Saturday's Children

Maxwell Anderson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play had already been filmed by Greg La Cava in 1929 and as MAYBE IT'S LOVE in 1935 before this one was attempted. Garfield was sick of playing louts and gangsters and begged for a role he could sink his teeth into. He did an admirable job here, but the movie sunk quickly. Warner Bros. liked stories about average Joes, and this is a good example. Shirley--who replaced Jane Bryant when she retired and de Havilland when she refused the role--is the daughter of Rains, an amiable, if dull, man. She takes a job at Rains' office, then meets Garfield, a slow-witted but likable inventor who has a penchant for devising strange contr...