Hot Saturday

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

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 America, everyone knows everyone else's business, and gossip flies fast. That's why bank teller Nancy Carroll is careful to go out in a big group and never stay out too late. She's usually glad to have a good reputation; but when she has a bad day at the office and her parents won't stop fighting, she doesn't care anymore. She goes out in a big group one Saturday night, but she openly flirts with notorious playboy Cary Grant. When her escort takes her out on the lake for some private time, she wiggles free and runs off to be with Cary instead! Do you think that'll send the gossip mill running?

Although he gets a higher billing, Randolph Scott has a much smaller part than Cary Grant. Cary is the "ungettable get" with tons of money and nothing to do. His pre-stardom makeup makes him look very weird, however, and if you look closely you can get a glimpse of his old teeth. When Scottie McScottie Pants comes on the scene, he's just gorgeous. Messy hair flopping in his face, smiles for miles, and a passion for geology even though there's no money in it. He's got my vote! But who would you pick? Watch this old movie for some pre-Code giggles and a very old-fashioned premise. Nancy Carroll is just as cute as it gets; I wonder why didn't become as big a star as her contemporaries like Carole Lombard or Jean Harlow.

Ruth (Nancy Carroll) is a bank clerk in a small town where the only diversion for young adults is a dance hall named Willow Springs outside of town. Ruth is pursued by a number of young men, including a wealthy playboy, Romer Sheffield (Cary Grant). She is very successful at keeping them all at arm's length, though she occasionally enjoys tempting them.

After Ruth returns home later than usual, the town's rumor mill--spurred by rival Eva--has a heyday. With her reputation ruined, Ruth makes some choices that are life-altering.

The music that accompanies the opening credits might lead the viewer to expect a madcap comedy. It is nothing of the sort. It is a scathing depiction of small-town society. However, the ending--which is, if nothing else, confusing--suggests that the film is (also) a cautionary tale. Whichever way you interpret it, this film is very interesting.

The acting is good. Nancy Carroll shines. Cary Grant and Randolph Scott are strong in their roles.

Hot Saturday (1932)

There are a few early Cary Grant movies where he has a small role, or where he isn't quite the "Cary Grant" we have come to expect (and which he always jokingly said he wanted to become himself). But this one is pure, true Grant, and very early, indeed. But even better, the plot, the mise-en-scene (including town scenes, domestic situations, and a range of outdoor stuff at the lake including a bohemian roadhouse on the water), and the photography are amazing. I mean amazing. There are a few stumbles in the acting, but you get so swept along, and so continually surprised, this won't matter much at all.

The director of all this gets a huge amount of credit, because William Seiter who pulls the best out of the cast and the crew, equally--and who presumably helped choose some terrific location shots as well as matching studio scenes. Seiter was a Hollywood working man director, doing lesser A-list films and making them decent, though none that I've seen (a small fraction of a huge output from the 20s to the 40s) has the energy and flair of this one. And this is an unsung one, definitely worth seeking out.

Likewise, Arthur Todd behind the camera did a dumpload of good if unamazing films, and so it was with the music and set design. But the leading lady is another story. Nancy Carroll really steals the show, even from Grant and the other leading male, the rather wooden and handsome Randolph Scott. She has a kind of live-wire, doll-face quality a little similar to Claudette Colbert, easily as amazing in this film. Carroll supposedly had more fan mail than any actress in this era of Hollywood, and was contracted with Paramount (which was the studio here). But she was so difficult to work with offscreen (rejecting many parts) they let her go, and her career slid, and she probably missed out on another higher kind of stardom.

But here she is alive, sympathetic, and complex on screen. If Cary Grant isn't enough to lure you in, give Carroll her due.

This is of course a pre-code film (widely advertised as such) and in fact the looseness of the events, the morality of the lead, and the suggestive scenes (never explicit) all help make this come alive. The dance and party scenes are so much fun you'll wish you were there, and the cave in the storm as well as the night scenes in the woods are pretty amazing, too. The end will prove, again, both the ability of pre-code films to touch on real life issues, and the need of even these kinds of films to have a moral compass by the end. The very last few seconds takes care of this.

Great stuff. A huge surprise for me.