I saw this film when it showed at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 1999. It was a long time ago, but many of the beautiful images are still burned on my retinas. The close ups of the scenes in Prague made the City another character in the film, and an engaging one at that! The romance that is the major focus of the second half of the film was incredibly appealing. The acting was convincing and not overly melodramatic -- just a moment of love.
I looked up the summary of the film that was printed on the program: Far less well known than Ecstasy, although it's also one of Gustav Machaty's major achievements, From Saturday to Sunday is marked by a gentle romanticism. Two secretaries go out on a double date, but the inexperienced Mary flees when offered money for sexual favors. She takes refuge in a cafe and encounters a plebeian Prince Charming. The film recounts the simple progress of their romance after they go home together. If the tale is not unusual, the telling is superb. The characters are sharply observed, with a strong sense of social context. Machaty's first talkie is a masterpiece of early sound cinema; his use of off-screen sound, in particular, is as sophisticated as that of René Clair and Rouben Mamoulian. And the Prague studios were as technically sophisticated as any other of the time: The opening sequence, a long low-angle tracking shot through the heroine's workplace, defines the space with breathtaking virtuosity. The film's credits provide ample proof that in pre-war Czechoslovakia, the avant garde made significant contributions to mainstream production: Jaroslav Jezek, the founder of Czech jazz, wrote the excellent score; the movie was coscripted by Surrealist poet Vitezslav Nezval; its art director was experimental filmmaker Alexander Hammid.
-Elliott Stein
I looked up the summary of the film that was printed on the program: Far less well known than Ecstasy, although it's also one of Gustav Machaty's major achievements, From Saturday to Sunday is marked by a gentle romanticism. Two secretaries go out on a double date, but the inexperienced Mary flees when offered money for sexual favors. She takes refuge in a cafe and encounters a plebeian Prince Charming. The film recounts the simple progress of their romance after they go home together. If the tale is not unusual, the telling is superb. The characters are sharply observed, with a strong sense of social context. Machaty's first talkie is a masterpiece of early sound cinema; his use of off-screen sound, in particular, is as sophisticated as that of René Clair and Rouben Mamoulian. And the Prague studios were as technically sophisticated as any other of the time: The opening sequence, a long low-angle tracking shot through the heroine's workplace, defines the space with breathtaking virtuosity. The film's credits provide ample proof that in pre-war Czechoslovakia, the avant garde made significant contributions to mainstream production: Jaroslav Jezek, the founder of Czech jazz, wrote the excellent score; the movie was coscripted by Surrealist poet Vitezslav Nezval; its art director was experimental filmmaker Alexander Hammid.
-Elliott Stein
