Claudette Colbert is a prisoner of war in “Three Came Home”

Three Came Home (1950) is an American film about prisoners of war under the Japanese in North Borneo (now Sabah) and Sarawak during World War II. The film was directed by Jean Negulesco and starring Claudette Colbert, Patric Knowles, and Sessue Hayakawa. The film is based on the memoir Three Came Came Home, by Agnes Newton Keith. Keith was a journalist and novelist. 

Agnes and Harry Keith were living a comfortable life in North Borneo with their young son. Harry Keith was English and Conservator of Forests and Director of Agriculture for the government. The Japanese invaded Sandakan on January 19, 1942. Wives and children were separated from their husbands and fathers and held captive in prison camps near each other. When Mrs. Keith is singled out by Colonel Suga, the head of the camp, she has no idea what may be in store for herself and her family.

Sessue Hayakawa and Claudette Colbert

Jean Negulesco (1900 - 1993) was a Romanian-American movie director during the classical Hollywood period. He is most famous for directing Jane Wyman to her Oscar-winning performance in Johnny Belinda (1948), How to Marry a Millionare (1953), Titanic (1953), and Three Coins in the Fountain (1954). He was one of the first directors to film in the then-new widescreen process called Cinemascope. In fact, he was called “the first real master” of the process. Other films he directed include Road House (1948), Daddy Long Legs (1955), Boy on a Dolphin (1957), and The Best of Everything (1959).

Claudette Colbert (1903 -1996) was an American stage, film, and television actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Ellie Andrews in Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night (1934). For her role in that film, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She was nominated two other times in that category. Colbert got her start in the theater where she played a variety of ingenue roles. In 1928, she signed a contract with Paramount Pictures where she quickly made a succession of movies. Her breakout role came in 1932 in The Sign of the Cross (1932) starring Fredric March and Charles Laughton. In 1934, she made three films that were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture: Imitation of Life, Cleopatra, and the eventual winner, It Happened One Night. No one had been able to match that record. Other popular films include I Met Him in Paris (1937), Drums Along the Mohawk (1939), Midnight (1939), The Palm Beach Story (1942), Since You Went Away (1944), and The Egg and I (1947).

Patric Knowles (1911 -1995) was an English actor and got his start in British cinema during the early days of talking pictures. On arriving in America, he was signed by Warner Bros. At that studio, he had roles in The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936) with Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, It's Love I'm After (1937), and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) again with Flynn and de Havilland. During the 1940s, Knowles worked at RKO, Universal, Paramount Studios. Knowles continued working in film and television until the early 1970s.

Sessue Hayakawa (1886 -1973) was a Japanese actor and matinee idol during the silent era in Hollywood. Hayakawa was so popular that he was earning $3500 a week in 1919. He also had his own production company from 1918 - 1920. Hayakawa made films in Europe, America, and Japan during the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. He later became a character actor with roles in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and Swiss Family Robinson (1960).

Sessue Hayakawa during his days as a silent film idol 

Three Came Home trivia:

• Claudette Colbert was signed to play Margo Channing in All About Eve, but during a scene in Three Came Home, she injured her back and had to drop out, allowing Bette Davis to play the iconic character.
• Colbert considered this one of her best film roles and performances.
• The Fox film crew went to Borneo and filmed for four weeks to get background footage.
• Agnes Newton Keith’s memoir was a best-seller in 1947 when it was first published.
• Olivia de Havilland was originally announced for the role of Keith.
• Agnes Newton Keith has a small cameo in the film; she’s the very tall woman carrying two suitcases off of the dock at Kuching, Sarawak.

To watch the movie on YouTube, click on the link below.

To join the discussion on April 20, 2021, at 6:30 p.m. on Zoom. To RSVP click here. Once you RSVP, you’ll get an invitation and Zoom link to join the discussion.

Why watch this film?

• The film is based on a true story of a family’s survival as prisoners of war.
• It features a great performance by Colbert who wore no makeup and lost weight so her characterization would be more realistic.
• Colbert hated to have her face filmed from the right side; for this film, she put her vanity aside.
• Released only five years after the end of the war, the film gives a fairly balanced portrayal of the Japanese commander Colonel Suga.

Discussion questions:

1. What did you think of the movie overall? Did it seem realistic?
2. Was Colbert’s performance believable?
3. What did you think of the supporting cast? Did anyone stand out?
4. Did anything surprise you?
5. How did this film compare to Stalag 17?

“Reel People” Film Series at Facets Film School February—April

Facets Film School, 1517 W. Fullerton Ave., is presenting a new midnight movie series starting February 25, 2012. “Reel People” will feature films about real people and events. A different host will introduce each movie every week. Many of the hosts are instructors at Facets. The film series features Classic Movie Man, Steve Reginald, introducing the 1950 release, Three Came Home starring Claudette Colbert on Saturday, March 17.

Mark Keuning and Claudette Colbert

Three Came Home tells the story of Oak Park, IL, native Agnes Newton Keith. The film is based on Keith’s memoirs written about her experiences as a Japanese prisoner of war on the Island of Borneo, during World War II. The film is remarkable on many levels, including a realistic and gritty performance from Colbert as Keith. Colbert, famous for her glamorous persona in romantic comedies and melodramas, is anything but glamorous as Keith.

