Saturday's Children (1940 film)

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]

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 (1940-05-04) (New York City) May 11, 1940 (1940-05-11) (United States)
Running time	103 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

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]