Cary Grant in "Hot Saturday" (1932)

A pretty, young, virtuous small-town bank clerk, Ruth Brock (Nancy Carroll), attracts the young men in the small town of Marysville. Rich playboy Romer Sheffield (Cary Grant) is no exception, even though he has Camille (Rita La Roy) staying openly at his mansion, scandalizing the locals. Jealous, Camille soon leaves. Ruth, however, is all business whenever Romer tries to become better acquainted with her at the bank. She agrees to go on a date on Saturday with fellow employee Conny Billup (Edward Woods). Romer invites Conny and his crowd to party at his estate, offering free food and drink, just so he can spend some time with Ruth. They stay long enough for Romer to take Ruth on a long walk and have a heartfelt conversation. The gang then heads to a lakeshore dance hall. Conny gets Ruth alone on a nighttime boat ride, but she jumps ashore to avoid his unwanted advances. Out of spite, he leaves her behind. She has to walk to Romer's estate. Conny eventually finds her there, but she does not want to see him, and Romer makes him drive away without her. Romer sends Ruth home in his chauffeured car; she is seen arriving home early in the morning by Eva Randolph (Lilian Bond), the daughter of an important bank executive. Inside, Ruth is pleasantly surprised to find childhood friend and geologist Bill Fadden(Randolph Scott) in the kitchen. He has returned to do some surveying after seven years away. Bill makes it clear he is in love with her. When Eva questions Conny about what happened the night before, he lies. The lies quickly spread, and soon the local gossips have distorted the story so much that everybody thinks that Ruth and Romer are having a brazen affair. As a result, Eva's father fires Ruth. After quarreling with her mother, (Jane Darwell) Ruth flees to Bill's campsite. Caught in a rainstorm, she faints just outside Bill's shelter. Bill finds her and brings her inside. When he is unable to awaken her, he removes her wet clothes to keep her warm. When she does regain consciousness, they become engaged, though she does not tell him about the ugly rumors. However, Conny maliciously has Eva invite Romer to the dance hall where Ruth and Bill are. Once Romer grasps the situation, he graciously tries to bow out, but Bill hears the vicious gossip and breaks off the engagement. By the next morning, Bill has reconsidered, but she informs him that while the stories were not true the night before, they are now in the morning. She spent the night with Romer. Romer picks her up and tells her they will get married in New York. A 1932 American black & white pre-Code "programmer" drama film directed by William A. Seiter, based on the novel "Hot Saturday" by Harvey Fergusson, starring Cary Grant, Nancy Carroll, and Randolph Scott. Carole Lombard was mentioned for the role eventually played by Nancy Carroll. Rose Coghlan makes her screen debut. This was Grant's first role as a leading man. Gary Cooper and Fredric March turned down the role. Cary Grant and Randolph Scott first met making this film, became close friends and lived together until 1934. They remained close friends for the rest of their lives. Screenwriter Josephine Lovett, who also penned the Joan Crawford star-maker "Our Dancing Daughters" (1928) knew how to create virtuous-yet-vivacious flapper roles that flattered the new generation of ingénues like Nancy Carroll. It didn't hurt that a lax production code allowed a critical portrait of small-town America as judgmental and money-obsessed. Proof that this is a Pre-Code film: Archie exhibits flamboyantly gay sarcasm toward Connie when Ruth turns him down for a date. Connie refers to Ruth as "a second-hand bargain". Accenting women's powerlessness at the time, after Eve sullies her reputation, Ruth's only salvation is to pin herself to a man, first the unsuspecting Bill and then Romer, to whom she gives herself without benefit of marriage. Despite not doing well at the box office, Grant's star remained on the rise through the 1930s. Mae West, a keen judge of male sex appeal, cast him in "She Done Him Wrong" (1933) and "I'm No Angel" (1933), roles that brought even more swooning acclaim. Regardless of the artistic merits of this film, the opportunities it presented in Grant's career, and his personal life, mark it as an essential turning point in the making of Cary Grant, movie star. The New York Times review stated the film "describes the evolution of an idle bit of gossip in an average American community with considerable freshness and candor, and in the main manages to survive a meandering script and some uneventful writing" and praised Carroll's performance. Nancy Carroll was exceptionally pretty and could do anything. A combination of bad temper and bad film roles toppled her from her lofty "Queen of the Screen" pedestal after only a couple of years at the top. In only his 7th film, Grant received top billing over Carroll Paramount had high hopes for Grant, but it's Carroll's film all the way.