Three Came Home (1950) User Reviews (48)

Why this film is not "good for being made in 1950," and why it is.

[Irie212 · 8/10 · 1 August 2009]

"Three Came Home" would be worth seeing for the actual-location footage of Borneo alone, but its qualities only begin there. This is a powerful, praiseworthy movie, and the very reason for its power is -- well, I'd suggest it's something that many fellow IMDb reviewers underestimate: the era it was made.

Several reviewers wrote a fairly common remark, especially about black-and-white pictures, in these forums: that this film is "surprisingly good" or "good for its time period." Let's take that idea to its logical conclusion. Was King Lear "good for 1606"? Was Mozart's Requiem "good for 1701"? Are Citizen Kane and The Maltese Falcon "good for 1942"?

No. All ages produce masterpieces as well as plenty of popular entertainments. 1950 had Ozzie & Harriet, but it also delivered All About Eve, The Third Man, Rashomon, and this film. The unfortunate truth is, many people believe that any outstanding work of art that preceded their generation is "surprising."

But I rush to add that indeed there was something different fifty years ago, not surprising, but important: Filmmakers showed restraint. Though it is about war, "Three Came Home" generates emotional power with very little staged brutality. There's more carnage in 7 seconds of "Se7en" than in the whole of this war film. Consider: Although it is brief and entirely bloodless, the scene where Claudette Colbert is tortured is almost unbearable.

But the greatest strength of this film is its fairness. Although all the brutality is perpetrated by the Japanese occupiers, they aren't villains. We come to respect the colonel played by the magnificent Sessue Hayakawa. In fact, when his character talks about his son's death at home-- and then says it happened at Hiroshima — it's another breathtakingly powerful moment, and our sympathy is immediately with him. As Colbert's character says to him, "Whatever the rest is, there's no difference in our hearts about our children."

Intelligent and Moving

[mukava991 · 8/10 · 26 March 2008]

This is the fourth and last of the heart-wrenching Claudette Colbert World War II films, the previous being SO PROUDLY WE HAIL! (1943), SINCE YOU WENT AWAY (1944) and TOMORROW IS FOREVER (1946) in which she played, respectively a brave Army nurse, a struggling home-front wife and mother and a WW I widow who passionately tries to keep her only son from participating in WW II.

In THREE CAME HOME she plays Agnes Keith, an American author married to a British colonial officer (Patrick Knowles) living in Borneo. When the Japanese invade the island they imprison the American and British residents. The Keiths are interned in separate jungle camps – one for women and children and another for men – for three and a half grueling years. It is true that at times Colbert doesn't quite look like a prison camp starveling but in those days movies did not offer the sort of hyperrealism we've grown accustomed to since the 60's, but she certainly does not look like she stepped out of a beauty salon. In fact I can think of no other film in which she appeared more plain and unvarnished. Few if any actresses of her stature in that era would have taken on the physical demands of this role. Unfortunately it was also her final socko performance on film. None of her 50's work came close to her substantial work here and she was all but wasted in PARRISH (1961). But here both she and Sessue Hayakawa as the prison camp commander deliver true and memorable performances as mortal enemies whose mutual interest in literature and shared experience of parenthood create a tenuous bond that augments the suspense and dramatic impact of the story.

Based on a memoir by the real-life Mrs. Keith (who was quite a character in her own right, and not remotely like Colbert), there is a vein of intelligence running through the proceedings, lifting them out of the mainstream of the often jingoistic wartime prison film genre. The Japanese are depicted in a dignified and fair manner without being whitewashed; in fact, in an early scene Hayakawa praises Mrs. Keith for the balanced views in her book about the Orient which he had read before the war. It is precisely his respect for her broadminded attitude that probably saved her life. Nunnally Johnson's script is tight and focused, as is the whole enterprise. The emphasis is on human relationships, so that by the end we are swept up in the emotional life of the characters. A bright note is the casting of a winning boy actor named Mark Keuning who has to be one of the best and most believable child actors ever. He appeared in only two movies, both in 1950, before retreating permanently from films.

This is a film worth seeing again and again. It has lost none of its essential power over the decades. Other films are grittier, with more blood and pus and exaggerated savagery, more breathtaking location shooting and exotic cultural immersion, but few can pack the kind of punch this one does. The ending is one of the most moving you will ever see.

