La cadette

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.

Hard-living was visibly taking its toll on Clara Bow by the end of the roaring twenties, hence her casting as Jean Arthur's wiser older sister in this disarming preCode quickie that establishes its tone of breezy amorality from the very outset when Miss Bow is required to postpone her morning bath since her friendly neighbourhood bootlegger, racing tipster & gambler Charles Sellon is using the tub to manufacture his liquor.

It's Clara who assumes the mantle of responsibility when little sister loses Edna Mae Oliver's welfare fund betting on a horse (while the film itself contains a remarkable but generally overlooked moment in film history where Bow and Arthur fleetingly get to share the screen with Jean Harlow).

In conclusion, aside from the novelty of seeing Miss Arthur boyishly bobbed as a flapper, after a nondescript career in silents the advent of talkies finally enabled to unleash that extraordinary voice.

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.

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