Three Comrades (1938)

Post WWI, three German soldiers open an auto repair shop. The first (Robert Taylor) finds love with a young woman (Margaret Sullavan in an Oscar nominated performance) in frail health. The second (Robert Young) joins an anti fascist nationalist group while the third (Franchot Tone) approaches each day with worldly cynicism. Based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque (ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT) and directed by Frank Borzage (HISTORY IS MADE AT NIGHT). Much admired at the time of its release, I found it too sentimental. I liked the camaraderie of the four principals and the unsettling atmosphere of the growing domestic fascism between WWI and WWII but in spite of the luminous Sullavan (who's better than the material) and the agreeable male leads, it's overly mawkish. The screenplay was co-written by F. Scott Fitzgerald but I didn't find anything very Fitzgeraldian about it. For Sullavan fans only. With Monty Woolley, Lionel Atwill, Henry Hull and George Zucco.