This comment may contain general spoilers.
I swear this has to be the BEST child acting i've ever seen in a classic film in years, and i watch so many classics it's ridiculous. Sure, Mickey Rooney was a capable actor but sometimes I feel he IS acting. With the children in These Three, I was dumbstruck. William Wyler had his hands full w/ child actors in this film and Kudos w/ a capital K to Bill for pulling the best out of everyone.
Bonita Granville as Mary Tilford does a mind-blowing job grasping a tremendously dramatic role and she did it so believably and without force that her blackmailing threat to Rosalie and the confrontation scene w/ grandmother, and bulk of cast, I got goosebumps. She carried the part very much like Bette Davis in Of Human Bondage in her famous "wipe my mouth" scene. She did the scene so delicately, so conniving, with such convincing facial expressions and tonal inflections that I was spellbound. Marcia Jones as Rosalie was quite good herself to the point it makes me wonder what the poor girl was threatened with before the scene was shot.
I must say, too, that it is great to see Merle Oberon using her face in a way that doesn't make her look demented such as in Wuthering Heights. It was great to see her more natural, less possessed looking w/ her eyes. In this movie, she definitely was reeled in quite a bit and i credit Wyler for that. Miriam Hopkins was as beautiful, soulful and sad as ever.
Overall, I believe the child actor Bonita Granville stole the entire film, but I could feel Marcia's fear of her secret being discovered and punishment to ensue. I could feel Miriam's longing and Merle's calm sense of decency. As I said before, William Wyler managed to get performances that were spot on for the film, keeping the tone, believability and atmosphere as convincing as films of the 30s could be.
The cinematography was done very well, and Gregg Toland, who had his life cut short at 44, was very much a master of lighting and unique camera angles. A feeling of intimacy was established in a lot of the scenes in ways I can say I've never seen shot before. The 3 leads, standing in Ms. Tilford's living room on the day they go to find out what the issue is, standing side by side, and Toland puts the camera behind them. That little subtle angle conveyed so much emotionally that i'm surprised it wasn't mimicked over and over by every DP worldwide. He went on to DP such greats as Intermezzo, Citizen Kane, Little Foxes, and more, where his influential yet extremely subtle camera and lighting from These Three was turned on it's head, showing his extreme versatility.
This is a great film, especially for it's era. I'm a harsh critic, so I give it a 6.
I swear this has to be the BEST child acting i've ever seen in a classic film in years, and i watch so many classics it's ridiculous. Sure, Mickey Rooney was a capable actor but sometimes I feel he IS acting. With the children in These Three, I was dumbstruck. William Wyler had his hands full w/ child actors in this film and Kudos w/ a capital K to Bill for pulling the best out of everyone.
Bonita Granville as Mary Tilford does a mind-blowing job grasping a tremendously dramatic role and she did it so believably and without force that her blackmailing threat to Rosalie and the confrontation scene w/ grandmother, and bulk of cast, I got goosebumps. She carried the part very much like Bette Davis in Of Human Bondage in her famous "wipe my mouth" scene. She did the scene so delicately, so conniving, with such convincing facial expressions and tonal inflections that I was spellbound. Marcia Jones as Rosalie was quite good herself to the point it makes me wonder what the poor girl was threatened with before the scene was shot.
I must say, too, that it is great to see Merle Oberon using her face in a way that doesn't make her look demented such as in Wuthering Heights. It was great to see her more natural, less possessed looking w/ her eyes. In this movie, she definitely was reeled in quite a bit and i credit Wyler for that. Miriam Hopkins was as beautiful, soulful and sad as ever.
Overall, I believe the child actor Bonita Granville stole the entire film, but I could feel Marcia's fear of her secret being discovered and punishment to ensue. I could feel Miriam's longing and Merle's calm sense of decency. As I said before, William Wyler managed to get performances that were spot on for the film, keeping the tone, believability and atmosphere as convincing as films of the 30s could be.
The cinematography was done very well, and Gregg Toland, who had his life cut short at 44, was very much a master of lighting and unique camera angles. A feeling of intimacy was established in a lot of the scenes in ways I can say I've never seen shot before. The 3 leads, standing in Ms. Tilford's living room on the day they go to find out what the issue is, standing side by side, and Toland puts the camera behind them. That little subtle angle conveyed so much emotionally that i'm surprised it wasn't mimicked over and over by every DP worldwide. He went on to DP such greats as Intermezzo, Citizen Kane, Little Foxes, and more, where his influential yet extremely subtle camera and lighting from These Three was turned on it's head, showing his extreme versatility.
This is a great film, especially for it's era. I'm a harsh critic, so I give it a 6.