I have liked Jean Arthur for a long time and Clara Bow since I got to know her more recently and I wish I could rate 'The Saturday Night Kid' higher than 5 stars, but it really isn't a particularly good film. Bow is playing the responsible, honest sister of Arthur. There is absolutely nothing wrong with her acting or her voice, which some critics disliked. Both are good, and I enjoyed watching her as Mayme. But almost everything else in this film simply does not work. Judging by Arthur's performance here, you would never believe she would go on to become a star most often playing working girls with a heart of gold. In 'The Saturday Night Kid' her role as Janie is thoroughly negative: She is a devious sneak and a thief. That is of course not a bad thing in itself; most films have at least one villain. What is bad about it is that Arthur's acting is not up to the role. She gives the impression of unintentionally making her character even less likeable than it is in any case (I think that's mainly because of one factor: In her later films she used her grating voice to great comic effect; her, she is just whining). As for the others, Edna May Oliver is overacting and Jean Harlow fairly unremarkable. The male actors did not really register with me. The plot is in principle not bad, but director A. Edward Sutherland fails to give it the tempo and sparkle it demands. I caught myself glancing at my watch several times. The shortcomings of this picture have therefore nothing to do with the fact that it is an early talkie marred by technical problems. Rather, the responsibility lies with Arthur, who had not yet found her voice, and Sutherland, who spoiled a fundamentally good plot.
Review of The Saturday Night Kid
