Film

These Three

Name: These Three
Genre: Drama, Romance
Released: 1936
Cast: Miriam Hopkins, Merle Oberon, Joel McCrea, Catherine Doucet, Alma Kruger

Drama

A tight, clever drama about two women whose boarding school becomes a casualty of malice and lies. Lillian Hellman's play adapted with wit and snap, built on performances that catch both tenderness and steel. It's about the weight of reputation, the ferocity of female friendship, and how quickly a child's lie can unmake a life.

TMDb rating

3.6

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy a slow-building, carefully observed drama about friendship and reputation, where the quiet damage of gossip matters more than any big set piece, and the 1930s studio polish is part of the pleasure.

Skip it if you want a brisk plot or a light comedy; this moves at a measured pace, with tension built through talk and glances rather than action.

What it asks of you: Settle in for a leisurely, roughly ninety-minute stretch where the emotional weight accumulates slowly, and the mood stays earnest rather than playful for most of it.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

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Meryl Streep and Amy Adams in a standoff over accusation, proof, and faith. The script crackles with subtext; every line means three things. A moral maze with no obvious exit, and performances that make you feel the stakes.

But It's fundamentally a conversation in a room. If you need plot momentum and clear resolution, the ambiguity will frustrate you.

The Crucible1996

Arthur Miller's play about the Salem witch trials, but it's really about McCarthyism and mass hysteria. Winona Ryder and Daniel Day-Lewis; urgent, intelligent, and it builds toward genuine dread.

But The pacing is deliberate. It takes time to establish the claustrophobia before it starts to suffocate you.

Hud1963

A sharp, unsentimental look at a charming man who destroys things. Paul Newman as a guy everyone wants to like but shouldn't. Beautifully shot in black and white; moral clarity disguised as a family drama.

But The protagonist is almost entirely unlikeable. If you need someone to root for, you'll spend the film frustrated.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from These Three

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Rope1948

Both films trap their characters in a single space where lies have to be sustained and the truth is waiting to explode. The pressure comes from proximity and performance, not plot.

Hitchcock in real time, in one apartment, over a cocktail party built on a secret murder. Two men suffocate under the weight of what they've done, watched by James Stewart. Formally daring and claustrophobic—it plays like a pressure cooker.

But The gimmick (one continuous shot, more or less) can feel mannered. The dialogue is Hitchcock's, which means it's sometimes clunky.

The Children's Hour1961

Also Hellman, also about accusation and its aftermath. Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine in a tragedy about two women and a lie that reshapes everything. Restrained and devastating.

But It's mannered and theatrical in a way that can feel dated. The emotional register is muted until it isn't.

All About Eve1950

Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders. A serpent in the dressing room; lies, ambition, and the machinery of theatre. Witty and vicious, a masterclass in subtext and performance.

But It's broadly theatrical. If you find mid-century melodrama a little much, this won't temper it.

Witness for the Prosecution1957

Agatha Christie adapted by Billy Wilder. A courtroom where the truth keeps moving. Plot twists that work because the film earns them, and performances—Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton—that justify every frame.

But Once you see the twists, there's less reason to return. It's engineered for a single shock.

The Magnificent Ambersons1942

Orson Welles on the corrosion of a family by pride and circumstance. Gorgeously shot, formally daring, and genuinely tragic in its scope. A film that feels like a reckoning.

But The ending was recut by the studio. What remains is a patchwork, and it shows. The final act doesn't match the ambition of what precedes it.

A Woman's Face1941

Joan Crawford as a scarred woman caught in blackmail, transformation, and moral compromise. A melodrama that doesn't apologize for itself; vivid, strange, and genuinely gripping.

But The plot sits on the edge of soap opera. If you need restraint and subtlety, this is not your film.

The Dark Mirror1946

Olivia de Havilland playing twins, one good and one corrupt, caught up in a murder. A psychological thriller dressed as noir; smart and tense, with real craft in how it builds unease.

But The resolution relies on psychology that feels dated now. The science is confident and wrong.

The Servant1963

Like These Three, it's about how a single figure can weaponize intimacy and proximity to destroy people who thought they were safe. It's parasitic rather than directly malicious, but the damage is just as complete.

Joseph Losey's film of Robin Maugham's play. A servant corrupts his employer so completely we barely notice it happening. Shot in black and white, formally strange, morally slippery. Dirk Bogarde as poison.

But It's oblique and slow. There's no moment where you can point and say 'now I understand.' You end the film unsettled and uneasy.

A Letter to Three Wives1949

A whispered accusation that shatters three lives, the camera stays with the consequences, and the real damage is the possibility of a lie rather than its truth. Both films understand that rumor is a weapon that doesn't need evidence.

Three women, one letter, no signature, and the film keeps asking: which of your marriages is ending? Shot in color and black and white, narrated by the absent woman. A formal experiment that works as gossip and as real drama.

But It's episodic and the tonal shifts are sharp. Some of the comedy sits oddly next to the threat. It won't feel entirely coherent.