I'm thrilled to have Mad as my guest, so without further ado...I'll turn things over to her.
SATURDAY’S CHILDREN (1940)
I am often
surprised to discover classic era films of true quality that have somehow sunk
into obscurity. Saturday’s Children is
one of these little-known gems. To begin
with, the film has an excellent pedigree. The script was written by Julius and Philip
Epstein (Casablanca, Four Daughters, Mr.
Skeffington), from the Pulitzer-winning play by Maxwell Anderson (What
Price Glory, Key Largo). It’s directed by Vincent Sherman (Mr.
Skeffington, Old Acquaintance), with Irving Rapper as dialogue director (later
to direct Now, Voyager and Deception). In addition to having a great cast, it’s also
one of those rare treasures – a John Garfield comedy.
Our story begins
with an average morning for the Halevy family.
Dad (Claude Rains) is resisting Mom’s (Elisabeth Risdon) efforts to get
him out of bed to go to his dull job as a bookkeeper. Meanwhile daughter Bobby (Anne Shirley) is excited
about her first day of work at the same firm (where Dad has got her a job). Sharing their New York brownstone is her older
sister Florrie (Lee Patrick) and Florrie’s husband Willie (Roscoe Karns). When she’s not trading wisecracks with
Willie, Florrie is trying to educate Bobby in the ways of the world –
particularly concerning the battle of the sexes. To Florrie’s dismay, Bobby is resistant to
what she feels are dishonest tricks for landing a husband.
At work, Bobby meets fellow employee Rims Rosson (Garfield), whose hobby is inventing crazy gadgets that he admits are not ‘commercially practical’. He does have one practical dream - to discover a way to manufacture silk from hemp. It’s obvious from the start that Rims and Bobby share the same wry sense of humour and directness, and they begin dating as part of a weekly bowling night. When Rims gets a job offer in the Philippines to work on his hemp-to-silk idea, Florrie convinces Bobby that she’ll lose him unless she takes certain ‘foolproof steps’ to get him to propose. Further complications ensue for the young couple, with some dramatic turns that I would rather leave viewers to discover for themselves.
At work, Bobby meets fellow employee Rims Rosson (Garfield), whose hobby is inventing crazy gadgets that he admits are not ‘commercially practical’. He does have one practical dream - to discover a way to manufacture silk from hemp. It’s obvious from the start that Rims and Bobby share the same wry sense of humour and directness, and they begin dating as part of a weekly bowling night. When Rims gets a job offer in the Philippines to work on his hemp-to-silk idea, Florrie convinces Bobby that she’ll lose him unless she takes certain ‘foolproof steps’ to get him to propose. Further complications ensue for the young couple, with some dramatic turns that I would rather leave viewers to discover for themselves.
By this time,
Garfield had made eight movies, playing a street-smart tough guy in most of
them. Here he plays a rather distracted,
guileless fellow, who wears glasses to read and is slightly awkward at the
dating game. He is attracted to Bobby because
of her straightforwardness. Rims is an
eccentric soul with a quirky sense of humour and a positive outlook on
life. It’s a marked contrast to some of
the hard-bitten roles we have seen him in, but Rims is no weakling and Garfield
still creates a fascinating three-dimensional character. In Rims, Garfield shows us a more casual,
easygoing type. He’s no stranger to
disappointment, but he’s a realist - not a cynic. It’s a rare joy to see Garfield get to play
this relaxed character with a sense of humour.
He’s a bit of a dreamer, and definitely a person you would enjoy getting
to know.
Garfield is well matched by Anne Shirley as Bobby – torn between a selfish (but normal) desire to keep Rims with her, and a feeling of guilt that she is preventing him from pursuing his dreams. She’s not only cute and likeable, but I was impressed with her as an actress in this movie – she often gets to be the ‘strong one’ for those around her. (I’ve read that Warners originally wanted Priscilla Lane, but fearing it would be rewritten as another ‘Lane Sisters’ movie, Garfield lobbied for Anne Shirley.)
