The Saturday Night Kid (1929) User Reviews (16)

Generally unexceptional but some sparkling Bow moments.

[RJV · 6/10 · 24 June 2000]

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.

Shop talk

[AlsExGal · 6/10 · 4 October 2015]

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.

Not your typical Clara Bow movie, but still not bad for 1929

[stwhite · 6/10 · 11 January 2004]

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

Clara Bow, Jean Arthur & Jean Harlow!

[drednm · 8 January 2006]

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.

Jean Arthur Steals This Movie on a Red Hot Platter!!!

[kidboots · 7/10 · 23 December 2010]

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.

The Saturday Night Kid review

[JoeytheBrit · 6/10 · 5 May 2020]

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.

Sibling Rivalry

[lugonian · 5/10 · 22 October 2018]

THE SATURDAY NIGHT KID (Paramount, 1929), directed by A. Edward Sutherland, might have been an appropriate title for a jazz-age movie about a fun-loving party girl meeting and dancing with an assortment of young men every Saturday night. For this feature, the title is used for only a remake of a recent silent feature about shop girl sisters in LOVE 'EM AND LEAVE 'EM (Paramount, 1926) starring Evelyn Brent, Lawrence Gray and Louise Brooks, directed by Frank Tuttle. Rather than having those three leading players reprise their roles in the latest sound edition based on the popular play by George Abbott, it was given to Clara Bow, James Hall and Jean Arthur instead. Having recently played a department store girl already in IT (Paramount, 1927), the movie that gave Bow her signature name as The "IT" Girl, it might have been more interesting to see how the movie might have turned out had Clara Bow starred in the sound remake of IT instead.

The basic plot deals with the Barry sisters, Mayme (Clara Bow) and Janie (Jean Arthur), a couple of New York City shop girls working for Ginsberg Department Store, residing in an apartment building overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge. Living next door to them is William Taylor (James Hall), a young clerk promoted to floorwalker at the same store, who happens to be loved by Mayme. After rising at 6:30 a.m. to prepare themselves for another day's work, the trio leave together, with Mayne and Bill traveling by bus while Janie hitches a faster ride in somebody else's automobile. As the employees gather together at a staff meeting headed by Mr. Ginsburg (Hyman Meyer), Miss Streeter (Edna May Oliver), the store's "oldest employee," arranges for the staging of an Employee's Welfare Club pageant. Janie, elected treasurer, uses the club money to give to landlord, Lem Woodruff (Charles Sellon), a bookie who cheats her of her winnings at off-track horse racing. Aside from having Mayme take the blame for the stolen money and talking her way out of staying late for inventory where Mayme fills in for her, Janie also takes further advantage of her sister by claiming Bill all to herself, causing friction for all concerned. Also in the cast are Ethel Wales (Lily Woodruff); Irving Bacon (Mr. McGonigle) and Mary Gordon. The blonde shop girl Hazel Carroll is played by the uncredited Jean Harlow (1911-1937). She can be spotted in a couple of brief scenes behind the counter, and later with her back of head towards the camera as she speaks a few lines of spoken dialogue.

Standard routine plot clocked at 62 minutes, THE SATURDAY NIGHT KID indicates the story might have been slightly longer had it not been for the noticeable jump-cut by the mid-way point. Some years before Jean Arthur would prove her range in comedies for Columbia Pictures, and work in three classic productions under the direction of Frank Capra, her conniving character gathers the most attention here, even though she might seem out of character by those familiar with her latter screen work. Arthur would return to shop girl/ department store roles to better advantage in EASY LIVING (Paramount, 1937) and THE DEVIL AND MISS JONES (RKO Radio, 1941), the latter highly recommended viewing. James Hall, the male co-star appearing much older than his true age, gets by with his man-in-the-middle-type performance. He would later appear opposite Jean Harlow in HELL'S ANGELS (United Artists, 1930), the epic war-drama that elevated Harlow from bit player to leading role status. Better known by film historians more for her silent productions than those produced during the sound era, THE SATURDAY NIGHT KID indicates how Bow might have succeeded better and longer in talkies had there been better scripts or more challenging roles in both comedy and drama to fit her needs. Quite good in comedy, Bow has her limited range here amusingly playing a gym appliance demonstrator at the store. Bow demonstrated her ability as a fine actress in both CALL HER SAVAGE (1932) and HOOPLA (1933), for Fox Studios before retiring from the screen forever. Yet her character as played in THE SATURDAY NIGHT KID is very much Bow material carried on from some from the silent movie era. Never distributed to video cassette, DVD nor presented on cable television, the film overall is a worthy rediscovery, especially those interested in the early films and career of both Jeans, Arthur or Harlow, or the "It" Girl Clara Bow with a new title name as "The Saturday Night Kid." (**)

