Pre-Code: Hot Saturday(1932) with Cary Grant.

Hot Saturday(1932). A drama film directed by William A. Seiter. Cast: Nancy Carroll, Cary Grant and Randolph Scott. Based on the novel Hot Saturday by Harvey Fergusson.

The film was Cary Grant's first movie as leading man.

Carole Lombard was mentioned for the role eventually played by Nancy Carroll.

Hot Saturday was released on DVD as part of a three disc, six film set entitled Pre-Code Hollywood Collection on April 7, 2009.

Young people in small town America, enjoy spending their Hot Saturday nights at Willow Springs, a lakeside dance hall. Wealthy, Romer Sheffield, owns a summer home on the lake, sets his cap for Ruth Brock, who works at the town bank owned by Mr. Randolph.

To please Ruth, Romer hosts a party for her friends on Saturday evening. Although Ruth arrives at the party with Connie, she spends the evening with Romer, when she returns to the party she finds that everyone has left for Willow Springs.

When Ruth and Connie go for a boat ride, she refuses to neck with him and he leaves her stranded on the beach. Walking through the woods, Ruth finds Romer's house and innocently spends the night with him.

When evil Eva, the banker's daughter, sees Ruth arriving home in Romer's car, she starts a rumor that Ruth spent the night with Romer.

After arriving home, Ruth finds Bill Fadden, in her kitchen. Bill is about to leave on a geological survey.

Ruth's reputation is ruined by Monday morning and to make matters worse Mr. Randolph fires her. Although her father defends her, Ruth's mother believes the gossip and is more worried about the family's loss of income than Ruth.

Ruth runs away in a rain storm to Bill's camp, where they make plans to marry.

While at Willow Springs dance, Romer, asks Ruth to dance, but leaves when he learns she is to be married. Bill, overhears Connie talking about the scandal and is furious that Ruth did not tell him about Romer. Realizing Bill does not trust her, Ruth leaves with Romer. Who is Ruth going to decide to marry?

Nancy Carroll, (who looks a little like Claudette Colbert), does a wonderful job in her performance as an innocent young girl, who is almost destroyed by evil gossip. Cary Grant, is very charming cad and a joy to watch. The ending is a lie that turns into the truth..

Nancy Carroll (November 19, 1903 – August 6, 1965), she and her sister once performed a dancing act in a local contest of amateur talent. This led her to a stage career and then to the screen.

She began her acting career in Broadway musicals.

She became a successful actress in "talkies" because her musical background enabled her to play in the movie musicals of the 1930's.

Her film debut was in Ladies Must Dress in 1927.

In 1928 she made eight films. One of them, Easy Come, Easy Go, co-starring Richard Dix, made her a star.


In 1930 she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Devil's Holiday.

Among her other films:  Laughter (1930), Paramount on Parade (1930), Hot Saturday (1932) with Cary Grant and Randolph Scott, The Kiss Before the Mirror (1933) directed by James Whale, and Broken Lullaby aka The Man I Killed (1932).

Under contract to Paramount Pictures, Carroll often balked at the roles being offered to her and earned a reputation as a recalcitrant and uncooperative actress.

In spite of her ability to successfully tackle light comedies, tearful melodramas, and even musicals, and as well as garnering considerable praise by the critics and public (she received the most fan mail of any star in the early 1930's), she was released by the studio.

In the mid-1930's under a four-film contract with Columbia Pictures, she made four rather insignificant films and was no longer an A-list actress. Carroll retired from films in 1938, returned to the stage, and starred in the early television series The Aldrich Family in 1950.

In the following year, she guest starred in the television version of The Egg and I, starring her daughter, Patricia Kirkland.

On August 6, 1965, she was found dead after failing to arrive at the theater for a performance. The cause of her death was an aneurysm. She was 61 years old.