When William Wellman was filming The Public Enemy he originally had James Cagney and Edward Woods in each other's parts. Noting in the daily rushes how Cagney's personality came through even in the supporting part, Wellman made the decision to reshoot and switch the roles. A star was born because of that.<br /><br />Another star had to wait a bit to be born because no one was as bright on the Three On a Match Set. Three friends from Public School 62 in Manhattan meet as adults. Ann Dvorak is the pretty one who's married a wealthy lawyer in the person of Warren William and she's rich and spoiled. Joan Blondell was the troublemaker back in the day and she's done a stretch in the joint, but she's calmed down and now is starring in a revue. The good girl was Bette Davis who went to business college and is now a secretary. They meet for lunch and light their cigarettes from the same match. The third one to light is Dvorak and the rest of the story is how she blows it all and Blondell picks up the pieces.<br /><br />But can you imagine if someone had the wit to see what talent Bette Davis had then? Dvorak's part was the kind of role Bette Davis used to go to town with. Three on a Match is at best a passable melodrama. Had Davis played Dvorak's part, she would have made it a classic. She did just that for many a mediocre property in her career.<br /><br />The four leads in the film are Dvorak, Blondell, William and Lyle Talbot and Talbot probably gives the best performance in the film as a weak and shallow playboy. Down in the cast is not only Bette Davis, but Humphrey Bogart in a brief role as muscle to gambler/racketeer Edward Arnold. Bogey's good in what little he has and Arnold has one brief, but memorable scene confronting Talbot about his debts.<br /><br />Talbot in a moment of insanity hits upon a desperate attempt to raise money and suffice it to say it costs a whole lot of the cast big time. Ann Dvorak has a great scene in trying to escape from the clutches of the villains, but what Davis would have done with it might have made her a star.<br /><br />No one had the wit to see this was a Bette Davis picture with Bette Davis ready and available. Pity.