Saturday's Children (1940)

Pretty Bobby Halevy loves Rims Rosson, a dreamer and inventor without much going for him. Rims has a scheme of going to Manila to turn hemp into silk and become rich. But when one of her ... See full summary »

Director:

Vincent Sherman

Writers:

Julius J. Epstein (screen play), Philip G. Epstein (screen play),

Stars:

John Garfield, Anne Shirley, Claude Rains

Cast

Complete credited cast:
John Garfield	...	Rims Rosson
Anne Shirley	...	Bobby Halevy
Claude Rains	...	Mr. Halevy
Roscoe Karns	...	Willie Sands
Lee Patrick	...	Florrie Sands
Dennie Moore	...	Gertrude Mills
George Tobias	...	Herbert Smith
Elisabeth Risdon	...	Mrs. Halevy (as Elizabeth Risdon)
Berton Churchill	...	Mr. Norman

Storyline

Pretty Bobby Halevy loves Rims Rosson, a dreamer and inventor without much going for him. Rims has a scheme of going to Manila to turn hemp into silk and become rich. But when one of her family talks Bobby into tricking Rims into marriage, the real world comes crashing down on the couple.

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Plot Keywords:

silk | inventor | marriage | love | hemp | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 May 1940 (USA)

Also Known As:

Confiança no Futuro

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on June 2, 1947 with John Garfield reprising his film role.

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Goofs

Anne Shirley gives John Garfield the number combination to open his door-lock invention (made with a telephone dial), but Garfield dials a completely different number to open it.

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Quotes

Willie Sands: Two can live as cheap as one... if one don't eat!

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Connections

Version of Saturday's Children (1929)

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Soundtracks

"For He's a Jolly Good Fellow"
(uncredited)
Traditional
Played, sung and danced at the going away party by the guests

User Reviews

Would You Believe Humphrey Bogart Originated Garfield's Role?

This version of Saturday's Children is the third film version of a popular Maxwell Anderson play that ran for 326 performances on Broadway during the 1927-28 season. It's a story of young love with sad to say a most miscast John Garfield.

Of course Garfield might not have thought so since back on stage the role he plays as the young calf-eyed Rube Goldberg inventor was originated by none other than fellow Warner Brothers tough guy Humphrey Bogart. Hard to believe, but Bogey on stage played those kind of roles until The Petrified Forest changed his image. He and Ruth Gordon starred in the stage version.

But image is everything and Garfield's similar image of a tough guy was set in the mind of the movie-going public then. Garfield insisted on doing this film and Jack Warner gave in. But when it flopped at the box office and it did, Warner was ready with the 'I told you so'.

A silent version was done with Grant Withers and Corinne Griffith in 1928 and Warner Brothers later did the story again in 1935 with a more suitable Ross Alexander in the lead opposite Gloria Stuart.

I suppose it was the thing back then for young marrieds to live with their parents. This film has Garfield and Anne Shirley living with her parents, Claude Rains and Elizabeth Risdon, along with other married sister Lee Patrick and her husband Roscoe Karns. No wonder these two want a little privacy.

Rains brings Shirley to work in the office where he is a clerk and there she meets Garfield whom she falls for. Garfield is like George Bailey, a guy with an itch to do great things and sees an opportunity in the Phillipines for adventurous type work. But now he's got a wife who doesn't quite share that disposition.

The best performance in the film belongs to Claude Rains. He almost makes quite the sacrifice to keep our young folk together.

Even with a John Garfield that you can't quite get over, Saturday's Children is a nice film about people in love. That's a formula that always sells.