Well acted and remarkably temperate

[privatewillis · 7/10 · 4 March 2005]

Good performances and scripting enhance this tale of hardship and endurance set in a Japanese internment camp in Borneo during World War II. Miss Colbert's performance in particular is always convincing and often riveting. Also noteworthy is Sessue Hayakawa's sensitive portrayal of the outwardly stern but inwardly humane Col. Suga.

Considering that this film was released only five years after the end of World War II, when anti-Japanese feeling was still very much present in the U.S., it's surprising that the horrors of life in Japanese captivity aren't played up more. Several instances of casual and calculated brutality are shown, but there is little here to compare with the shocking (and realistic) scenes in the much more recent film "Paradise Road." And the range of characterizations among the Japanese should be a welcome surprise to those who dismiss wartime and postwar American attitudes as uniformly jingoistic and racist. Yes, some of the Japanese are wantonly cruel, but others are obviously sympathetic to the prisoners, and as noted above, Col. Suga emerges not only as a reasonable commander but also as a noble man who can resist the temptation to take out his own grief and anger on the prisoners. Sadly, there were few men like Col. Suga in the real Borneo camps.

One unfortunate oversight: the action of the film covers almost four years of imprisonment and deprivation, but the prisoners appear just about as well-fed and energetic at the end as when they arrived.

An intense and haunting movie set in Borneo about of the horrors of war

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 13 January 2011]

During WWII a family stationed in Borneo is captured by the Japanese and struggle to survive in brutal POW camp in the Far East. This is a true story, exterior scenes were photographed wherever possible in Borneo in the exact locales associated with the event as related by Mrs Keith (Claudette Colbert) , an American married to a British administrator (Patrick Knowles). The happenings throw the whole family into a hard concentration camp . Their confinement is recounted in unsparing and harrowing detail , as the British-American family find themselves interned for the long duration . As orders from Nipponese Army Administration are strict as ¨ All Europeans will evacuated swiftly to prison camps , be ready when the truck calls , each prisoner will be permitted one suitcase . Men and women will be imprisoned separately ¨ . ¨To avoid punishments and beatings , the ladies should presume themselves to endeavor , with passive behavior not negative¨. Meanwhile, Mrs Keith suffering a surreal and brutal experience ; however , she attempts to lift the spirits of his son and the brutalized women. When Mrs Keith is cruelly attacked , she denounces the deeds , then she is obligated to sign the following : ¨I swear the events are the truth . I was not attacked by a Japanese soldier, I was not attacked by anyone. I made the charge because I was hungry over punished last week ¨.

Interesting and strong drama based on an autobiographical book by Agnes Newton-Keith , being perfectly adapted by Nunnally Johnson . No weakest in the cast and few in the movie , which presents the women's Japanese captors as human and inhuman at the same time with clashing cultures included . Clearly there's much longer plot in this, but director Jean Negulesco concentrates on the passionate acting of Colbert . It's a taut psychological drama about physical and emotional survival focusing on the tensions between Claudette Colbert , soldiers and camp commander well played by Sessue Hayakawa as cultured officer. Crammed with emotive moments , the picture has a string of committed performances from Colbert , Knowles , Desmond and Hayakawa . Familiar ground is trod in this prisoner-of-war saga , but the thought-provoking story and magnificent acting help sustain interest. This superior though overlooked drama , is also laudable for a fairly portrayal of the enemy captors and being masterfully directed by Jean Negulesco. Rating : Above average , worthwhile watching .

Other film about women on concentration camps mistreated by Japanese military during WWII are the following : ¨Women on valor¨(1986) by Buzz Kulik with Susan Sarandon , Kristy McNichol and Alberta Watson set in Philippines and ¨Paradise road¨(1997) by Bruce Beresford with Glenn Close , Julianna Margulies and Frances McDormand , set in Singapur.

Surprisingly good film

[meisenst · 9/10 · 30 May 2000]

I came upon this film by accident Sunday afternoon as I channel surfed by a PBS station. I expected to laugh at it for a few minutes and then shut off its caricature of noble Brits and Yanks resisting their evil Asian captors. For the black and white glow from the screen prejudiced me to anticipate yet another farcical exemplar of Edward Said's "Orientalism" transposed for the land of the rising sun.

So, unlike the first commentator on this film, I was actually pleased by the balance in its presentation. For although these days of Ozzie and Harriet rarely projected overt brutality realistically onto the screen, this film does provide a palpable sense of the suffering endured by European prisoners of war. At the same time, it did not end on this note: one of the more powerful Japanese camp directors suffers a loss in his family due to the Hiroshima bombing. And it is this counterbalance later in the film which I think causes me to disagree with the first commentator's view that this is something of a propaganda film.