The film, released barely five years after the end of the conflict, presents a remarkably balanced portrayal of Keith’s experiences as a prisoner of war under the Japanese. Sessue Hayakawa (Bridge on the River Kwai) lends excellent support as Colonel Suga, both Keith’s tormentor and confidant. The direction by Jean Negulesco (Johnny Belinda, Road House) is steady and true. Considered one of the most important films of the year when first released, this classic is almost forgotten today.

Admission to each film is free for Facets members, $5 for nonmembers.

Facets Multi-Media, founded in 1975, is a non-profit, 501(C)3 organization, and a leading national media arts organization. Its mission is to preserve, present, distribute, and educate about film.


Feb. 25             Lew Ojeda        Amin: The Rise and Fall (1981)
March 3            Mike Smith       I’m Not There (2007)
March 10          Chris Damen     Barfly (1987)
March 17          S. Reginald       Three Came Home (1950)
March 24          Cary Elza          Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
March 31          N. Calderone    The Bengali Detective (2011)
April 7               Joe Lewis         The Beaver Trilogy (2000)
April 14             Dom Mayer      King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)
April 21             J. Wicklund       Head (1968)

Special Screening of “Three Came Home” at Facets in March, 2012

There will be a special midnight screening of Three Came Home, a true story based on the memoirs of Agnes Newton Keith, at Facets Film School in March. The exact date has not been set, so stay tuned.

Claudette Colbert plays a prisoner of war in Three Came Home.

True Story
Agnes Newton Keith was imprisoned on the island of Borneo by the Japanese during World War II. The classic film starring Claudette Colbert as Agnes and directed by Jean Negulesco will be part of Facets Night School’s “Reel People” series. If you are used to seeing Colbert in glamorous roles, this movie will be a bit of a shock. Dressed in clothes off the rack and often appearing sweaty and dirty, there is nothing glamorous about Three Came Home.

Illinois Native
Agnes was born in Oak Park, IL, and earned a degree from the University of California, Berkeley. She married Henry G. Keith (Patrick Knowles), a citizen of the United Kingdom and a childhood friend of her brother’s. Henry Keith worked for the Government of North Borneo. After Henry and Agnes were married, they settled there and had a child. A writer by profession, Agnes was the author of many books, including several about Asia and its people.

Tormentor and Confidant
When the Japanese invaded Borneo, they separated husbands and wives. Men were imprisoned with men and women with women (children were imprisoned at the womens’ camp). Agnes suffered many indignities under the Japanese. She also had a unique and strange relationship with the camp’s commander, Colonel Suga, portrayed by Sessue Hayakawa in the film. He was both her tormenter and confidant.

One of the Strongest Films of the Year
The film, well received at the time of its release, is mostly forgotten today. New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther had this to say in his February 21, 1950 review: “Soundly written, sincerely directed and honestly played by Claudette Colbert and an excellent cast, this picture, which opened here last night at the Astor, bids fair to stand as one of the strongest of the year.”

Three Came Home is definitely worth viewing for its honesty and superior storytelling that avoids stereotyping. But it still packs a wallop.

The Classic Movie Man (Steve Reginald) will introduce the film at Facets Film School, 1517 W. Fullerton Ave. Chicago IL 60614 800.331.6197, and conduct a Q & A afterward.

Classic Film of the Week: : "Three Came Home"

In 1950, Claudette Colbert starred as Agnes Newton Keith, a prisoner of war in Borneo during World War II. Keith, an American author was married to a British administrator assigned to the island located north of Australia.

Forgotten classic
Little known today, Three Came Home was an important property that was supervised by the legendary Darryl F. Zanuck. The prestigious Twentieth Century Fox production filmed the establishing shots and other scenes for the film, where possible, at their original locations.

Best-selling memoir
Keith’s best-selling memoir focuses on her years in a Japanese prisoner of war camp with her three-year-old son. After the initial Japanese invasion of Borneo, husbands and wives were separated and sent to different camps on the island. The film chronicles the trials and tribulations of the women prisoners and how they coped with hard labor, little food, and poor living conditions.

Tea with the Colonel
The man in charge of the camps is one Colonel Suga, portrayed by Sessue Hayakawa, who develops an interesting and strange relationship with Keith. Keith, born in Oak Park, IL, and educated at Berkley, had written favorably of the Asian people, something that did not go unnoticed by Suga. It turns out that Suga was educated in Washington State and was familiar with American ways and culture. The relationship doesn’t necessarily win Keith any special favors, but it helps humanize Suga’s character, which for the time, was remarkable.

All about Claudette
Colbert, known for her glamorous roles and insistence that she not be photographed on the right side of her face, put vanity aside when she decided to play Keith. For most of the film she’s dirty and in ragged clothing, with no makeup (at least none that we can tell), and she even allows the right side of her face (sometimes called the dark side of the moon by critics) to be photographed! So determined was Colbert to be true to the character that she refused a stand-in for a very physical scene with a Japanese soldier. It was during this scene that she injured her back, forcing her to drop out of the production of All About Eve. Yes, Colbert was set to play Margo Channing; she was writer-director Joseph Mankiewicz’s first choice. Reflecting on this turn of events, Colbert was reported to have “cried for two years.”

Criterion treatment, please
It’s unfortunate that more people don’t know about this film today. It’s in the public domain, so there are many copies of it available on DVD. The film quality is decent and in some versions, above average, but it would really benefit from the “Criterion treatment.” It deserves a critical commentary and film restoration.

Having said all that, Three Came Home is still compelling viewing and a showcase for Colbert’s versatility as an actress of great range and depth.