The Saturday Night Kid

After audiences of the 1920s had become accustomed to seeing Clara Bow portraying the carefree flapper or an aggressive woman out to get her man, this movie strays from those formulas. Confined by the limitations of the role of Mayme and the constraints of early sound films, Clara is much more inhibited and restrained in this film. That high energy personality and wonderful facial expressions that I love about her, were absent in this movie. As another reviewer stated, Clara would have been much more suited to play the role of Janie(particularly the scene where Janie steals Mayme's boyfriend) that went to a young Jean Arthur. Even when, she was several pounds overweight for a leading lady/sex symbol, Clara still manages too look great and she does well in the somewhat thankless role. Mayme is a "good" girl that has developed a cynical and hard boiled attitude from past romances gone bad. It was also interesting to see Jean Arthur play a selfish, impulsive, immature Janie(who doesn't hesitate to stab her sister in the back if her neck is on the line) after seeing her in more virtuous roles in the 30s and she turns in a good performance despite just an average script and dialogue. The Saturday Night Kid also provides an interesting glimpse into the late 20s lifestyle from riding a street car to working in a department store. Yes, 75 years ago they were doing company "pep rallies" that employees had to attend and show their enthusiasm whether they were enthused to be there or not. There are very few films that were made in 1929 with outstanding productions values and are enjoyable to watch. While this film has it's problems I think it is better than most of the early sound films that I've seen, including THE WILD PARTY with Clara. 6/10

Five months later after "The Wild Party," in her second talkie, Clara Bow plays alongside Jean Arthur in October 1929's "The Saturday Night Kid." The Edward Sutherland-directed film, from the 1926 play 'Love 'Em and Leave 'Em,' shows the pair as sisters living together in New York City. Friction develops when Janie (Arthur) displays her unethical, jealous behavior. The rather stagey film contains a brief appearance of Jean Harlow in her first speaking role. Bow had gained weight after "The Wild Party" and couldn't fit into the dress costume designer Edith Head had tailored for her. Bow gave the slim dress to Harlow, who never forgot the actress' gesture.

Bow was unhappy with the direction movies was going and missed the days where physicality meant more than verbal jousting. Her weeks proceeding "The Wild Party" involved some heavy drinking and sedatives to calm her nerves. She was sensitive to the negative reviews she received from her first speaking role. Arthur, who took a brief hiatus to act on the stage as well as take voice lessons, bonded with Bow during "The Saturday Night Kid." "She was so generous, no snootiness or anything," Arthur said of Bow. "She was wonderful to me." Bow locked horns with the film's director, Sutherland. Soon after a divorce from actress Louise Brooks, Sutherland was immediately at loggerheads with Bow. The actress recalled being snubbed by him at an earlier social gathering. Sutherland, realizing this was a Bow film, admired Arthur's acting. "Arthur was so good that we had to cut and cut to keep her from stealing the picture" from Clara, said the director. The New York Times even complimented Arthur's performance, saying the movie would have been "merely commonplace, were it not for Jean Arthur, who plays the catty sister with a great deal of skill." For Bow, her future in Hollywood looked indeed perilous.

THE SATURDAY NIGHT KID (Paramount, 1929), directed by A. Edward Sutherland, might have been an appropriate title for a jazz-age movie about a fun-loving party girl meeting and dancing with an assortment of young men every Saturday night. For this feature, the title is used for only a remake of a recent silent feature about shop girl sisters in LOVE 'EM AND LEAVE 'EM (Paramount, 1926) starring Evelyn Brent, Lawrence Gray and Louise Brooks, directed by Frank Tuttle. Rather than having those three leading players reprise their roles in the latest sound edition based on the popular play by George Abbott, it was given to Clara Bow, James Hall and Jean Arthur instead. Having recently played a department store girl already in IT (Paramount, 1927), the movie that gave Bow her signature name as The "IT" Girl, it might have been more interesting to see how the movie might have turned out had Clara Bow starred in the sound remake of IT instead.