Several things about this film stand out to me as justly bold for that era of film-making:

*an attempted rape is portrayed as well as a realistic presentation of its consequences. Accordingly, a complex moral lesson is imparted to the audience: far more complex, I might add, than the lessons Hollywood chooses to impart in many contemporary films with respect to such events. Perhaps this is simply an accident of the narrative being based on true events.

*the main character is a woman who is educated, brave and yet sympathizes with Asian culture (she is a scholar who has published an anthropological study which had been translated into Japanese) even if she vehemently opposes Japan's aggression.

*Hiroshima and the firebombings of Tokyo are presented from the Japanese viewpoint as horrific events and their effect in this movie is to engender sympathy for the ambiguous figure of the camp commander.

Of course this is still a Hollywood movie of the 50s and some of the behavior seems stilted and implausible to contemporary audiences. But compared to some other films made then - or even today - it is a breath of fresh air. I never expected to watch this whole film but was quite happy I did. I highly recommend it to others (which is why I bothered to write this!) as a date movie (in spite of the subject matter the strong female character and love story recommend it here) or a film to show children over ten (get a map so the child can locate Borneo) to introduce them to the many moral and political questions arising out of the war in the Pacific. Enjoy!

Claudette Colbert in her finest dramatic performance!

[Pat-54 · 7/10 · 26 March 1999]

Claudette Colbert is remembered for her performances in comedy roles, but she was a fine dramatic actress as well. This is by far her best dramatic performance. My only problem with the film is the fact that Claudette is confined to a Japanese prison camp for several years, but maintains her hairdo throughout!

Exceptional and true to life war film

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 15 July 2006]

This movie probably could not have been made during the war or immediately afterwards because although the Japanese are definitely bad in the film, they are not one-dimensional and Sessue Hayakawa plays a Japanese Commandant that is believable and not 100% wicked or sex-crazed. Instead, this is a compelling true story of a woman who is interred in a camp for the duration of the war and her relationship with the commandant. The commandant is NOT typical of many ultra-brutal and inhumane camp leaders and tries to treat the detainees firmly but reasonably. While they never become best friends (that would be creepy and ridiculous), over time, she was able to see and appreciate his humanity. In fact, over time, both began to find things to respect about the other. A fascinating look at history and the people who lived through it.

One Of Claudette's Best

[jcholguin · 7/10 · 11 November 2004]

Claudette Colbert plays Agnes Keith, prisoner. The time period is WWII. Agnes is a married woman with a child that has no idea of what is about to happen to her. She will be taken to a woman's prisoner of war camp. Her boy stays with her but her husband is taken away. There is no hope for any of the women. Life is hard. Forced physical labor is the rule of the day. Soldiers show no feelings for their captives. Sessue Hayakawa plays Colonel Suga, in charge of the camp. A man that follows orders and yet does seem to try to treat the women with some respect. As the months carry on. Will help ever arrive at the camp? Will this war ever end the punishment of being a prisoner? Will the women ever see their husbands again? A fine performance by Claudette. The ending ends with both human sadness and victory.

Women POWS

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 7 October 2008]

Claudette Colbert got one of her best late career roles in Three Came Home, the moving story of the experiences of Agnes Newton Keith and her time in a Japanese POW camp. Keith earned her status by dint of being married to a British colonial official in North Borneo who is played by Patric Knowles in the best stiff upper lip tradition.

On the screen and in real life Keith was a novelist who faithfully recorded oriental life with some empathy in her books. That got her some favorable treatment from the Japanese, in the film in the form of an ally of sorts in a colonel played by Sessue Hayakawa.

Hayakawa's performance is the highlight of the film. It may very well have been the first time post World War II that a Japanese character was given three dimensions. Of course the brutality of the Japanese prison camps is also shown in the best tradition of that other World War II film Sessue Hayakawa did, The Bridge On The River Kwai.

1950 was definitely the year for women in stir. A few weeks before this film came out, MGM released Caged which certainly has some of the same themes as Three Came Home. Of course the big difference is that over at MGM the women were criminals in a civilian setting.

Three Came Home directed by Jean Negulesco who normally did lighter material than this, holds up very well for today's audience. Colbert, Knowles, and Hayakawa do some of their best screen work here and definitely try to catch this one when broadcast.