Jean Arthur Outshines Clara Bow in Sibling Rivalry

[springfieldrental · 7/10 · 26 June 2022]

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.

Shopgirl sisters (one virtuous, one not) in love with the same man.

[Arne23 · 5/10 · 23 August 2011]

Shopgirl sisters, one fun loving but virtuous (Clara Bow), the other a conniving, selfish brat (Jean Arthur) are in love with a fellow Ginsberg department store employee (James Hall). Trite screenplay, lousy production values, terrible directing. Bow only really becomes interesting in the second half where she's finally given interesting things to do. Jean Arthur is quite good as the dissembling brat sister. James Hall is dull. Edna May Oliver does her thing (which I love) in her talkie debut, and an unbilled (and very young looking) Jean Harlow has a tiny but memorable speaking part (her first). Ultimately, this is for Bow fanatics only (I raise my hand), and for those who want to see the earliest sound film appearance of the fully formed Jean Harlow persona.

Bad Sister

[wes-connors · 4/10 · 5 August 2008]

Boarding house sisters Clara Bow (as Mayme Barry) and Jean Arthur (as Janie Barry) both work as salesgirls in "Ginsberg's Department Store". Ms. Bow is in love with dashing James Hall (as William "Bill" Taylor). Conveniently, Mr. Hall rooms at the same boarding house, and also works at "Ginsberg's". Her friends think Bow may give up her reputation as "The Saturday Night Kid", and marry Hall. But, Ms. Arthur has other plans; Bow's sneaky little sister "borrows" her underwear, perfume, money - and, finally, her man.

This sound re-make of "Love 'Em and Leave 'Em" puts Bow in the successful department store setting of "It". The locale, and situations, really don't work; but, the makeshift terrace party area looks great. Bow is fine as "Mayme", but she might have been better than Arthur as "Janie". Arthur's character is so transparent, and annoying, it's difficult to understand her extraordinary ability to deceive; and, this version of the play leaves her character "unresolved". Edna May Oliver (as Miss Streeter) makes an impressive sound debut, and Jean Harlow has a small role.

**** The Saturday Night Kid (10/25/29) A. Edward Sutherland ~ Clara Bow, Jean Arthur, James Hall

Jean Arthur Rising

[jayraskin1 · 9/10 · 5 August 2016]

Clara Bow and Jean Arthur both started starring in movies around 1924. Bow was 19 and Arthur was 24. In 1927, Bow reached super-stardom as the "It" girl in "It" and playing in first Academy Award Winning movie "Wings." So, now two years later you have superstar Bow, age 24 and star Arthur age 29 playing sisters.

Oddly, Arthur seems to be playing the younger sister. In the opening scene, Bow brazenly pulls up Arthur's dress and reveals Arthur's underwear for the camera. She accuses her sister of stealing her "step-ins". It establishes Clara as the dominant personality.

Later, there's a wonderful scene where both are in their underwear about to go to bed. Arthur has just stolen Bow's boyfriend. Bow prays, while Arthur hops into bed. She moans innocently, "I can't help it if he like me more than you." Bow snaps back, "Shut up, I'm saying my prayers." Bow is strong and gives a great performance, but its Arthur with a thin, almost squeaky, voice who steals every scene.

The movie moves briskly with nice scenes in a department store, on the street and on an apartment porch beneath what could be the Brooklyn Bridge.

