Three Who Loved

New York bank teller Conrad Nagel (as John Hanson) is doing well enough to send for Swedish sweetheart Betty Compson (as Helga Larson). They plan to marry when Mr. Nagel can afford to buy a house. Until then, she lives in the same boardinghouse. Because Nagel spends evenings studying to become a lawyer, he arranges for co-worker Robert Ames (as Phil Wilson) to take Ms. Compson out regularly, to have fun. She is bored watching Nagel study his law books. For some reason, Nagel doesn't seem to know his pal is interested in women. Or, maybe he sees Mr. Ames admiring other women, but trusts his friend won't take advantage of Compson. You won't be surprised when Ames and Compson hook up. Then happenstance provides Nagel with a way to win her back. Five years later, the love triangle spins to a resolution.

**** Three Who Loved (7/3/31) George Archainbaud ~ Conrad Nagel, Betty Compson, Robert Ames, Robert Emmett O'Connor

Stodgy, inept, illogical melodrama throws a lot of emotions on the screen, but they're not consistent, and they don't pay off. Bank teller Conrad Nagel is studying to be a lawyer, while his best bud, fellow clerk Robert Ames, likes to chase the broads and hit the speakeasies. Nagel's bride, Betty Compson with an uncertain Scandinavian accent, arrives on the boat and first seems besotted with her fiance, but becomes increasingly intrigued by his pal. Ames steals her away from Nagel, though he doesn't love her and doesn't really intend to marry her-so why? Nagel, up till now so studious and ethical that he's dull, makes a bad investment and covers it with bank notes, then is able to pin the crime on Ames, who lands in Sing Sing. Nagel then marries Compson, though she's already said she doesn't love him, and five years later they're raising Dickie Moore. Ames breaks out of prison and heads to the mansion Nagel built for Compson, where he demands she hide him yet confesses he never really cared for her. Nagel decides he has to come clean with Detective Robert Emmett O'Connor, playing what he always played, but a hilariously unlikely ending puts everything right. The emotions don't hang true on this one, and I don't believe any of it, but Nagel is good, and Ames, who died shortly after making it, had the makings of a good slimy villain.

"Three Who Loved" could have been an interesting psychological melodrama in which basically good people do bad or foolish things, while selfish, self-centered individuals are colored gray, not black. But somewhere along the way someone decided that such complexity would be too much for moviegoers to handle. Thus, characterizations are inconsistent and simplistic, while the plot is filled with coincidences and melodramatic cliches (and it's made even worse by an atrocious, absurd ending). Betty Compson was a capable performer, but she's totally lost in the part of the foolish immigrant who exchanges love and security for thrills and good times. An ill-fitting blond wig and a Swedish accent straight out of the Beaver, Utah, School for Actors do not help matters any. Director George Archainbaud, a well-known name during the silent era, apparently slept throughout the production. With movies such as "Three Who Loved," it's no wonder that the careers of popular silent players Compson and Conrad Nagel floundered in the early 1930s.

Bank clerk Conrad Nagel wants to marry Swedish Betty Compson. However, he's so busy working for his future, studying for the bar, that she is bored. Fellow clerk Robert Ames squires her around, and they fall in love. When Nagel finds out, he orders Ames to marry her. Ames gets ready to skip town, but $10,000 is missing from the bank -- Bagel has embezzled it -- and Ames goes up the river. Miss Compson marries Nagel, but five years later, Ames escapes fom prison.

It's one of those soap operas in which everyone wants someone he or she can't have, and is miserable as a result. I suppose that's realistic, but the oversaturated script co-written by Beulah Marie Dix doesn't appeal to me. With Robert Emmett O'Conner, Dickie Moore, and Fred Santley.

Betty Compson plays Helga, who comes over from scandinavia to marry John, who ends up ignoring and boring her, but embezzles his bank to provide for them, in the midst of what becomes an unhappy love triangle. The acting is very good, and like all early Archainbaud's, crisply directed. Everyone turns in emotionally vivid performances, and there is a lot more content here than anyone would expect. And Nick Musuraca makes it all look good.