TinsHeadline Touches You

Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

calvinnme Most of the plot revolves around a New York City department store - "Ginsberg's" - that like so many department stores up until the middle of the 20th century were run by the actual founder of the same name. There is an actual Mr. Ginsberg in the cast. It reminds me a little of "It's a Great Life" made the same year, although the sisters working at Ginsberg's here are hardly the Duncan sisters as far as teamwork and sister love. It does gives you a feel for what a dictatorship these big dynastic department stores were at that time. They apparently paid people a living wage, but a living wage was considered enough to make it sharing a room in a cheap boarding house, as sisters Mayme Barry (Clara Bow) and Janie Barry (Jean Arthur) are doing here.The gist of the story is that Mayme and Janie are clerks at Ginsberg's. Mayme is called "The Saturday Night Kid" because she hardly ever misses going out on a Saturday night - until she meets fellow clerk William Taylor (James Hall). Mayme's personality is defined by loyalty and sensitivity when hurt by those she cares about, although she puts on a hard shell to pretend nothing hurts her. Jean Arthur, as sister Janie is the sneak. She's weak and selfish, and is capable of being a weasel and a liar to get out of a bad situation. She feels bad about it later, she just has no spine or character. Now Mayme has fallen hard for Bill, but after he becomes a floorwalker - a big promotion in those days - he gets snooty with her and hurts her badly. She breaks up with him. Sister Janie has always had a crush on Bill, and although she doesn't outright try and steal him from Mayme, she tells some lies to make herself look good at Mayme's expense, to the point of getting Mayme possibly sent to jail! What do I mean by this and how does all of this work out? Watch and find out.My favorite scene - Mayme is having the gang from work over to her apartment and they have a kind of dining room situation on the roof outside their window with the Brooklyn Bridge in the background. The way the conversation flows between characters is quite mature considering this is the first full year of talking pictures.One more thing, even though to me it was a tie as to whether Clara Bow or Jean Arthur owned this picture - Clara with her wise flapper persona and Jean with this whiny unlikeable character she plays that makes you scratch your head when you think about all of the wise likable parts that were to come, Edna May Oliver sure takes the cake with an early performance as a supervisor at Ginsberg's in this, only her first sound performance. You can really see the comic potential there, and apparently so could RKO, because they snapped her up immediately afterward.

kidboots Even though "Love 'em and Leave 'em" had been a Louise Brooks vehicle in 1926, that didn't stop Paramount from lifting the plot and refashioning it into "The Saturday Night Kid" for Clara Bow in 1929. As Clara often said she was given "any old story that was fished out of a rubbish bin"!!! To add personal insult to injury, Edward Sutherland was assigned to direct it. Louise Brooks, who was married to Sutherland, wrote that Sutherland always excluded Bow from parties and gatherings - he didn't think Bow was of their "class" - even though Brooks begged him to invite Clara.Mayme (Clara Bow) and Janie (Jean Arthur) are sisters - they both work at Ginsbergs' Department Store - but while Mayme is in love with dependable Bill (James Hall), Janie is on the look out for money. "Poor kid, she doesn't know what it's all about" worries Mayme, then when they see her driving past in a flashy car Bill quips "I'd hate to see her when she wises up"!! From the first scene Janie shows she is not to be trusted - borrowing Mayme's "step ins" and perfume - she is also not above betting heavily on the races. Jean Arthur steals the movie "on a red hot platter". Her's is the only role with any get up and go and her husky voice is very pleasing. Janie does her best to drive a wedge between the cute couple and at a rooftop party, Mayme gets fed up - "I'm just a Saturday Night Kid, the love 'em and leave 'em kind" - I thought now for some Clara Bow action, but it was not to be. She was the good girl, the nice sister and as such had to hang around while her "bad" sister got all the attention. Janie gets deeper and deeper into debt and gambles with the store's welfare fund (she is the treasurer). She confesses what she has done to Mayme, who wins back the money in a crap game. Janie, though, has already told Mrs. Streeter (the glorious Edna May Oliver) that Mayme is the thief and when Mayme turns up with the money she (Mayme) is sacked. All ends well for Mayme and Bill - he overhears the girls talking and realises Janie is the sneak - not that he ever doubted Mayme's honesty.True to Clara's generous spirit - there was one actress, a bit player, whose confidence was really boosted - that was Jean Harlow. Bow, as always, took the newcomer under her wing. There was a beautiful evening dress that was designed for Clara but she insisted that Jean wear the dress. Not only that but Clara also insisted that they both have photographs taken together - that apparently was simply not done - stars just didn't pose with beautiful bit players!!! Not Clara, who said "She's a good kid, I just want to help her out!!!Recommended.

drednm 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.

Raymond Valinoti, Jr. 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.