Saturday's Children (1940 film)

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Saturday's Children
Directed byVincent Sherman
Written byJulius J. Epstein
Philip Epstein
Based onSaturday's Children
1927 play
by Maxwell Anderson
Produced byHal B. Wallis
StarringJohn Garfield
Anne Shirley
Claude Rains
CinematographyJames Wong Howe
Edited byOwen Marks
Music byLeo F. Forbstein
Adolph Deutsch
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release dates
  • May 4, 1940 (1940-05-04) (New York City)
  • May 11, 1940 (1940-05-11) (United States)
Running time
103 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

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[edit]

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[edit]

Production[edit]

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[edit]

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

References[edit]

  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.

External links[edit]