Editing These Three (section)

==Critical reception==
[[Frank Nugent|Frank S. Nugent]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote: "Miss Hellman's job of literary carpentry is little short of brilliant. Upon the framework of her stage success she has constructed an absorbing, tautly written and dramatically vital screen play. To it, in turn, a gifted cast headed by Merle Oberon, Miriam Hopkins and Joel McCrea has contributed lavishly of its talents, aided by superb direction and exceptionally fine photography. In its totality the picture emerges as one of the finest screen dramas in recent years . . . Strong, turbulent and caustic, ''These Three'' is an unusual picture and it has been brought to the screen with perception, beauty and a keen sense of drama."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=950DEEDD1430E13BBC4152DFB566838D629EDE  |title=Movie Review – These Three |last=Nugent |first=Frank S. |author-link=Frank Nugent |date=March 19, 1936 |website=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=August 12, 2015 }}</ref>

The review in ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' said of Bonita Granville and Marcia Mae Jones: "Theirs are inspired performances." It added: "Hellman, if anything, has improved upon the original in scripting the triangle as a [[dramatis personae]] of romantic frustration, three basically wholesome victims of an unwholesome combination of circumstance. McCrea was never better in translating a difficult assignment intelligently and sympathetically. The well bred restraint of Hopkins and Oberon in their travail with the mixture of juvenile emotions at their boarding school is likewise impressive."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117795600.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&p=0|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130205130725/http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117795600.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&p=0|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-02-05|title=''Variety'' review}}</ref>

Writing for ''[[The Spectator]]'' in 1936, [[Graham Greene]] observed: "I have seldom been so moved by any fictional film . . . After ten minutes or so of the usual screen sentiment, quaintness and exaggeration, one began to watch the incredulous pleasure of nothing less than life."<ref name="TCM" /> Greene praised the acting of the protagonists portrayed by Oberon, Hopkins, and, to a lesser extent, McCrea, as well as the "shocking mastery" of the performances by Granville and Jones as the antagonists.<ref>{{cite journal |last= Greene|first= Graham|author-link= Graham Greene|date= 1 May 1936|title= These Three/The Student of Prague|journal= [[The Spectator]]}} (reprinted in: {{cite book|editor-last= Taylor|editor-first= John Russell|editor-link= John Russell Taylor|date= 1980|title= The Pleasure Dome|url= https://archive.org/details/pleasuredomegrah00gree/page/69|pages= [https://archive.org/details/pleasuredomegrah00gree/page/69 69, 72]|isbn= 0192812866|url-access= registration}})</ref>

The review in ''[[Film Daily]]'' read, in part: "Tense, dramatic, this is one of the most powerful pictures that has come to the talking screen . . . Miriam Hopkins and Merle Oberon give splendid performances, but it is the work of little Bonita Granville, as the troublemaker, which will attract the most attention."<ref>{{cite journal |date=February 25, 1936 |title=Reviews of the New Films |journal=[[Film Daily]] |location=New York |publisher=Wid's Films and Film Folk, Inc. |page=9 }}</ref>

[[John Mosher (writer)|John Mosher]] of ''[[The New Yorker]]'' wrote that "quite a good piece of work has been done with this somewhat problematic drama". He added: "With all the drastic alterations made in the plot, it is surprising how many of the original episodes and scenes have been retained."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Mosher |first=John |author-link=John Mosher (writer) |date=March 28, 1936 |title=The Current Cinema |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |page=71 }}</ref>

In the 21st century, ''[[TV Guide|TVGuide.com]]'' rated the film 4½ out of five stars, calling it "gripping, adult cinema" and commenting that "Oberon gives one of her best dramatic performances and McCrea is also quite fine. The two child actresses have the showiest parts, but the real performances to watch are those of Alma Kruger and Miriam Hopkins. Hopkins, in particular, has rarely been better, her intense, high-strung quality perfectly suited to the role of a woman unable to stop her world from falling apart around her."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tvguide.com/movies/these-three/review/2000344992/|title=These Three|website=TVGuide.com}}</ref>