hungry gangster friends. Filming started only a few weeks after the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh's little son Charles Jr., and the film was completed before Bruno Hauptmann was arrested for the crime.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
* CouldntFindAPen: Vivian finds herself locked in a bedroom with no pen to write a message and no way to get it out anyway. So she writes her message--alerting the cops that kidnapped Robert Junior is in a 4th floor room--on her own dress in lipstick, then flings herself out the window to her death.
Changed line(s) 19 (click to see context) from:
* HeroicSacrifice: Vivian hears the gangsters talking about how they're going to have to kill little Robert Jr. With no other way to signal for help, she writes "KIRKWOOD BOY ON 4TH FLOOR" on her slip and then flings herself out the 4th floor window to her death.
to:
* HeroicSacrifice: Vivian hears the gangsters talking about how they're going to have to kill little Robert Jr. With no other way to signal for help, she writes "KIRKWOOD BOY ON 4TH FLOOR" on her slip dress with lipstick and then flings herself jumps out the 4th floor window to her death.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The climax of the story involves cute little Robert Junior being kidnapped away from his father and stepmother by Michael and his money-hungry gangster friends. Filming started only a few weeks after the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh's little son Charles Jr.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* AddledAddict: Vivian's degradation as she goes from society wife to companion of deadbeat loser Michael ends with her being addicted to heroin. She is gaunt and twitchy when the kidnappers bring "Junior" to the hideout. Harve sees her compulsively rubbing her nose, mimics her nose-rubbing, and says "Uh oh!" Later Vivian goes through withdrawal.
* {{Blackmail}}: When things have gone bad for Vivian and Michael, Michael tries to blackmail Robert with knowledge of Mary's past as a teenage delinquent. Robert chucks Michael out of his office.
* {{Blackmail}}: When things have gone bad for Vivian and Michael, Michael tries to blackmail Robert with knowledge of Mary's past as a teenage delinquent. Robert chucks Michael out of his office.
Added DiffLines:
* GoingColdTurkey: And not by choice, either. As the kidnappers hole up in their apartment with police crawling over the neighborhood, Vivian can't get her fix. She is heard crying and moaning from the bedroom.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* GrossUpCloseUp: Ace, the crime boss (Edward Arnold), is introduced via an extreme close-up of him plucking hairs out of his nostrils with tweezers.
Added DiffLines:
* StockFootage: Used in some of the time passing montages, like clips of UsefulNotes/WarrenGHarding and the Sino-Japanese War.
* TimePassesMontage: Several, as the years between 1919 and 1932 are summarized with news clippings and stock footage of stuff like Prohibition and the 1929 stock market crash.
* TimePassesMontage: Several, as the years between 1919 and 1932 are summarized with news clippings and stock footage of stuff like Prohibition and the 1929 stock market crash.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* {{Fanservice}}: Ruth doesn't get to do much in the movie, but she does appear in nothing but a slip, rolling her stockings up her leg.
Added DiffLines:
* ParentalNeglect: Vivian gets so caught up in her whirlwind affair with Michael that she pretty much forgets all about Junior, who after all is there in the hotel suite with them. When little Robert says he's hungry a drunk Vivian suggests he eat from the hors d'oevure platter, and Michael has to step in and order the kid a proper lunch.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Little Mary in the first 1919 flashback, not caring a whit about the boys being able to see her bloomers as she plays on the swings, establishes her as a rebellious free spirit.
Changed line(s) 14 (click to see context) from:
* SatelliteCharacter: The one played by Bette Davis, oddly enough. Vivian has the dramatic downward arc as her sensual and chemical appetites lead her into drug addiction and death; Mary has the dramatic upward arc as she marries Robert and becomes stepmother to Robert Jr. Ruth, the third friend, has little to do. She gets a job as governess to little Robert but if her character had been written out of the story, the story wouldn't be changed at all.
to:
* MatchCut: From a closeup of Robert's hands, clasped as he wrings them anxiously over his missing wife and son, to a closeup of Michael's hands, clasped as he mixes a drink in a martini shaker.
* SatelliteCharacter: The one played by Bette Davis, oddly enough. Vivian has the dramatic downward arc as her sensual and chemical appetites lead her into drug addiction and death; Mary has the dramatic upward arc as she marries Robert and becomes stepmother to Robert Jr. Ruth, the third friend, has little to do. She gets a job as governess to little Robert but if her character had been written out of the story, the story wouldn't be changed atall.all.
* TitleDrop: The three friends discuss the "three on a match" superstition, which, apparently, was invented by a guy who made matches.
* YourCheatingHeart: Vivian leaves the passenger liner with Michael, who she has known for a matter of hours, and embarks on an affair. Divorce follows after.
