The Saturday Night Kid

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.

In THE SATURDAY NIGHT KID, Clara Bow plays Mayme, a salesgirl who's in love with a fellow clerk named Bill (James Hall). Her sister Janie (Jean Arthur) also has eyes for him and schemes to snare for herself. The scenario is ordinary and the resolution is both banal and predictable. Clara Bow's performance in her third talkie is good, proving she could easily handle sound. Unfortunately, her role is, for the most part, colorless and inhibited. Mayme lacks the free-spiritedness and boldness of such roles like Alverna in MANTRAP and Betty Lou in IT; she's just a blandly virtuous heroine searching for true love. It doesn't help that her leading man Hall is uncharismatic and dull.

Occasionally, however, Bow gets to shine. She displays her comedic flair in some funny sequences, particularly a scene where she tries to help the inexperienced Hall in a difficult task without making him look incompetent. Bow also exhibits a flash of her effervescent "It" persona in a flirtatious chasing sequence. And in her big dramatic moments, Clara is persuasive and invigorating, making one regret she rarely had the opportunity for substantial dramatic material.

Jean Arthur is delightfully perfidious as Janie. Among the supporting players, Edna May Oliver as Mayme's snooty, imperious supervisor Miss Streeter and Charles Sellon as Lem Woodruff, the fumbling proprietor of the boardinghouse Mayme, Janie, and Bill live in, stand out. In an early film appearance, Jean Harlow has too minute a role to create any impression.

Overall, THE SATURDAY NIGHT KID is a pedestrian movie that doesn't take full advantage of Bow's talents. Considering that many of Clara Bow's films are lost or deteriorating, however, one should be grateful that this film has been recently restored.

Clara Bow and Jean Arthur both started starring in movies around 1924. Bow was 19 and Arthur was 24. In 1927, Bow reached super-stardom as the "It" girl in "It" and playing in first Academy Award Winning movie "Wings." So, now two years later you have superstar Bow, age 24 and star Arthur age 29 playing sisters.

Oddly, Arthur seems to be playing the younger sister. In the opening scene, Bow brazenly pulls up Arthur's dress and reveals Arthur's underwear for the camera. She accuses her sister of stealing her "step-ins". It establishes Clara as the dominant personality.

Later, there's a wonderful scene where both are in their underwear about to go to bed. Arthur has just stolen Bow's boyfriend. Bow prays, while Arthur hops into bed. She moans innocently, "I can't help it if he like me more than you." Bow snaps back, "Shut up, I'm saying my prayers." Bow is strong and gives a great performance, but its Arthur with a thin, almost squeaky, voice who steals every scene.

The movie moves briskly with nice scenes in a department store, on the street and on an apartment porch beneath what could be the Brooklyn Bridge.

Nice comic support is given by Edna Mae Oliver who plays a store manager putting on a pageant for Goldberg's, the store where the sisters work. In the play that she puts on, she casts Arthur as virtue and Bow as pleasure to show the triumph of virtue over pleasure. This is ironic as in the movie, they are playing the opposite roles.

Charles Sellon, the unforgettable Mr. Muckle in W.C. Fields "Its a Gift," also gives a great performance. He's gambler-neighbor who cons Arthur to give him money by reassuring her, "With me its not a gamble, but an investment." Bow would go on to make eight more films over the next four years and then quit movies forever in 1933 at the age of 28. On the other hand, Jean Arthur continued starring for twenty more years in classics like "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town," and "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington".

Some people will be disappointed because the film is pretty light weight. It is barely over an hour and basically climaxes just when it is getting most interesting. Still, watching Bow at the top of her game and Arthur rising to match her is delightful.

Shopgirl sisters, one fun loving but virtuous (Clara Bow), the other a conniving, selfish brat (Jean Arthur) are in love with a fellow Ginsberg department store employee (James Hall). Trite screenplay, lousy production values, terrible directing. Bow only really becomes interesting in the second half where she's finally given interesting things to do. Jean Arthur is quite good as the dissembling brat sister. James Hall is dull. Edna May Oliver does her thing (which I love) in her talkie debut, and an unbilled (and very young looking) Jean Harlow has a tiny but memorable speaking part (her first). Ultimately, this is for Bow fanatics only (I raise my hand), and for those who want to see the earliest sound film appearance of the fully formed Jean Harlow persona.

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.