Saturday’s Children *** (1940, John Garfield, Claude Rains, Anne Shirley, Lee Patrick) – Classic Movie Review 12,120

Director Vincent Sherman’s 1940 Warner Bros black and white drama film Saturday’s Children stars John Garfield, Claude Rains, Anne Shirley and Lee Patrick.

Love blossoms for unlikely couple Rims Rosson (John Garfield) and his fellow employee, the 22-year-old Bobby Halevy (Anne Shirley). Rims (Garfield) is lost in dreams of inventions and Bobby (Shirley) works her knuckles to the bone to rise in the world. Bobby is talked into tricking Rims into marriage but their lack of cash causes them to drift apart.

Saturday’s Children is a low-key, though enjoyable version of Maxwell Anderson’s 1927 Pulitzer Prize play, first filmed as a 1929 silent and then as Maybe It’s Love in 1935. Decent though the star pair are, it is Rains as Shirley’s father who makes the film really worthwhile. There is a solid Warner Bros support cast, Julius J Epstein and Philip G Epstein carve out a very good screenplay and it is stylishly shot in black and white by James Wong Howe.

Also in the cast are George Tobias, Roscoe Karns, Elizabeth Risdon, Berton Churchill, Dennie Moore, Elisabeth Risdon, John Qualen, Tom Dugan, John Ridgely, Margot Stevenson, Claude Wisberg, Jack Mower, Glen Cavender, Gus Glassmire, Frank Faylen, Nell O’Day, Creighton Hale, Maris Wrixon, Lucile Fairbanks, Paul Panzer, Tom D’Andrea, and Sam Flint.

Saturday’s Children is directed by Vincent Sherman, runs 101 minutes, is made and released by Warner Bros, Julius J Epstein and Philip G Epstein, is shot in black and white by James Wong Howe, is produced by Jack L Warner, Hal B Wallis and Henry Blanke, is scored by Adolphe Deutsch, and designed by Hugh Reticker.

The cast are John Garfield as Rims Rosson, Anne Shirley as Bobby Halevy, Claude Rains as Mr Halevy, Lee Patrick as Florrie Sands, George Tobias as Herbie Smith, Roscoe Karns as Willie Sands, Dennie Moore as Gertrude Mills, Elisabeth Risdon as Mrs Halevy, Berton Churchill as Mr Norman, Lucile Fairbanks as a nurse, John Qualen as first carpenter, Tom Dugan, John Ridgely, Margot Stevenson, Claude Wisberg, Jack Mower, Glen Cavender, Gus Glassmire, Frank Faylen, Nell O’Day, Creighton Hale, Maris Wrixon, Paul Panzer, Tom D’Andrea, and Sam Flint.

Warner Bros cast Priscilla Lane but Garfield feared the Lane Sisters would be written in as well so he persuaded the studio to borrow Shirley from RKO instead. Garfield was proud of his restrained performance and Julius Epstein thought it was the closest the actor ever came to playing his real self.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,120

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