Horrors of War !

[whpratt1 · 7/10 · 4 March 2005]

Always enjoyed the great acting of Claudette Colbert,(Tomorrrow Is Forever",'46 and especially her role in this picture as Agnes Keith, who is captured along with her husband and son in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp during WW II and towards its Victory. This film clearly shows how people in our past Wars were treated by their captives during this terrible time in American History. Agnes Keith is a successful writer and is admired by a Japanese Colonel who enjoyed her writings and even asks her for an autographed copy of her books. However, once the Colonel turns his back, all Hell breaks loose. Hollywood did a great job of trying to show the American Public what horrors went on in this Prisoner Camp and others during the entire war in the Pacific, which is quite mildly accomplished. War creates monsters out of many people and the opportunity to seek power over other human beings is an on going struggle in this world. After viewing this picture I became very interested in this subject and read,"The Rape of Nanking", by Iris Chang. This is definitely a great film that should be view by many generations in the future.

Powerful World War II story

[blanche-2 · 9/10 · 2 August 2009]

Claudette Colbert stars in "Three Came Home," a 1950 WW II drama also starring Sessue Hayakawa and Patrick Knowles. It's the true story of Agnes Keith, who endured almost four years in a Japanese prisoner of war camp in Sandakan, Borneo with her little son when the Japanese marched into Borneo in 1942.

Unlike many Hollywood WW II films, this one is fairly unrelenting in its depiction of beatings, shootings, attempted rape, going through the garbage for food, malaria, and, in the case of these women, many of them not knowing what happened to their husbands. It also captured the fear and pain of the women leaving theirs family home and having no idea where they're being sent and if any of them will ever see their husbands again.

"Three Came Home" sticks as closely to Agnes' real story as possible, with the usual dramatic license. In reality, the family was in Canada when war was declared, and Harry, Agnes' husband, was ordered back to Borneo, where he worked for the government. The couple was separated, but not the whole time - Harry eventually was imprisoned at the later camp in Kuching. Their son George was an infant, having been born in 1940.

In real life, Keith was criticized for being "too polite" to the guards, by an older woman in the camp - this is alluded to in the film. It was also understandable, since she needed to provide for her son. She did occasionally receive extra food and medicine for him. Sessue Hayakawa, the head of the camp, is an admirer of Agnes' from reading one of her books. It is his depiction of a humane man that takes "Three Came Home" out of the realm of good guys/bad guys. Hayakawa gives a beautiful performance as an American-educated soldier with family difficulties.

But the star is Colbert in a workhorse role. She is magnificent - dignified, desperate, protective of her son, and resolute. Though she is thought of as a great star today, I wonder if she isn't perhaps underrated because of the classic comedies she did. Also, as an actress, she never made it look difficult, though it was, and she had a strong commitment to her work. This film lost her the part of Margo in "All About Eve," as the back injury she suffered during one of the beating scenes prevented her from doing the role. Sadly, because of her age - 43 when this film was released - "Three Came Home" was actually her last lead in a major film.

After the war, the Keiths had another child, a girl; Agnes died in 1982 at the age of 80, and Harry died the same year. Agnes' story is one of survival, heroism, and determination, well conveyed here, thanks to a strong script, strong performances, and beautiful direction by Jean Negulesco.

An Unusual Side of WWII

[dougdoepke · 19 February 2009]

First-rate production from TCF. The studio's craftsmanship is really in evidence in this atmospheric and moving account of one woman's heroic effort at surviving Japanese internment during WWII. A highly de-glamorized Colbert is simply superb as real-life Britisher Agnes Keith imprisoned on Borneo with her small boy in the early days of the war. Those nightmarish jungle scenes with the wind and the foliage have stayed with me over the years and cast an appropriately unstable mood over the movie as a whole. Credit ace director Jean Negulesco for bringing out the film's strong emotional values without sentimentalizing them. He continues to be an underrated movie-maker from the dynamic studio period.

We know from Sessue Hayakawa's cultivated Japanese colonel that Hollywood is changing its perceptions of our former enemy. Cruel stereotypes do continue (presumably based on fact), but the colonel's character is humanized to an unusually sympathetic degree-- even his loss in the recent atomic bombing of Hiroshima is mentioned. Then too, it's well to remember that during the war our government interned US citizens of Japanese extraction in pretty inhospitable camps along the eastern Sierras, and probably illegally so.

