CGI!!!
I wonder where this is going — it’s about three German friends after The Great War. It could either go pacifist or a warning against Hitler’s Germany, I guess? Or some other way!
OK, I was totally wrong about what this was going to be about. I think.
Borzage does a lot of fun little visual things… But the story is a bit confused, because one of the three friends are apparently mixed up with a Communist cell or something, but of course they can’t say that, so instead there are demonstrations where the head guy says non-specific things, and then they get beat up by other people who are carrying non-specific banners.
This is from 1938, though, so Germany-related politics were Verboten in Hollywood, I guess.
The performances are great, and the movie looks really nice (and this 2K restoration has been done very sensitively). But… the movie doesn’t quite work for me. The storylines are very moving and stuff, but it just feels a bit mannered.
Oh, they haven’t actually said the word “tuberculosis” either — or any other diagnosis, really. Was that another taboo? They couldn’t use the word “pregnant” in Hollywood for a while, but instead go through the “‘I have something to tell you darling!’ ‘You mean…?’ ‘Yes!!’ ‘Oh darling!'” thing instead. But tuberculosis!?
Three Comrades. Frank Borzage. 1938. ⚃
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