Three Came Home is a 1950 American World War II film directed by Jean Negulesco, based on the memoirs of the same name by writer Agnes Newton Keith.

It depicts Keith's life in North Borneo in the period immediately before the Japanese invasion in 1942, and her subsequent internment and suffering, separated from her husband Harry, and with a young son to care for.

Keith was initially interned at Berhala Island near Sandakan, North Borneo (today's Sabah) but spent most of her captivity at Batu Lintang camp at Kuching, Sarawak.

Japan needed an assured supply, particularly of oil, in order to achieve its long-term goal of becoming the major power in the Pacific region.

Worried about the rumours surrounding Japanese invasion in 1941, Harry suggests that Agnes move back to the United States along with George.

The camp guards are cruel and oppressive, as seen when they shoot down a group of Australian men who try to cross the wire fencing during a bit of flirtation with the women.

The women prisoners were portrayed by Drue Mallory, Carol Savage, Virginia Keiley, Mimi Heyworth, Helen Westcott, and Siti Zainab.

[5] In March 1949, Showmen's Trade Review reported that Negulesco's contract with 20th Century Fox had been extended for one year and that he would direct the film.

[20] After principal photography was complete, Colbert told Negulesco "You know I'm not given to exaggeration so I hope you believe me when I say that working with you has been the most stimulating and happiest experience of my entire career.

[41] According to Kinematograph Weekly the "biggest winners" at the box office in 1950 Britain were The Blue Lamp, The Happiest Days of Your Life, Annie Get Your Gun, The Wooden Horse, Treasure Island and Odette, with "runners up" being Stage Fright, White Heat, They Were Not Divided, Trio, Morning Departure, Destination Moon, Sands of Iwo Jima, Little Women, The Forsythe Saga, Father of the Bride, Neptune's Daughter, The Dancing Years, The Red Light, Rogues of Sherwood Forest, Fancy Pants, Copper Canyon, State Secret, The Cure for Love, My Foolish Heart, Stromboli, Cheaper by the Dozen, Pinky, Three Came Home, Broken Arrow and The Black Rose.

But Patric Knowles is also excellent as the British husband of Mrs. Keith from whom she is early separated, and Florence Desmond is superb as a cheerful inmate in the prison camp.

Played against realistic settings, which vividly convey the meanness of the jungle prisons, and directed by Jean Negulesco for physical and emotional credibility, Three Came Home is a comprehensive film.

[43] According to Variety, "Agnes Newton Keith's deeply affecting autobiog [sic] ... has been turned from print to celluloid without any easing of the book's harrowing impact"; "Many of the scenes are tearjerkers in the better sense of the word.

[45] A review published in TimesDaily noted that Colbert had played an "infrequent straight dramatic [part]" and praised the production's authenticity.

[46] Harold V. Cohen of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette praised the performances given by the actors and wrote that the story "hits the head and the heart like a whiplash, and lays a chill lump in the throat."

He further wrote that the film was "an absorbing saga of the blood and the sweat and the tears which were far removed from the battlefields of World War II".

"[50] Sunday Herald appreciated Colbert's "sincere and memorable performance", the film's authenticity and called it "surprising restrained".

[51] In May 1985, and timed to correspond with Colbert's return to Broadway in a revival of Aren't We All?, Howard Thompson, reviewed the film in anticipation of its "rare TV showing" on cable's USA Network.

He called it "a peak in Miss Colbert's long and distinguished Hollywood career" and a "strong, compassionate film vividly evokes the horror and bleak futility of war."

[54] A review published in Movie Makers appreciated the director for "[putting] together an admirably honest drama of war, women and children.