Anyway, the movie has the look and feel of the real thing, while the producers should be saluted for using as many actual locations as possible. The fidelity shows. Since the story is the thing, the cast appropriately has no stars except for Colbert, which helps produce the realistic effect. There are a number of riveting and well-staged scenes. But the staging of the final crowd re-union scene strikes me as particularly well done. And, of course, there's that final heart-breaking view of the hilltop that still moves me, even 60 years later. All in all, this is the old Hollywood system at its sincere and de-glamorized best.

Top of the Line WW2 Prison Camp Movie - Three Came Home

[arthur_tafero · 7/10 · 26 May 2019]

Claudette Colbert gives an outstanding performance in this very realistic piece on internment during WW2. The conditions of the camp, although not as bad as those portrayed in other WW2 prison camp films, is, nonetheless, extremely challenging, especially when one has to take care of a small child at the same time one is trying to survive. The portrayal of the Japanese Colonel is relatively positive, but one has no sympathy for him or the death of his family in Hiroshima. Giving children one square meal in four years is not exactly a pardon for his behavior previously in allowing only one meal a day for prisoners. The cinematography, especially the night shots, are very well done. A must-see film.

An unspeakable brutality for an unforgettable war.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 16 May 2013]

Long before the first Holocause movie or the German prison camp classic "Stalag 13" (or TV's "Hogan's Heroes") came this film documenting the horrors of a Japanese detention camp, actually several, as European residents (and one American) of Borneo are forced out of their homes by the invading Japanese and separated into two camps-one for women and children, the other for husbands. This concentrates mainly on the women's camp, here a real-life survivor who told her own story in book form and soon after saw it adapted for the screen.

Claudette Colbert plays Agnes Newton Keith, the courageous woman who stood up to Japanese brutality and almost paid for it with her life. She finds a kinsman of sorts with the camp's very human Japanese commander (Sessue Hayakawa) who admires her for an earlier book she wrote and makes her an occasional confidante. But other Japanese soldiers and guards are obviously envious of this friendship, and make her pay in quite inhuman and degrading ways. The film hits its emotional high when Hayakawa reveals to her the fate of his family who moved from Tokyo to Hiroshima to disastrous results.

As great as Colbert is, she never looses her movie star good looks while the other women around her look as if they've been beaten by the life they've been forced into. Colbert's hair style remains impeccable, false eye lashes never slip, and she barely has any dirt on her face even in the most brutal of torture scenes and one where she scoots underneath a fence to meet her husband (Patric Knowles) for just one minute. It is Hayakawa who garners the highest praise, especially in climactic scene where he grieves for his family while giving several American children (including Colbert's son) an impromptu party just before the end of the war. No matter what your feeling towards the Japanese as far as World War II is concerned, you can't help but be touched by his breakdown, especially in light of his kindness to Colbert.

The gripping scene between Colbert and Knowles where she risks everything to see him for one minute is another touching scene, as prison guards arrive at the women's bunk house to check on Colbert's son, desperately in need of Quinine. That and other tense scenes will have you on the edge of your seat.

Movie takes High Road regarding p.o.w. camps

[malgraf · 10/10 · 14 April 2007]

This is an excellent movie for all ages. I saw this film when I was 5 and cried my eyes out and here I am more than 20+ years later and still crying my eyes out. I think it stands as a great companion movie to "Bridge Over the River Kwai". The movie takes the high road regarding P.O.W camps in that part of the world because as we all know, thousands of prisoners died in the camps under the Japanese and during the horrific death marches. This movie is more like someone who had been in a P.O.W. camp(which the author had been) and tells you only the stories they think you can take but glosses over the more horrific parts. That said the acting and direction is superb. This is my most memorable of all of the wonderful and under-rated Claudette Colbert movies. So all in all, great movie and in order to get balanced view "Letters to Iwo Jima" also great movie!

Nicely Made POW Film

[mstomaso · 6/10 · 22 May 2008]

Claudette Colbert plays British-American civilian POW Agnes Keith in this true story about a mother's experience in a Japanese POW camp in the South Pacific during world war two. Mrs Keith and her young son experience one trial after another as they struggle to survive with their humanity, hope, and dignity intact for over two years under their captors. Colbert is phenomenal and is given strong support by the excellent Sessue Hayakawa (Bridge on the River Kwai) as the Colonel assigned to overseeing the camp.

