SATURDAY’S CHILDREN

US, 1940, 102 minutes, Black and white.
John Garfield, Anne Shirley, Claude Rains, Roscoe Karns, Lee Patrick, Dennie Moore, George Tobias, Elisabeth Risdon.
Directed by Vincent Sherman.

Saturday’s Children is based on a play by Pulitzer Prize-winning Maxwell Anderson, author of such plays and films as The Petrified Forest, Winterset and Joan of Lorraine. It was adapted by the Epstein brothers who wrote many screenplays for Warner Bros at this time, winning an Oscar for Casablanca.

The film shows an ordinary family in New York City in the 30s. Claude Rains, in a rather sympathetic role, plays the sardonic father of the family who has had a job in accounting for many years and feels that he has achieved nothing with his life. Elisabeth Risdon is his loving but critical wife. Lee Patrick is his older daughter, living at home with her husband, Roscoe Karns, whom she is continually criticising. However, the focus of the film is on Anne Shirley, as the younger daughter who goes to work in the office with her father. She encounters there an inventor and dreamer, played by John Garfield, falls in love with him. They marry, she tricking him in pretending that she has another boyfriend, he wanting to go to Manila to work on an invention, hemp being turned into silk. When his job is cut and his salary, be becomes despairing, his wife confesses the truth, she offers him the freedom to go to Manila to pursue his dream even though she is pregnant. The surprising aspect of the film is that the father then decides that he will kill himself so that his payout will help the couple to go to Manila. However, as he complains later, he doesn’t succeed in this as he has not succeeded in anything in his life. However, the film has a light and happy and hopeful ending.

The film seems rather dated now, a glimpse of life in the 1930s. However, it comes from the golden years of Hollywood and has some values in reflecting on the pressures on ordinary people. While Anne Shirley is quite luminous in the central role, John Garfield seems entirely the wrong actor for this kind of low-key dreamer. He was much more successful in gangster films or in harsh dramas like Body and Soul and Force of Evil. The film was directed by Vincent Sherman who had a successful career at Warner Bros from the late 1930s (Mr Skeffington, Old Acquaintance) but whose career was overshadowed by accusations of being a communist and his supporting John Garfield. However, he continued to make films and direct television series into his mid-seventies.

1. A film of 1940, social concerns, the 1930s, the atmosphere of America pre-war, the ordinary US family?

2. Maxwell Anderson, his films, film adaptations, awards?

3. Warner Bros production values, the cast, black and white photography, the city and its environs, the musical score? Audiences able to identify with the characters?

4. Saturday’s Children – and their having far to go? For the theme of the film?

5. The focus on Henry Halevy, his wife complaining, getting him up in the morning, sparring with her, her knitting the jumper, his breakfast, his daughters, Florrie and her husband living at home, their complaints, his love for Bobby? Her getting him up each morning, the glass of water? Bobby’s first day, the discussion with the boss? His low self-esteem, working in accounts, putting himself down? The man collapsing, Rims helping? Noticing his daughter’s attraction? Encouraging her with Rims? The marriage, setting up home, his support for her? Her confession to her father, the issue of the pregnancy, the money? Encouraging Rims, the need for the thousand dollars? His decision to kill himself, going to the office, the failure of the attempt? His being in hospital, bringing the two together? An interesting character?

6. The family, Myrtle and her managing the home, Florrie and her harping against her husband, the husband and his bringing breakfast in bed, the victim of the banter?

7. Bobby at twenty-two, vitality, at home, going to work, meeting Gertie, the discussions, going to the socials, the encounters with Rims, the collapse of the man in the office, going to the social, falling in love, her being advised to trick Rims with another boyfriend? The marriage? Hard times, the salary cuts? Having to move back with her parents, the fact of her pregnancy? Rims and his wanting to go to Manila, his inventions? Bobby confessing the truth to him, letting him free, his going to Manila, the ticket? The impact of Henry’s suicide attempt? Rims and his reaction, his resolution, going to Manila at another time, looking forward to the pregnancy?

8. Rims as a nice man, inventor, up in the air, helping Bobby with the Spanish accounts, the social, falling in love, the marriage, hopes, Bobby tearing up the letter from Manila, his wanting to go, his not knowing about the pregnancy, the final discussions, the separation, earnest, the phone call, going to the hospital, the decision to pray, his reaction to the pregnancy?

9. Gertie, the best friend character, her repartee? With Herbie? Her advice for Bobby, her reaction to Rims?

10. A portrait of the times, social issues, then and now?