Hot Saturday (1932)
*** (out of 4)
Ruth Brock (Nancy Carroll) lives in a very small town where everyone knows the other person's business. The whole town loves to gossip with a lot of it being about Romer Sheffield (Cary Grant) who is a notorious womanizer. One day Ruth and Romer strike up a friendship and a jealous man decides to spread a vicious rumor and pretty soon the whole town turns on Ruth.
HOT Saturday is a morality tale about how stupid people in stupid small towns like to play moral cops and will throw away anyone they feel is beneath them. Obviously this film could hit home even today as gossip still runs rampant and is even more so on something like social media. If you're looking for a flawless movie or even a classic one then this really isn't that but at the same time it's a rather charming and entertaining film that's certainly worth watching.
It should go without saying but the highlight of the films are the actual performances. I really enjoyed Carroll in the lead as she was very believable in the role of the woman with morals who finds herself being attacked by a bunch of rumors. I really did think Carroll got the "good girl" aspect correct and she kept you glued to what was going on. Grant is also very good playing the playboy who isn't quite as shallow as some would believe. Randolph Scott is good as her eventual love interest and Jane Darwell is exceptionally good as the rather bad mother. Grady Sutton also has a nice role as does Edward Woods as a real slime-ball who sadly never gets his due in the picture.
Director William A. Seiter does a good job with the material even though there's certainly nothing ground-breaking here. The story is a quite simple one and it gets its point across without having to become too preachy.
*** (out of 4)
Ruth Brock (Nancy Carroll) lives in a very small town where everyone knows the other person's business. The whole town loves to gossip with a lot of it being about Romer Sheffield (Cary Grant) who is a notorious womanizer. One day Ruth and Romer strike up a friendship and a jealous man decides to spread a vicious rumor and pretty soon the whole town turns on Ruth.
HOT Saturday is a morality tale about how stupid people in stupid small towns like to play moral cops and will throw away anyone they feel is beneath them. Obviously this film could hit home even today as gossip still runs rampant and is even more so on something like social media. If you're looking for a flawless movie or even a classic one then this really isn't that but at the same time it's a rather charming and entertaining film that's certainly worth watching.
It should go without saying but the highlight of the films are the actual performances. I really enjoyed Carroll in the lead as she was very believable in the role of the woman with morals who finds herself being attacked by a bunch of rumors. I really did think Carroll got the "good girl" aspect correct and she kept you glued to what was going on. Grant is also very good playing the playboy who isn't quite as shallow as some would believe. Randolph Scott is good as her eventual love interest and Jane Darwell is exceptionally good as the rather bad mother. Grady Sutton also has a nice role as does Edward Woods as a real slime-ball who sadly never gets his due in the picture.
Director William A. Seiter does a good job with the material even though there's certainly nothing ground-breaking here. The story is a quite simple one and it gets its point across without having to become too preachy.