Nice comic support is given by Edna Mae Oliver who plays a store manager putting on a pageant for Goldberg's, the store where the sisters work. In the play that she puts on, she casts Arthur as virtue and Bow as pleasure to show the triumph of virtue over pleasure. This is ironic as in the movie, they are playing the opposite roles.

Charles Sellon, the unforgettable Mr. Muckle in W.C. Fields "Its a Gift," also gives a great performance. He's gambler-neighbor who cons Arthur to give him money by reassuring her, "With me its not a gamble, but an investment." Bow would go on to make eight more films over the next four years and then quit movies forever in 1933 at the age of 28. On the other hand, Jean Arthur continued starring for twenty more years in classics like "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town," and "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington".

Some people will be disappointed because the film is pretty light weight. It is barely over an hour and basically climaxes just when it is getting most interesting. Still, watching Bow at the top of her game and Arthur rising to match her is delightful.

It's hard to see any potential for greatness in Jean Arthur's performace!

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 22 April 2018]

Through much of the 1930s and into the 40s, Jean Arthur was a big box office draw and a very popular actress. However, if you watch 1929's "The Saturday Night Kid", you'll see nothing that would indicate she would ever be a star. In fact, she's just awful! While IMDB says that the director hated Clara Bow's voice, it's practically gorgeous compared to Arthur's very high-pitched whining...and she whines through most of the picture. I can only assume that the director was somehow also at fault, as Ms. Arthur became an accomplished and likable actress....but here you just want to see someone slap her character and yell "Shut up!".

The film is about a couple of sisters. The older sister, Mayme (Clara Bow), is the responsible one who takes care of her younger sister, Janie (Jean Arthur). However, Janie is an adult and Mayme too often makes excuses for her. In fact, she helps enable Janie...and as a result, Janie is a sneaky god-awful creature...one who whines incessantly and who is so transparent...too transparent that you wonder how ANYONE would put up with her.

This is the problem with the film....Janie is such a whiner and is so obvious that it really destroys the movie. Clara Bow, despite some complaints about her acting, was actually just fine....but Arthur puts on one of the worst performances of her day. Thank goodness she learned to be more subtle, less whiny and truly endearing in future films.

Little to enjoy about this film except Clara Bow

[Philipp_Flersheim · 5/10 · 19 February 2022]

I have liked Jean Arthur for a long time and Clara Bow since I got to know her more recently and I wish I could rate 'The Saturday Night Kid' higher than 5 stars, but it really isn't a particularly good film. Bow is playing the responsible, honest sister of Arthur. There is absolutely nothing wrong with her acting or her voice, which some critics disliked. Both are good, and I enjoyed watching her as Mayme. But almost everything else in this film simply does not work. Judging by Arthur's performance here, you would never believe she would go on to become a star most often playing working girls with a heart of gold. In 'The Saturday Night Kid' her role as Janie is thoroughly negative: She is a devious sneak and a thief. That is of course not a bad thing in itself; most films have at least one villain. What is bad about it is that Arthur's acting is not up to the role. She gives the impression of unintentionally making her character even less likeable than it is in any case (I think that's mainly because of one factor: In her later films she used her grating voice to great comic effect; her, she is just whining). As for the others, Edna May Oliver is overacting and Jean Harlow fairly unremarkable. The male actors did not really register with me. The plot is in principle not bad, but director A. Edward Sutherland fails to give it the tempo and sparkle it demands. I caught myself glancing at my watch several times. The shortcomings of this picture have therefore nothing to do with the fact that it is an early talkie marred by technical problems. Rather, the responsibility lies with Arthur, who had not yet found her voice, and Sutherland, who spoiled a fundamentally good plot.

Paramount Not Up to Par

[boblipton · 4/10 · 6 December 2017]

Oh you kid! But which one? When Clara Bow and Jean Arthur are sisters and Jean Harlow has a small role, it's hard to make up your mind which is the Saturday Night Kid for you.

