Remarque's
Three Comrades could easily be labeled a simple tearjerker, but the novel (and film) follow the author's continuing theme of lost innocence much like Renoir's
Grand Illusion made the previous year. Remarque's other filmed works:
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and
A Time to Love and A Time to Die (1959) can actually be viewed as a war trilogy with
Three Comrades as the bridge between The Great War and World War Two. There are also several allusions to the German depression, rise of fascism, and persecution, although any reference to Nazi's or Jews was avoided. Director Borzage's next work,
The Mortal Storm (1940), would confront these topics head on and was quickly banned in Germany.
If you haven't read the novel, I'd encourage you to give it a try and then rewatch the film. The book does not have quite the bombastic climax that the film does (Pat simply dies an agonizing death from TB), but the movie does retain the beauty of Remarque's novel, much of it in what is
not said by Sullavan, who deliberately cut lines and worked with Borzage to pare down Fitzgerald's (yes,
that one) tedious screenplay. As a result, many great moments from the book play out quite well, my favorite being the hunting of Gottfried's killer to the sound of church hymns. The film's biggest weakness as you suggested, was Robert Taylor who is very passive in the leading role. Instead, the movie is clearly a vehicle for Sullavan, who makes every shot count. As I said in another thread, it's her acting that propels the film and raises the credibility level of her costars. We grow to love her, and thus believe in their love for her.
In closing, yes
Three Comrades is sentimental, weepy, and downright sad in places, but it also is an interesting look at 1930's Germany, written by a man who returned home from a horrible war to depression, poverty, and shame, despairing of the impending maelstrom he saw on the horizon.