The film presents its subject matter in a surprisingly non-propagandistic manner, and does not demonize the Japanese as thoroughly as many war-era films. In fact, Three Came Home offers some hope for future friendship and alliance between the former combatants.

Director Jean Negulesco enjoyed a 55 year career in and out of Hollywood and is probably best known for Three Coins in a Fountain and Johnny Belinda. Three Came Home was made around the height of his popularity in 1950. His long and successful career would continue for another 37 years. While Three Came Home is not his best film, it is as well made as it could have been, and very much worth watching for those interested in the subject matter.

An unjustly neglected classic

[MOscarbradley · 9/10 · 16 March 2009]

This P.O.W movie is unusual in that it's set in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp that housed women and children on the island of Borneo and is based on a true story. It's directed, superbly, by Jean Negulesco and it may be his best and most under-valued film. What's most remarkable is that it treats the Japanese with a considerable degree of sympathy, certainly not as heroes but neither as the monsters of other similar pictures.

There are a number of superb sequences that build both character and real tension and even the clichés of the prison camp genre are very subtly subverted. It may be no masterpiece but it stands head and shoulders above many more famous films. First-rate performances, too, from Claudette Colbert in the central role of the sole American prisoner and from Sessue Hayakawa, as outstanding here as the camp commandant as he was in "The Bridge on the River Kwai".

Almost as good as the book!

[mklitt · 8 September 2003]

This is really an unusual and very good film about women interned in the Far East (Sumatra not Japan as stated before.) It is the same camp as in Paradise Road and as in any war, each participant had their own perspective. This tells one American woman's story. It is not the same as the story in Paradise Road, but the setting will be familiar to viewers of that excellent film.

Prison Camp, World War II, For Grown Ups.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 16 October 2017]

The story of Claudette Colbert, her husband Patrick Knowles, and their young child during the Japanese occupation of Borneo shortly after Pearl Harbor in 1941. In précis it looks pretty ominous. The brutal Japanese, the sobbing women, the starving children, the constant insults and beatings. And this is, after all, 1950, probably written and shot mostly in 1949, with the war a short four years behind. It was less than a decade earlier that the war-time movies had been calling the Japanese "bandy legged monkeys" (Robert Taylor in "Bataan") and calling for them to be "wiped off the face of the earth" (Henry Hull in "Objective Burma.").

Well, the authoress of the book this is based on can be glad she wasn't a Chinese woman when the Japanese occupied Nanking in China, true enough, but this film is more nuanced than any other I can think of from the period. It's, well, it's credible. Japanese prison camps were much harder on prisoners than the German Stalags. The Japanese were equally hard on their own warriors. The aviation cadets at Etajima endured a long and strenuous training program and were beaten routinely with sticks for errors. Late in the war, officers on Chichi Jima ate the liver of decomposing American corpses. Not that they enjoyed it; they were half drunk before they could bring themselves to do it. It was a demonstration to the men that even the most disgusting acts could be overcome with courage.

At any rate, the Japanese, let by Colonel Sesue Hayakawa, separated men and women into different camps but nobody ate any livers. The Japanese guards followed orders implicitly, and when Hayakawa was absent, one of them rapes Colbert and later twists her arm brutally to get her to sign a fake admission. But they're not the raving maniacs of "Purple Heart." And Hayakawa is a horse of a different color; a nice guy, literate, understanding, a graduate of the University of Washington, who enjoys children and grieves when three of his own are killed in Hiroshima.

It's rather surprising to find the Japanese being treated so evenly in a film from the 1950s. They're not "good" but they're not "bandy legged monkeys" either. They're just believable.

Hayakawa delivers a fine subdued performance and it's certainly Colbert's most notable dramatic role. It's worth catching -- an adult movie about the war, when most of Western cinema was just recovering from a long spell of enmity.

Colbert splendid via Negulesco's sparseness in sublime war film

[francisclough · 10/10 · 27 January 2008]