The basic plot deals with the Barry sisters, Mayme (Clara Bow) and Janie (Jean Arthur), a couple of New York City shop girls working for Ginsberg Department Store, residing in an apartment building overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge. Living next door to them is William Taylor (James Hall), a young clerk promoted to floorwalker at the same store, who happens to be loved by Mayme. After rising at 6:30 a.m. to prepare themselves for another day's work, the trio leave together, with Mayne and Bill traveling by bus while Janie hitches a faster ride in somebody else's automobile. As the employees gather together at a staff meeting headed by Mr. Ginsburg (Hyman Meyer), Miss Streeter (Edna May Oliver), the store's "oldest employee," arranges for the staging of an Employee's Welfare Club pageant. Janie, elected treasurer, uses the club money to give to landlord, Lem Woodruff (Charles Sellon), a bookie who cheats her of her winnings at off-track horse racing. Aside from having Mayme take the blame for the stolen money and talking her way out of staying late for inventory where Mayme fills in for her, Janie also takes further advantage of her sister by claiming Bill all to herself, causing friction for all concerned. Also in the cast are Ethel Wales (Lily Woodruff); Irving Bacon (Mr. McGonigle) and Mary Gordon. The blonde shop girl Hazel Carroll is played by the uncredited Jean Harlow (1911-1937). She can be spotted in a couple of brief scenes behind the counter, and later with her back of head towards the camera as she speaks a few lines of spoken dialogue.

Standard routine plot clocked at 62 minutes, THE SATURDAY NIGHT KID indicates the story might have been slightly longer had it not been for the noticeable jump-cut by the mid-way point. Some years before Jean Arthur would prove her range in comedies for Columbia Pictures, and work in three classic productions under the direction of Frank Capra, her conniving character gathers the most attention here, even though she might seem out of character by those familiar with her latter screen work. Arthur would return to shop girl/ department store roles to better advantage in EASY LIVING (Paramount, 1937) and THE DEVIL AND MISS JONES (RKO Radio, 1941), the latter highly recommended viewing. James Hall, the male co-star appearing much older than his true age, gets by with his man-in-the-middle-type performance. He would later appear opposite Jean Harlow in HELL'S ANGELS (United Artists, 1930), the epic war-drama that elevated Harlow from bit player to leading role status. Better known by film historians more for her silent productions than those produced during the sound era, THE SATURDAY NIGHT KID indicates how Bow might have succeeded better and longer in talkies had there been better scripts or more challenging roles in both comedy and drama to fit her needs. Quite good in comedy, Bow has her limited range here amusingly playing a gym appliance demonstrator at the store. Bow demonstrated her ability as a fine actress in both CALL HER SAVAGE (1932) and HOOPLA (1933), for Fox Studios before retiring from the screen forever. Yet her character as played in THE SATURDAY NIGHT KID is very much Bow material carried on from some from the silent movie era. Never distributed to video cassette, DVD nor presented on cable television, the film overall is a worthy rediscovery, especially those interested in the early films and career of both Jeans, Arthur or Harlow, or the "It" Girl Clara Bow with a new title name as "The Saturday Night Kid." (**)

Clara Bow was a cutie even when carrying a few extra pounds, but critical focus on her weight overshadowed opinion regarding the merits of the film. It's decent enough, and she and Jean Arthur (who overcame similar criticism for the sound of her voice to enjoy a lengthy career in talkies) play well off one another.

Clara Bow stars in this early talkie about two sisters (Jean Arthur) who work in a department store and vie for the same guy (James Hall).

While Bow plays a fast girl who's always getting into trouble at work for being late, Arthur is actually the sneak and compulsive gambler (with store funds). She also has a yen for Bow's Boyfriend, Hall. That's about it for plot.

Charles Sellon plays the crooked gambler. Jean Harlow has a few lines as the friend and one scene with Bow and Arthur. Harlow and Hall would star in Hell's Angels a few years after this. Edna May Oliver in her talkie debut plays the head of personnel, and Frank Ross plays Ken. Ross would marry Arthur and become a film producer. And that's Bess Flowers trying out the reducing machine.

Worth a look for feisty Clara Bow and Jean Arthur in an odd role.