Hot Saturday

Aside from the silly and gratuitous underwear scene, this movie does a good job of telling the story of poor Ruth Brock, a hard-working, put-upon small town girl who is judged and persecuted by her neighbors and so-called friends following a day of fun on an eponymous 'Hot Saturday' in the summer of 1932.

Subsequent events show how much women had staked on maintaining their reputations at that time, a topic that didn't go away with the enforcement of the production code though it lost a lot of its nuance. The expression on Ruth's face in the last frame of this film is so uncertain...she doesn't know if she's doing the right thing, doesn't know quite what she's getting into. I grieve for the loss of that ambiguity in films made in the years to come.

Nancy Carroll is brilliant in the role of Ruth, sparing the audience tedious hysterics and instead portraying the bitterness and frustration of living in a town of petty fools with nothing better to do than tear each other apart. I sort of wish there were two versions of this movie, one starring Carroll and one starring Barbara Stanwyck so I could do a side-by-side comparison. Stanwyck did such a good job with offended righteousness in 'Night Nurse'. But I'd keep Cary Grant in both...young and perfectly cast in the role of the local "disreputable cad" (that's how he's described (aptly) on the label).

But even a disreputable cad can have good points...and keen-eyed, truthful, pre-production code Ruth won't fail to notice them...

Hot Saturday is neat little pre-code drama with one of Cary Grant's earliest starring roles. Grant is top-billed but the center of the film is actually Nancy Carroll, an enormously popular young actress in the first years of the talkies, 1929-1931 but apparently already starting to slip in 1932 being second-billed to a newcomer.

Carroll is a pretty bank clerk whom all the local boys are crazy about, including scandalous young heir Cary Grant as Romer Sheffield (aren't all Sheffields in old movies wealthy?), who brings out of town girls in to stay at his estate for weeks at a time. When Cary invites the local young people to his home on the lake for a party, they all happily agree even though he is quite infamous among the older folks. Carroll is escorted by local boy Edward Woods. who turns into quite a leech on private boat ride and when Nancy won't come across, abandons her on the other side of the lake. Nancy ends up walking some distance and the nearest home just so happens to be Cary's estate. When she is seen by her trampy rival Lilan Bond coming home in Grant's car, the jealous bitch starts a rumor that spreads like wildfire that Nancy spent the night alone with Cary, a rumor that causes Nancy to lose her job and threatens her long, chaste romance with Randolph Scott.

This little melodrama has an excellent cast (except for Bond, whose line readings are flat) that makes the slim story interesting. Nancy Carroll is cute and does very well with her role, making her part sympathetic at all times but she is saddled with a terrible hairstyle and has on way too much makeup. Cary Grant is excellent as the free-loving hedonist to whom marriage is a no-no but he is surprisingly topped in sex appeal by his friend Randolph Scott as the decent and shy semi-beau of Carroll's. Edward Woods is very effective as the All American pal who turns out to be a major creep and there's a very good performance from Jane Darwell as Nancy's bossy and prudish mother. Hot Saturday is not a classic but it definitely deserves a look if you enjoy pre-codes.

Ruth (Nancy Carroll) is a bank clerk in a small town where the only diversion for young adults is a dance hall named Willow Springs outside of town. Ruth is pursued by a number of young men, including a wealthy playboy, Romer Sheffield (Cary Grant). She is very successful at keeping them all at arm's length, though she occasionally enjoys tempting them.

After Ruth returns home later than usual, the town's rumor mill--spurred by rival Eva--has a heyday. With her reputation ruined, Ruth makes some choices that are life-altering.

The music that accompanies the opening credits might lead the viewer to expect a madcap comedy. It is nothing of the sort. It is a scathing depiction of small-town society. However, the ending--which is, if nothing else, confusing--suggests that the film is (also) a cautionary tale. Whichever way you interpret it, this film is very interesting.

The acting is good. Nancy Carroll shines. Cary Grant and Randolph Scott are strong in their roles.

In small town America, everyone knows everyone else's business, and gossip flies fast. That's why bank teller Nancy Carroll is careful to go out in a big group and never stay out too late. She's usually glad to have a good reputation; but when she has a bad day at the office and her parents won't stop fighting, she doesn't care anymore. She goes out in a big group one Saturday night, but she openly flirts with notorious playboy Cary Grant. When her escort takes her out on the lake for some private time, she wiggles free and runs off to be with Cary instead! Do you think that'll send the gossip mill running?

Although he gets a higher billing, Randolph Scott has a much smaller part than Cary Grant. Cary is the "ungettable get" with tons of money and nothing to do. His pre-stardom makeup makes him look very weird, however, and if you look closely you can get a glimpse of his old teeth. When Scottie McScottie Pants comes on the scene, he's just gorgeous. Messy hair flopping in his face, smiles for miles, and a passion for geology even though there's no money in it. He's got my vote! But who would you pick? Watch this old movie for some pre-Code giggles and a very old-fashioned premise. Nancy Carroll is just as cute as it gets; I wonder why didn't become as big a star as her contemporaries like Carole Lombard or Jean Harlow.

"Hot Saturday" is a terrific little movie, and much better than its IMDb rating would suggest.

This was my first exposure to Nancy Carroll, and it's clear from her performance and screen presence why she was such a major star, if only for a short time. She plays a young woman living in a small town who becomes the subject of rumors when she's seen cavorting with a known rascal, played by Cary Grant, who likewise proves why he rocketed to stardom and stayed there. When Carroll realizes the small-minded people of the town are going to treat her like a floozy whether or not any of the rumors are true, she decides to make them true by giving the town (and Grant) what they want. This happens much to the dismay of her solid, down-to-earth beau, played by Randolph Scott.

I was not expecting this film to end the way it did, and was thrilled at the way it completely defied my expectations. Carroll doesn't see the error of her ways, apologize to her mom and dad and hunker down to a nice, sensible marriage with Scott. Instead, she hops in a car, essentially gives the entire town the finger, and rides off with Grant. Take that, Production Code!!

It was so refreshing to see a film that allows a woman her sexuality without forcing her to apologize for it by the film's end. Sure, she's going to be branded a slut by the town she's leaving behind, but the movie makes the town and the people in it so miserable that the viewer doesn't care any more for its opinion than Carroll does herself.

"Hot Saturday" is on a double DVD bill with "Torch Singer," and the two films together make a dynamite duo.

Grade: A-