Three Came Home is a unique and distinguished motion picture, unique in its intelligent, understated direction by the Rumanian Jean Negulesco, distinguished by the stunning performances of Claudette Colbert and Sessue Hayakawa. Negulesco, who is perhaps best known among film fans for the fifties' crowd-pleasers How to Marry a Millionaire and Three Coins in the Fountain and his masterpiece, Jane Wyman's 1948 Oscar-winner Johnny Belinda, was a director whose style was influenced by the general mies-en-scene, or overall "look" of the studios he worked for. These were Warner Brothers and Twentieth-Century-Fox, respectively. In a Jean Negulesco film one doesn't usually pick out extraordinary camera shots, because the emphasis is on character and atmosphere and how the characters are often so affected by their environment as to be very nearly engulfed by it. This was literally the case with the Joan Crawford character in Negulesco's unforgettable Humoresque. In Three Came Home he adopted the spareness of the Fox lot's production values- no gloss- to invoke the harshness and deprivation of a Japanese internment camp for women during World War II. Negulesco's pacing and emotional truth make every scene decidedly devoid of melodrama. I liked the scene of the character played by Colbert (on whose memoir the film is based) searching in the night darkness for her quarters before being caught by the prison camp guards. Absolutely harrowing and poignant at the same time, and the scene's wrap-up is emotionally and overpoweringly satisfying. As is the entire picture. Claudette Colbert (like her contemporaries Greer Garson, Deborah Kerr, Dorothy McGuire, Jean Simmons) was a great female star who evoked her own natural warmth and friendliness through her roles. Primarily remembered for her charming comedic performances (It Happened One Night, Midnight, The Egg and I chief among them) she grew into a dramatic actress of power far and above sincerity and star magnetism. Never was she more real and on-the-mark than in her portrayal of Agnes Keith in Three Came Home. Her scenes with Sessue Hayakawa (superb as a powerless, conscience-stricken Japanese commander) are wonderful, as are the scenes with (precious) Mark Keuning as her little son and the finale. Three Came Home was a brave film to make for its time due to its balanced perspective of two cultures represented by two main characters, showing the inhumane and human sides of war. It failed at the box office though critically acclaimed. It should be seen and appreciated as a film testament to a time in history, a delineation of the impact of tyranny and intolerance that can still be felt in today's world.

Needs an extra dose of realism...Claudette too well-groomed...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 26 November 2006]

For someone who has to endure harsh punishment over a five-year period in a Japanese prison camp, CLAUDETTE COLBERT looks remarkably well-groomed and coiffed with her trademark hairdo looking as though she had barely missed an appointment at the local beauty parlor. True, she throws a little mud on her face for the grim moments, but she presents such a typically Claudette look (as Agnes Newton Keith), that it's one of the major weaknesses in an otherwise rather gripping story.

She and her little boy are separated from her husband (PATRIC KNOWLES) for most of the film but happily reunited at the end. Based on the real-life experiences of Keith as a POW, it's told at a rather slow pace as it unfolds a series of scenes meant to indicate the harsh punishment while at the same time showing how Miss Keith communicated on an intellectual level with the Camp Commander SESSUE HAYAKAWA with whom she developed a remarkable rapport.

The post-World War II drama unfolds in a Japanese prison camp in Borneo where the cultured Hayakawa takes an interest in authoress Colbert and eases some of her discomfort by complying with certain requests. But overall, the drama is not depicted as realistically as other prisoner of war stories have done since--notably EMPIRE OF THE SUN which dealt with the harsh realities in a more disturbing way.

Trivia note: The key role was first offered to OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND, who had already done quite a realistic turn in THE SNAKE PIT. One thing is certain: de Havilland would have been more willing to downplay the glamour in more realistic fashion than Colbert does.

Very good film - gives you a taste to find out more

[mamaperez · 8/10 · 29 August 2007]

I think this is a very interesting film which is a product of its time. Agnes Newton Keith was a prisoner of the Japanese, first at Berhala Island near Sandakan in North Borneo, and then at Batu Lintang camp at Kuching in Sarawak, also on the island of Borneo (NOT Sumatra as someone else stated in one of the other comments - Paradise Road is based on the book White Coolies by Betty Jeffery!). She published a book, Three Came Home, abut her time in the camps in 1946 and this film makes a fair go of following the book without too many nods to Hollywood. Parts of it were filmed on location in Borneo, although the studio parts are very obvious. Claudette Colbert gives a good performance, despite appearing too well-groomed and well-fed (this was before The Method!), and Sessue Hayakawa is excellent.

A couple of notes: some liberties have been taken with the text for dramatic reasons (Keith was not the lone American woman - there were four in the predominantly British and Dutch women's camp) and I would recommend reading her book for greater details. For those interested in the camp, there is also a very good page on Wikipedia about the camp (look under Batu Lintang camp), with web links and a reading list, and there are also pages on Wikipedia about Agnes Newton Keith and Tatsuji Suga as well as all the main actors and writers, production staff, directors etc involved in the film. Well worth finding a bit more about such an interesting period in our history.