This movie is a romantic comedy with an intelligent storyline. What I love about these old Warner Brothers pictures is that they show average people struggling to get by, and still managing to find happiness. Not being rich isn’t seen as a tragedy to be ‘solved’ in the last reel. The characters cope in the best way they can, without a lot of self-pity and in ways that ring true. The title refers to the poem predicting the traits of children according to the day of the week on which they were born, in which “Saturday’s child has far to go”. (The usual version is “… works hard for a living” but the spirit is the same.) Money troubles may be the catalyst, but the couple’s problems are really about honesty and compromise in love and marriage. Their story isn’t maudlin or sappy; their joys and pains are those we can relate to, and we laugh with them as if it were our own family. A quality script has a lot to do with this, but ultimately it’s Garfield and Shirley that bring these characters to life and make us care.
Garfield is well matched by Anne Shirley as Bobby – torn between a selfish (but normal) desire to keep Rims with her, and a feeling of guilt that she is preventing him from pursuing his dreams. She’s not only cute and likeable, but I was impressed with her as an actress in this movie – she often gets to be the ‘strong one’ for those around her. (I’ve read that Warners originally wanted Priscilla Lane, but fearing it would be rewritten as another ‘Lane Sisters’ movie, Garfield lobbied for Anne Shirley.)
This movie is a romantic comedy with an intelligent storyline. What I love about these old Warner Brothers pictures is that they show average people struggling to get by, and still managing to find happiness. Not being rich isn’t seen as a tragedy to be ‘solved’ in the last reel. The characters cope in the best way they can, without a lot of self-pity and in ways that ring true. The title refers to the poem predicting the traits of children according to the day of the week on which they were born, in which “Saturday’s child has far to go”. (The usual version is “… works hard for a living” but the spirit is the same.) Money troubles may be the catalyst, but the couple’s problems are really about honesty and compromise in love and marriage. Their story isn’t maudlin or sappy; their joys and pains are those we can relate to, and we laugh with them as if it were our own family. A quality script has a lot to do with this, but ultimately it’s Garfield and Shirley that bring these characters to life and make us care.
The supporting
cast has some stellar character actors, including my own personal favourite –
Claude Rains. Rains and Anne Shirley
have a wonderful chemistry as father and daughter. Their scenes together are affectionate and
heartwarming. Always a commanding
presence, Rains was a master at intelligent emotional scenes. His heart-to-heart talks with Bobby about regrets
in his own life are touching and honest, without being over-sentimental. His ‘Pops’ is a complicated
mix of cheerful resilience and melancholic resignation. Rains also had a fine comedic sense; often a
witty and sarcastic villain, here he is charming and funny as a teasing, loving
father. (I once read a comment that,
with the exception of Lon Chaney Jr. in The
Wolf Man, Rains always had daughters in the movies - often four at a time!).
This was the fifth picture Rains and
Garfield were in together, continuing a friendship that began when Rains mentored
him on Four Daughters.
Lee Patrick and
Roscoe Karns share some of the funniest of the Epsteins’ lines, with Patrick as
the big sister always trying to ‘help’ with Bobby’s love life, and Karns as her
henpecked husband who fights back with wisecracks. They complement each other perfectly and
their banter is fast and clever. Their
underlying affection is quite believable, and that’s probably why it’s so much
fun to watch them bicker. There is more
witty dialogue at work, from Bobby’s fellow clerk Dennie Moore and her hapless
boyfriend George Tobias. Elisabeth
Risdon (as the mother) is the only one not given much to do; although
sympathetic, she never seems to be consulted on the family’s emotional crises.
I have read that Saturday’s Children was one of Garfield’s happiest film experiences, and a performance of which he was very proud. I can see why – it’s sweet, it’s funny, and it gave him a chance to show his versatility as an actor. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a success at the box-office, which may be why it’s not well known today. It does not seem to be available on DVD, but if you have access to TCM in North America, you can catch it on March 4th at 8:45 am (ET), and I heartily recommend that you do. It deserves to be re-discovered.
I have read that Saturday’s Children was one of Garfield’s happiest film experiences, and a performance of which he was very proud. I can see why – it’s sweet, it’s funny, and it gave him a chance to show his versatility as an actor. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a success at the box-office, which may be why it’s not well known today. It does not seem to be available on DVD, but if you have access to TCM in North America, you can catch it on March 4th at 8:45 am (ET), and I heartily recommend that you do. It deserves to be re-discovered.
Saturday's Children does, indeed, sound like a terrific movie, and I cannot wait to see it. A huge thank you to Mad for this awesome write-up! What a fantastic addition to the blogathon! To read all the other terrific blogathon pieces, go HERE.
NOTE: After finally having a chance to watch this film, I am giving it 4-stars.
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