Saturday Night

"Saturday Night" is a film from Cecil B. DeMille which seems to be telling the audience that people need to know thier place in society and stick to it.

Iris and Richard are both in high society. He's a rich man and she's the spoiled daughter of a rich man. Both their families expect them to soon announce their engagement but the love between the pair has begun to cool a bit. Richard longs for a simpler sort of wife and Iris thinks it would be nice to be poor...at least in theory. Eventually, he ends up setting her sights on a laundress, Shamrock(?) and she on her chauffeur, Tom. But when the pair let their hearts dictate their future, both end up married to poor folks with which they have little in common.

Like many of DeMille's films of the era, this one has a VERY strong and not exactly subtle message about society and knowing your place. It's good for what it is, though the story is pretty predictable. Well made, however, and occasionally rather engaging...and well worth your time if you are willing to watch a silent.

This comedy/drama from Cecil B. DeMille was Leatrice Joy's first starring film for the director after Gloria Swanson moved on. She plays a bored rich girl who is engaged to bored rich boy Conrad Nagel. The poor things have nothing to do but dress up and go to parties. They are sort of engaged.

But Joy is attracted to take-charge chauffeur Jack Mower and Nagel is fascinated by feisty laundress Edith Roberts. What to do? Things come to a head when bitchy sister Julia Faye forces the wedding announcement at a big party and Joy and Nagel meekly fall in line ... that is until fate throws the couple into the paths of their secret loves.

Wreckless Joy causes a train to smash her roadster, but she is saved by Mower. And Nagel runs off and marries Roberts. Society is shocked by the marriages. Joy is forced to live in a cold water tenement after Mower is fired, and Roberts is the butt of Faye's endless jokes as she tries to fit in with the society types.

Will love conquer all? Or will everyday life break up these mismatched marriages? It takes a blazing tenement fire to settle the issue.

The 4 stars all do well, with Leatrice Joy especially watchable. Julia Faye is notable as the sister. Co-stars include Theodore Roberts, Edythe Chapman, and Sylvia Ashton. Costumes and interior designs are sumptuous, and the Halloween pool party is not to be missed!

Leatrice Joy throws over her rich fiance, Conrad Nagel, to wed her chauffeur, Jack Mower. Her uncle, Theodore Roberts, disinherits her. Nagel shows some initiative by marrying his pretty laundress, Edith Roberts. Neither his mother nor his snobbish sister, played by Julia Faye, care for this. Both couples insist they are happy, even though Leatrice burns the roast and Edith falls asleep at dinner parties. Matters continue to worsen in Cecil DeMille's movie about what happens after 'they lived happily ever after.'

This is one of DeMille's movies about the rich having a great time in the first five reels until the price is paid in the sixth, and there are wild parties aplenty; Miss Roberts watches the Best People behave like fools, and then takes off for Coney Island,

Demille's message is essentially normative, as it usually is: like should marry like, but first, let's make some whoopee, because it's fun to watch the big mistakes, like Edith trying to eat soap. The performances are all pretty good, but as usual, Teddy Roberts steals the show

Leatrice Joy was a 28-year-old veteran actress when DeMille began casting for a replacement of Gloria Swanson for his primary on-screen protege. Her first role with the director was January 1922's "Saturday Night," as a upper crust socialite who falls for her chauffeur. On the opposite end of the spectrum is her wealthy former boyfriend, acted by Conrad Nagel, who is suddenly attracted by a laundress. Both couples get married to those outside their economic and social class. The Jeanie MacPherson script comes right out and states in its opening title that "most stories stop where the real drama of life begins." Fairy tales like Cinderella conclude before extending the story to reflect the tension between the couple's opposing economic backgrounds. DeMille unpeals the layers of the initial fantasyland, exposing the real differences the two couples experience because of their varied backgrounds.

Conrad's sister (in the movie) Elsie, played by Julia Faye, is the one person who realizes these pairings will be undergoing some rough crinkles in their marriage. "Satuday Night's" plot was especially personal to DeMille because, despite being wed to actress Constance Adams since 1902, he had been known to have a wandering eye. Faye first met the director in 1917 and was included in his circle of mistresses. The Richmond, Virginia born actress played a wide variety of roles, from maids to queens. Her on-screen association with DeMille lasted well into the 1950's, retiring after appearing in his 1958-produced 'The Buccaneer.'

Shamrock O'Day is a laundress whose family works for wealthy Richard Prentiss. Tom McGuire is Shamrock's neighbor, and chauffeur to wealthy Iris Van Suydam. Shamrock and Tom each wish for the good life, while Richard and Iris yearn for the simple life. Richard and Iris have an arrangement to be married. But fate intervenes, and Richard finds himself falling for Shamrock, while Iris falls for Tom. Both couples marry, but their relationships take rocky turns as class differences come to the forefront.

At first, I thought this film would be a dud, but it did entertain me. It was interesting to see how each spouse got on the other's nerves, and how their relationships deteriorated. The situations ranged from comical to downright nasty. The leads all do good work, especially Edith Roberts. The supporting cast is also good, with Theodore Roberts as Joy's uncle, doing his cigar chomping, and Julia Faye, as Nagel's sister, acting the part of beyotch quite well. The climax has unnecessary melodrama, which I felt weakened the film, and also made the characters seem more reprehensible.

There are some nice bits in the film, particularly between Joy and Mower. When Joy moves into his apartment, she sits down at what seems to be a piano, only to discover it's a hide-a-bed. She draws a bath for Mower, who has just come home from work, and he asks why, noting that it's only Tuesday. When his friends drop over unexpectedly, he invites them to stay for dinner, and they turn out to be boors. Then, Joy lights up in front of everyone, which makes Mower shoot daggers at her.

These mini-spats are far and away the best parts of the movie.