Mama Perez 29 August 2007

Marks the start of a softening of post Pearl harbour attitudes.....

[ianlouisiana · 6/10 · 7 November 2009]

A two - hander,really,with Miss Colbert and Mr Hayakawa striking ostensibly unlikely sparks off each other as the prisoner and the Commandant who find a rather shaky common ground,pragmatists both. It should be understood that in Japanese military culture prisoners of war were regarded as objects of contempt,almost "untermenschen",in a fashion not far removed from our respected European neighbour's attitude towards Jews,Russians,Gypsies,homosexuals and just about anyone who couldn't prove 100 years of Aryan ancestry. Few ordinary Japanese soldiers were cosmopolitan sophisticates with a taste for Western ways,but,fortunately for Miss Colbert she comes under the patronage of Mr Hayakawa as an American - educated officer who is familiar with her work as an author and a certain mutual tolerance is engendered. Undoubtedly this makes life easier for both her and her son during a difficult time. Virtually the only other sizeable part is played by Miss Florence Desmond,a popular cabaret performer of the time whose material was regarded as rather "risque".She sometimes appeared on the BBC in "Cafe Continentale",which,unfortunately,was way past my bedtime. By 1950 Japan was on the way to becoming "Americanised" and therefore no longer considered a pariah.As a recognition of this,movies were allowed to show the Japanese (or at least a small proportion of them) in a more positive light."Three came home" benefited from this more positive attitude and Mr Hayakawa was allowed to portray the commandant if not as an Oscar Schindler then at least as a decent man torn between the historic military code his uniform represents and his humanitarian instincts.Indeed some might think he regains the moral high ground with the bombing of Hiroshima. A few years later the virtually forgotten "Teahouse of the August moon" completed Hollywood's "re - education" of the Japanese people and they were welcomed back into the wonderful world of Cary Grant,Rock Hudson and Doris Day.I hope they have forgiven us. So "Three came home" is an important film historically as it marks the start of a softening of post Pearl Harbour attitudes.Unfortunately,the performances of the two leads always excepted,it is in every other way unremarkable.

Interesting but slow

[AngieGPinto · 4/10 · 19 July 2006]

I watched this film today on the More 4 Channel. This channel has to its credit been showing various films recently from the 40s and 50s and this week it seems to be concentrating on the lesser known war films.

This film interested me because I lived as a child through World War II and its effects are still with us. I have seen Claudette Colbert in other films - two with John Wayne - which were very enjoyable comedies -and she is a sensitive actress and quite watchable.

This portrayal of life in a Japanese concentration camp was lacking the kind of realism seen in the film, A town like Alice.

No doubt in the 1950s - pre-Psycho, Edward Scissorhands, and, The Exorcist, it would have been contrary to good public taste and the then filmographic aesthetic to have portrayed the violence and degradation more graphically. Nevertheless, the harshness of the captors was presented at times forcibly even if in somewhat muted tones.

What may one ask was the relevance of the relationship between the Japanese Colonel and Mrs Keith? Was this an attempt at 'realpolitik' - to give substance and support to the rehabilitation of the excruciatingly cruel Japanese by the USA in Japan in the post war reconstruction period, by showing that not all the Japanese were totally barbaric?

Nothing is shown as to why the Japanese soldiers are so brutal nor why everyone has to bow to them. The Japanese soldiers were themselves brutalised during their training and could be beaten for minor infringements - harsh and brutal treatment being the norm for them in training meant that they would do the same to prisoners.

It seems inconceivable that towards the middle of the 20th Century that a nation could believe that its emperor was a God. How could this be?

So this film was not put in its full historical context. Nothing was shown also of what was happening outside the confines of the Camp. And, one had nothing to give one a sense of time historically - no information for example, the outcome of the Battle of Midway, from the happenings elsewhere in this theatre of war, was admitted. Only towards the very end does the Japanese Colonel refer to his wife and children's being killed in Hiroshima, and the atom bomb is not mentioned. Was this also for political reasons?

Had I not been interested in learning something more about the history of this period by watching the film, I would have switched to another channel as it was hardly, 'gripping stuff' - and it lacked excitement.

It is not the sort of film I would watch again unless compelled to as part of a film studies course. I would, however, like to see more films in which Claudette Colbert acted.

B. Michael James 19th July 2006