Review of Saturday Night

A complete, beautifully tinted copy in first-class condition is now available on a superb Alpha DVD. Alas, at 95 minutes, the movie does tend to out-stay its welcome even though affairs come to the sort of spectacular thousands-of-extras climax that we expect of director Cecil B. DeMille. Frankly, I didn't find the story quite engaging enough, despite the charm of Edith Roberts whom I'd not even heard of before, even though her impressive list of 158 acting credits run from 1915 through 1929. Here she steals the movie as the misplaced Irish lass, although Leatrice Joy gives her a good run for the money. Conrad Nagel is the society playboy and he's pretty much his usual stuffy self, despite the lack of sound, while Jack Mower (602 credits, would you believe, from 1914 through 1963) is appropriately nasty and surly as the unsympathetic chauffeur who marries the heiress and then proceeds to put her in her place – or rather in his place!