Saturday's Children (1940 film)

Saturday's Children
Saturday's Children
Directed by	Vincent Sherman
Written by	Julius J. Epstein; Philip Epstein
Based on	Saturday's Children; 1927 play; by Maxwell Anderson
Produced by	Hal B. Wallis
Starring	John Garfield; Anne Shirley; Claude Rains
Cinematography	James Wong Howe
Edited by	Owen Marks
Music by	Leo F. Forbstein; Adolph Deutsch
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release dates	May 4, 1940 (New York City); May 11, 1940 (United States);
Running time	103 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Saturday's Children is a 1940 American drama film directed by Vincent Sherman and starring John Garfield, Anne Shirley, and Claude Rains. It is a third-time remake of the original Maxwell Anderson play with a previous version released in 1935 under the title Maybe It's Love.^[1]

Plot

Twenty-two-year-old Bobby Halevy (Anne Shirley) falls in love with her fellow employee, Rims Rosson (John Garfield). Rosson is an idealistic dreamer and would-be inventor whose get-rich scheme is going off to Manila to turn hemp into silk. Their romance flourishes until Bobby is talked into tricking Rims into marriage. Living poor and on the verge of breaking up, the couple realizes that there is more to life than having a lot of money.

Cast

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
Elizabeth Risdon as Mrs. Halevy
Berton Churchill as Mr. Norman
Lucile Fairbanks as a nurse (uncredited)
John Qualen as first carpenter (uncredited)

Production

Warners originally cast Priscilla Lane in the lead but Garfield was sure that the Lane Sisters would somehow have to be written in as well. He used his influence to get the studio to borrow Shirley from RKO. Julius Epstein thought Garfield's performance was the closest he came to playing his real self. Usually discontented with the way he was typecast by the studio, Garfield was unusually proud of his restrained characterization.^[2]

Radio adaptation

Saturday's Children was presented on Screen Guild Players June 2, 1947. The 30-minute adaptation starred Garfield and Jane Wyman.^[3]

References

^ Crowther, Bosley (May 4, 1940). "THE SCREEN; John Garfield and Anne Shirley Seen at Strand in 'Saturday's Children'". The New York Times. Retrieved September 8, 2011.
^ Swindell, Larry (1975). Body and Soul. New York: William Morrow & co. pp. 164–5. ISBN 0-688-02907-8.
^ "Those Were the Days". Nostalgia Digest. 35 (2): 32–39. Spring 2009.

External links

Saturday's Children at IMDb
Saturday's Children at the TCM Movie Database
Saturday's Children at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films

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[Crowther-1] Crowther, Bosley (May 4, 1940). "THE SCREEN; John Garfield and Anne Shirley Seen at Strand in 'Saturday's Children'". The New York Times. Retrieved September 8, 2011.

[2] Swindell, Larry (1975). Body and Soul. New York: William Morrow & co. pp. 164–5. ISBN 0-688-02907-8.

[3] "Those Were the Days". Nostalgia Digest. 35 (2): 32–39. Spring 2009.

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