By Glenn Erickson
Broadway Musketeers
Brief Synopsis
Three childhood friends get mixed up with gangsters.
Cast & Crew
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John Farrow
Director
Margaret Lindsay
Isabel Dowling
Ann Sheridan
Fay Reynolds
Marie Wilson
Connie Todd
John Litel
Stanley Dowling
Janet Chapman
Judy Dowling
Film Details
Also Known As
Three Girls on Broadway
Genre
Drama
Comedy
Release Date
Oct
8,
1938
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 2m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
8 reels
Synopsis
Isabel Dowling and Connie Todd, who grew up together in an orphanage, have a reunion when they both arrive at the city jail to bail out a third orphan, Fay Reynolds, after she has been arrested for doing a strip tease. Isabel is married to wealthy Stanley Dowling and is the mother of little Judy, but she is dissatisfied with her life. Connie is a stenographer in love with her boss. Since all three have birthdays in June, they meet for a joint birthday dinner and vow to continue the tradition every year. Fay gets a job singing at a club where Connie and Isabel come to watch her. At the club, Isabel catches the eye of gambler Philip Peyton, and as Stanley is out of town, she goes out every night with Philip. When Stanley returns, Judy's nurse tells him about his wife's activities. They fight and Isabel leaves him to live with Philip. Fay and Connie visit Judy and soon Fay and Stanley have fallen in love. When Isabel marries Philip, Fay marries Stanley. Isabel and Philip sink into debt because of his gambling. Out of sympathy, Fay lets Isabel take Judy one day and Philip puts her up as security for a gambling debt. When the gangsters discover that Judy is not his child, they kill him and kidnap Judy and Isabel because they have witnessed the crime. Isabel overhears their plans to kill both herself and Judy. She hides Judy under the bed and jumps out the window, clutching the newspaper article about the kidnapping. The police find Judy, unharmed, and shoot it out with the gang. That year, Connie and Fay have their birthday celebration without Isabel, but Judy takes her mother's place, and when Connie and Fay throw their glasses into the fire, Judy, in imitation, picks up the empty glass at Isabel's place and throws it into the fire with the other two.
Director
John Farrow
Director
Cast
Margaret Lindsay
Isabel Dowling
Ann Sheridan
Fay Reynolds
Marie Wilson
Connie Todd
John Litel
Stanley Dowling
Janet Chapman
Judy Dowling
Dick Purcell
Vincent Morrell
Richard Bond
Philip Peyton
Anthony Averill
Nick
Horace Macmahon
Gurk
Dewey Robinson
Milt
Dorothy Adams
Anna
James Conlon
Skinner
Jan Holm
School teacher
John Ridgely
M. C.
Howard Mitchell
First detective
Ted Oliver
Second detective
Eddie Graham
Arthur the chauffeur
Gordon Hart
Magistrate
Nat Carr
Clerk
Myra Marsh
Matron
Dudley Dickerson
Porter
Sol Gorss
Driver
Janet Shaw
Nurse
Marian Alden
Floor nurse
Leo White
Waiter
Stuart Holmes
Bartender
John Harron
Croupier
Vera Lewis
Landlady
Eddy Chandler
Detective
Charles Hickman
Detective
Wen Niles
Police announcer
Francis Sayles
Policeman
Claude Payton
Policeman
Hal Craig
Policeman
Ralph Sanford
Policeman
Cliff Saum
Policeman
John Hiestand
News announcer
Crew
Frank Beckwith
Dialogue Director
Stanley Fleischer
Art Director
David Forrest
Sound
Bryan Foy
Producer
Kenneth Gamet
Original Screenplay
M. K. Jerome
Composer
L. Wm. O'connell
Photography
Thomas Pratt
Film Editor
Don Ryan
Original Screenplay
Russ Saunders
Assistant Director
Jack Scholl
Composer
Howard Shoup
Gowns
Jack L. Warner
Executive Producer
Film Details
Also Known As
Three Girls on Broadway
Genre
Drama
Comedy
Release Date
Oct
8,
1938
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 2m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
8 reels
Articles
Broadway Musketeers -
With upwards of fifty films a year needed to fill their theater chains, each major studio recycled stories to keep the production line moving, resulting in many unacknowledged remakes. 1938's Broadway Musketeers is a more lighthearted, less risqué ; updating of the impressive 1932 pre-Code sizzler Three on a Match, which starred Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak and Bette Davis. Three schoolgirl friends take different paths in life but vow to meet yearly and aid each other, like the Three Musketeers. The outwardly stable married friend abandons her husband to be with a gangster, threatening her child. The other two band together to help her. The story changes imposed on the remake show the content that concerned the Production Code. In the second version the wayward wife's drug use is dropped entirely, and moral judgments on wrongdoing are more strongly emphasized. Unlike the first film's more open future for the three women, dedication to a marriage is seen as the only proper path. The singer Fay (Ann Sheridan) and stenographer Connie (Marie Wilson) still cannot save the rich runaway wife Isabel (Margaret Lindsay), but her fate this time around is less a sacrifice than a punishment. The remake also finds time for Ann Sheridan to sing two songs. Critics complimented Broadway Musketeers' fast pace and snappy characterizations. They saved special praise for director John Farrow, who for four years had been impressing studio heads with his visual precision and technical ability, yet had not broken through the barrier to front-rank productions.
By Glenn Erickson
By Glenn Erickson
Broadway Musketeers -
With upwards of fifty films a year needed to fill their theater chains, each major studio recycled stories to keep the production line moving, resulting in many unacknowledged remakes. 1938's Broadway Musketeers is a more lighthearted, less risqué ; updating of the impressive 1932 pre-Code sizzler Three on a Match, which starred Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak and Bette Davis. Three schoolgirl friends take different paths in life but vow to meet yearly and aid each other, like the Three Musketeers. The outwardly stable married friend abandons her husband to be with a gangster, threatening her child. The other two band together to help her. The story changes imposed on the remake show the content that concerned the Production Code. In the second version the wayward wife's drug use is dropped entirely, and moral judgments on wrongdoing are more strongly emphasized. Unlike the first film's more open future for the three women, dedication to a marriage is seen as the only proper path. The singer Fay (Ann Sheridan) and stenographer Connie (Marie Wilson) still cannot save the rich runaway wife Isabel (Margaret Lindsay), but her fate this time around is less a sacrifice than a punishment. The remake also finds time for Ann Sheridan to sing two songs. Critics complimented Broadway Musketeers' fast pace and snappy characterizations. They saved special praise for director John Farrow, who for four years had been impressing studio heads with his visual precision and technical ability, yet had not broken through the barrier to front-rank productions.
By Glenn Erickson
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The film's pre-release title was Three Girls on Broadway. This is a remake of Warner Bros.' 1932 film Three on a Match (see below).
