Hot Saturday

Small town 'nice' girl (Nancy Carroll) becomes victim of rumors that she spent the night with wealthy playboy (Cary Grant). Because of this she loses her job and her boyfriend (Randolph Scott). Decent Pre-Coder with some risqué subject matter. Love the funny scene where Nancy Carroll wrestles her younger sister and removes her underwear. Carroll is cute and has good chemistry with Grant. Cary's very charming even this early in his career. Scott's fine, too. Jane Darwell plays Carroll's shrewish mother. Nice production and small town atmosphere. I saw this on TCM and the print is exceptionally good for a movie this old.

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...

In small-town Marysville, attractive bank clerk Nancy Carroll (as Ruth Brock) is desired by several young men. She prefers to play the field. One of Ms. Carroll's more ardent admirers is wealthy playboy Cary Grant (as Romer Sheffield). He invites Ms. Carroll and her friends over to his lakeside estate for alcohol and fun, on a "Hot Saturday" night in July. Carroll arrives, on a date with co-worker Edward Woods (as Connie Billop). She refuses to make-out with him during a boat ride, so he dumps her ashore. That's not very gentlemanly. Carroll walks to Mr. Grant's house and he sends her home in his chauffeured car. Jealous banker's daughter Lilian Bond (as Eva Randolph) sees Carroll sneaking in late and spreads the rumor that Carroll spent the night with Grant. Carroll's reputation is ruined...

Soon, girl-shy geologist Randolph Scott (William "Bill" Fadden) returns to town, after seven years. A childhood friend, Mr. Scott discovers Carroll has grown out of her pigtails and into a bra. Carroll sees quick marriage as a solution to her problems. "Hot Saturday" is about malicious gossip, which has turned out to be a timeless problem. It's interesting to see it play out in the 1930s. Director William Seiter and the Paramount studio crew really go to town on "Marysville". The automobiles and fashions gleam. There are almost too many people in early background scenes; probably, everyone ran errands on Saturday. Watch for a scene occurring at just under 15 minutes of running time; in it, Carroll wrestles her squealing teenage sister Rose Coughlan (as Annie) to remove some stolen under-shorts.

****** Hot Saturday (10/28/32) William Seiter ~ Nancy Carroll, Cary Grant, Randolph Scott, Edward Woods

Nancy Carroll shines as an innocent woman nearly destroyed by >gossip in this very unflattering portrait of small town America. >Now forgotten, Carroll brings sensitivity, depth, and humor to >her performance. An inexperienced but effective Cary Grant is a >man with charm and without conventional morals. The ending is a >surprise.

"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-