Hot Saturday *** (1932, Cary Grant, Nancy Carroll, Randolph Scott) – Classic Movie Review 6603

When Cary met Randy.

Director William A Seiter’s likeable 1932 American pre-Code drama programmer film Hot Saturday stars Nancy Carroll (real name Ann LaHiff) as bank employee Ruth Brock, who is engaged to upright Bill Fadden (Scott) but she has a bad reputation with the men.

Then she gets fired from her bank job and is given the elbow by Scott through the malicious gossip of small-town, small-minded rumour-mongers that she is really attracted to super-rich millionaire playboy Romer Sheffield (Cary Grant). So understandably she feels she might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb. They call her bad, so she tries to live and love up to or rather down to her name!

Cary Grant and Randolph Scott appeared together in Hot Saturday (1932) and lived together in a beach house called Bachelor Hall.

Hot Saturday is a feisty, warm-hearted pre-Production Code romantic drama, with an appealing role well taken by the endearing Carroll, and two impressive performances by the upcoming male leads, who met on the set of this movie, became close friends and lived together for a decade in a beach house known jocularly as Bachelor Hall. Talking about rumour-mongers, there were plenty of rumours about Cary and Randy.

That seems a happy story, but sadly, after this, Carroll ran out of decent scripts and quarrelled with Paramount, who let her go in 1933, and her stardom was over by 1938. On the other hand, Hot Saturday is notable as Grant’s first role as a leading man. He made his film debut in the same year, 1932, with This Is the Night, followed by four other previous features that year. His seventh 1932 film Madame Butterfly followed.

Also in the cast are Edward Woods as Conny Billop, [Lilian] Lillian Bond as Eva Randolph, Jane Darwell and William Collier Sr as Mrs and Mr Brock, Stanley Smith, Rita La Roy, Rose Coghlan II, Oscar Apfel, Grady Sutton, and Jessie Arnold.

Hot Saturday is based on a 1926 novel by Harvey Fergusson, adapted by Josephine Lovett and Joseph Moncure March. It runs 73 minutes, is made and released by Paramount Pictures, written by Seton I Miller, shot in black and white by Arthur L Todd, produced by William LeBaron and scored by John Leipold.

It was released in the US on 28 October 1932.

Grant and Scott went on to make My Favorite Wife together.

The cast are Cary Grant as Romer Sheffield, Nancy Carroll as Ruth Brock, Randolph Scott as Bill Fadden, Edward Woods as Conny Billop, Lilian Bond as Eva Randolph, William Collier Sr as Ruth’s father Mr Brock, Jane Darwell as Mrs Brock, Stanley Smith as Joe, Rita La Roy as Camille, Rose Coghlan as Ruth’s younger sister Annie Brock, Oscar Apfel as Mr. Randolph, Jessie Arnold as Aunt Minnie, Grady Sutton as bank teller Archie.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6603

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