At least we can be sure it's not Edna May Oliver in her first talkie role. In this remake of 1926's LOVE THEM AND LEAVE THEM. Miss Bow and Miss Arthur are sisters who share a room in a boarding house . They're both sweet on fellow lodger James Hall -- who thinks of Clara as his girl -- and they all work at the same department store. When Miss Arthur, who is the pet of the store's formidable Miss Oliver, winds up in charge of the employees' welfare fund, she not only blows it on the horses, she makes a play for Mr. Hall and blames the loss on her sister.

There are a lot of problems with this movie. Overlay a nasal dem-dese-dose accent on Miss Arthur's squeaks, and you've got something very annoying; Miss Bow had been stress eating and was a few pounds over zoftig here, and the film was edited down to 64 minutes, so short that a lot of plot points are left hanging. B.P. Schulberg had been complaining for some time that Miss Bow needed better vehicles. Despite a formidable cohort, this was not it for the It Girl.

Solid foundations are troubled by a host of issues

[I_Ailurophile · 4/10 · 17 March 2024]

Sometimes I really feel that cinema lost something special with the advent of the talkie, and when it comes to the earliest years after sound was introduced to the medium, sometimes it's literally true. As this 1929 feature begins the use of synchronized audio at first feels emphatic, like the producers specifically wanted us to know "Yes, this is the new paradigm," epitomized with the alarm clock to first greet us. In some odds and ends of the writing - scenes, dialogue, and characters, and elements of the story - one can recognize a sense of lightheartedness that has endured to this day in like-minded comedies. Then again, most importantly: particularly in A. Edward Sutherland's direction but also in the acting, there is at many points an unnatural stilted quality to the proceedings, and a certain emptiness, that suggest everyone was still quite trying to figure out how sound was supposed to work. The sets appear larger than they are owing to the emptiness that fills them, a dearth of people that suggests uncertainty of how to filter out unwanted reverberations. At all such points 'The Saturday night kid' seems like it has less in common with its fellow movies than with television sitcoms of decades to follow, for all that's missing is a laugh track to fill the gaps where there is no dialogue or otherwise audio.

Such factors are unfortunate in the first place, deficiencies that put a mark on the whole, and moreover they do somewhat distract from the viewing experience. Further consider relatively flimsy, muddled sound generally, instances of some rough editing, and the way that plot development feels needlessly drawn out in light of all the stated issues, and this strikes me as an example of an early sound picture that doesn't necessarily hold up as well as some contemporaries. It's not that it's abjectly bad, and indeed there's much to admire here. Say what one will about how Sutherland made use of the sets, the production design and art direction are broadly solid; everyone working behind the scenes turned in good work, including costume design, hair, and makeup. There's some nice cinematography at points. Above all, this romantic comedy is founded on classic ideas, and despite difficulties in execution the screenplay is swell overall, and one could easily see the film remade in subsequent years. Still, even Hollywood megastar Clara Bow seems to be having a hard time situating herself amidst all this; some of her co-stars fare much worse, with Jean Arthur arguably being the weakest link - and she is billed just under Bow!

The sad result of all this is that 'The Saturday night kid' just isn't nearly as fun as it's supposed to be. Why, though at large it falls in the "rom-com" category, since the humor has such a hard time coming through under all these circumstances, the underlying dramatic beats are artificially made to feel much more severe; Janie, as a character, being robbed of such mirth, simply comes off as bitterly cruel and selfish. The title remains enjoyable in some measure, but in the more generic sense of providing no greater amount of entertainment than the baseline we can get from pretty much anything, a frivolous diversion of light and sound. Take into account the problems that plague it in multiple capacities, and when all is said and done watching is kind of just taxing, something we must actively work to appreciate. I don't hate this flick, but to the same extent that we initially observe some idiosyncrasies, over time straight flaws become more prevalent, culminating in an ending that's decidedly curt and abrupt, seeming to come out of nowhere. There are worse ways to spend your time, but one hour feels longer than it is, and unless you're a diehard fan of someone involved, nearly 100 years later I regret to say there's not much reason to check out 'The Saturday night kid.'

Such Devoted Sisters

[richardchatten · 8/10 · 12 February 2024]

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.