* SatelliteCharacter: The one played by Bette Davis, oddly enough. Vivian has the dramatic downward arc as her sensual and chemical appetites lead her into drug addiction and death; Mary has the dramatic upward arc as she marries Robert and becomes stepmother to Robert Jr. Ruth, the third friend, has little to do. She gets a job as governess to little Robert but if her character had been written out of the story, the story wouldn't be changed at
* TitleDrop: The three friends discuss the "three on a match" superstition, which, apparently, was invented by a guy who made matches.
* YourCheatingHeart: Vivian leaves the passenger liner with Michael, who she has known for a matter of hours, and embarks on an affair. Divorce follows after.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
More tropes coming soon
Added DiffLines:
''Three on a Match'' is a 1932 film directed by Creator/MervynLeRoy, starring Creator/JoanBlondell, Ann Dvorak, Warren William, and Creator/BetteDavis.
The film starts out with Mary, Vivian, and Ruth (Blondell, Dvorak, and Davis) as young schoolmates at a New York public school. Mary is established as the rebellious one, while Vivian is the most popular and Ruth is the most studious. Some time skips show that Ruth went to secretarial school while Mary went to reform school after getting arrested for larceny.
Time skip again to the present day, and the old schoolfriends are getting back together after a chance encounter between Mary and Vivian at the beauty parlor. Mary has avoided any further brushes with the law and is struggling to make it as a showgirl. Ruth is working as a secretary. Vivian hit the financial jackpot, marrying wealthy lawyer Robert Kirkwood (William). However, Vivian is dissatisfied with her life, emotionally distant from her husband, and generally uninterested in looking after their preschooler son, Robert Jr. When Vivian meets handsome, roguish Michael Loftus, she makes a precipitous decision to abandon her marriage, a decision that leads to tragedy--but new love for Mary.
Not to be confused with the TV game show, ''Series/ThreeOnAMatch''. Creator/HumphreyBogart, several years away from becoming an A-list star, has a supporting part as Harve, one of the gangsters.
----
!!Tropes:
* CallBack: After all three of the girls light cigarettes on the same match, they comment about the old "three on a match" superstition about how the third will die an early death. After Vivian dies an early death, the film ends with Mary and Ruth lighting two cigarettes off the same match.
* HeroicSacrifice: Vivian hears the gangsters talking about how they're going to have to kill little Robert Jr. With no other way to signal for help, she writes "KIRKWOOD BOY ON 4TH FLOOR" on her slip and then flings herself out the 4th floor window to her death.
* SatelliteCharacter: The one played by Bette Davis, oddly enough. Vivian has the dramatic downward arc as her sensual and chemical appetites lead her into drug addiction and death; Mary has the dramatic upward arc as she marries Robert and becomes stepmother to Robert Jr. Ruth, the third friend, has little to do. She gets a job as governess to little Robert but if her character had been written out of the story, the story wouldn't be changed at all.
The film starts out with Mary, Vivian, and Ruth (Blondell, Dvorak, and Davis) as young schoolmates at a New York public school. Mary is established as the rebellious one, while Vivian is the most popular and Ruth is the most studious. Some time skips show that Ruth went to secretarial school while Mary went to reform school after getting arrested for larceny.
Time skip again to the present day, and the old schoolfriends are getting back together after a chance encounter between Mary and Vivian at the beauty parlor. Mary has avoided any further brushes with the law and is struggling to make it as a showgirl. Ruth is working as a secretary. Vivian hit the financial jackpot, marrying wealthy lawyer Robert Kirkwood (William). However, Vivian is dissatisfied with her life, emotionally distant from her husband, and generally uninterested in looking after their preschooler son, Robert Jr. When Vivian meets handsome, roguish Michael Loftus, she makes a precipitous decision to abandon her marriage, a decision that leads to tragedy--but new love for Mary.
Not to be confused with the TV game show, ''Series/ThreeOnAMatch''. Creator/HumphreyBogart, several years away from becoming an A-list star, has a supporting part as Harve, one of the gangsters.
----
!!Tropes:
* CallBack: After all three of the girls light cigarettes on the same match, they comment about the old "three on a match" superstition about how the third will die an early death. After Vivian dies an early death, the film ends with Mary and Ruth lighting two cigarettes off the same match.
* HeroicSacrifice: Vivian hears the gangsters talking about how they're going to have to kill little Robert Jr. With no other way to signal for help, she writes "KIRKWOOD BOY ON 4TH FLOOR" on her slip and then flings herself out the 4th floor window to her death.
* SatelliteCharacter: The one played by Bette Davis, oddly enough. Vivian has the dramatic downward arc as her sensual and chemical appetites lead her into drug addiction and death; Mary has the dramatic upward arc as she marries Robert and becomes stepmother to Robert Jr. Ruth, the third friend, has little to do. She gets a job as governess to little Robert but if her character had been written out of the story, the story wouldn't be changed at all.
