MovieChat Forums > Violent Saturday (1955) Discussion > 'Elsie Braden' -- from the first family ...

'Elsie Braden' -- from the first family of 'Bradenville'?

posted 16 years ago by hobnob53
10 replies | jump to latest

I never picked up on it before, but the character played by Sylvia Sidney, the librarian, is called Elsie Braden. Could she have been a member of THE Bradens, after whom the town of Bradenville was named? Seems too much of a coincidence for there not to have been some connection, especially in a small town. Otherwise, why pick the same basic name as the town? I wonder if this was so, and if there had been some reference to this in the original script, Elsie the last remaining member of the founding family, now eking out a threadbare existence as a "mere" librarian, reduced to near-poverty and theft because she's in debt to the bank over undisclosed but obviously crushing financial straits. This would have been a good plot point for the film, and further reason for her to steal -- to keep up appearances, coming from such a prominent local family.

[–] Catch-52 16 years ago

Good observation.

[–] Backlot_Manager 15 years ago

I noticed the way that the bank robber was amused by Elsie stealing the purse. Being a career criminal, he noticed the unattended purse right away, just out of habit.

[–] laaksonen-rj 14 years ago

You're right. In the W.L. Heath novel the film is based on, the town is called Morgan, and Elsie is from the original Morgan family. In the book Elsie actually finds a purse with the money in it and decides not to return it to its owner.

[–] hobnob53 14 years ago

Hey, thank you for that information, laaksonen-rj. I've wondered whether there might have been such a reference in the book. Strange they made nothing of this in the movie...and that they changed the name of the town and its former first family. Elsie's purse-snatching sounds pretty much the same in the novel as in the film. What else can you tell us about the book vs. the film? And what was its title?

[–] laaksonen-rj 14 years ago

Details differ but the story of the film is quite faithful to the book, which is also titled Violent Saturday. One important character is missing from the film: a hotel janitor who is suspicious of the three robbers and actually sneaks into their room and finds a shotgun in a bag, but does not dare to tell anybody. And the Amish do not appear in the book - nothing is told about the farm's owners. W.L. Heath wrote other novels, at least one of them, Ill Wind (1957), takes place in the same town as Violent Saturday: Morgan, Alabama. (Is this a fictitious place? I know there is a county called Morgan in Alabama, but cannot find a town with such a name.) I noticed that several used copies of Violent Saturday are available from Amazon sellers. The book is pretty good, I think, but I like the movie, with its beautiful construction and fine cast, more.

[–] hobnob53 14 years ago

Possible spoiler in this paragraph. I can see that the janitor might be deemed expendable for purposes of the movie, but it's curious that there's nothing about the farmers in the novel. But doesn't the farm family appear in some manner in the book -- I mean, is it the farmer who saves the hero's life by killing the gunman about to shoot him (i.e., the Borgnine-pitchforks-Marvin scene at the farm), or is all that handled differently in the book?

I just looked and also found no city called Morgan in Alabama, just the county. Personally, I like setting the action in the film in Arizona far better. The film seems to belong in a remote desert setting. (There's no Morgan, AZ, either.)

Violent Saturday has never been released on home video in any format (laser, VHS, DVD) as far as I know, so I'd assume that whatever's being sold on Amazon may just be a recording from some odd, not legitimate source. We've been hoping for a legit DVD from Fox but as they stopped releasing their classics on disc in 2008 it's unlikely we'll see this soon, although it's rumored they might follow the lead of Warner Bros. (and now Columbia) of releasing titles in a made-on-demand DVD-R format, like the Warner Archives series. That would be an acceptable means of bringing this terrific film onto home video. I'm astounded they've never released it, especially considering some of the crummy titles they have released.

[–] laaksonen-rj 14 years ago

The escape of Shelley Martin (Victor Mature) from the robbers is handled differently in the book. Nothing about the farm family; I had the feeling that the farm might have been deserted, or something. I meant to say that there are used copies of the W.L. Heath novel available on Amazon. But there is a Region 2 DVD of the film, too, an official Fox issue from Spain. The picture quality is far from perfect, but the CinemaScope aspect ratio is more or less correct. This is a movie that really suffers when seen full-frame on television.

[–] hobnob53 14 years ago

It equally amazes me when a company releases a film -- particularly an American film -- on DVD elsewhere in the world, but not at home. But I've seen a lot of instances of that. Paramount adamantly refused to issue Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole in the US (Criterion finally did so under their arrangement with Paramount), but I saw an R2 version of it, also from Spain -- put out under the "Paramount Collection" series they used to use for all their classic releases! Same logo and everything. Bizarre. But if I get desperate I may one day try for that R2 DVD of VS. Can it be viewed in English without any subtitles? I do have an off-the-air (from Fox Movie Channel) recording of this film in widescreen, not terrific, but much better than nothing (and defintitely better than pan & scan).

Thank you for all the information on the book. I may also look for a copy of that one day.

[–] laaksonen-rj 14 years ago

You're welcome. And yes, the DVD can be viewed with English soundtrack without subtitles. I only wish I knew a Spanish mail order company to get these discs at a cheaper price. The seller called Daaveedee that sells this stuff through Amazon is a reliable seller, with lots of interesting items, but the import prices are steep.

[–] hobnob53 14 years ago

Yes, I've seen him listed as a seller, though I don't believe I've ever ordered anything from him. (Have you noticed that recently Amazon eliminated all the Marketplace sellers' own squibs about themselves and replaced them with a standard phrase about ordering?) But after our last exchange I went over there and checked out the various VS items -- foreign DVDs, downloads, movie posters, and the book. I haven't ordered it yet but will probably buy it next time I get something from Amazon. Maybe the DVD in the future, especially now that you've once again been so kind as to answer my inquiries about it.