A 1939 classic Shirley Temple film about prejudice and the conflict between the workmen building the Canadian Pacific Railroad and the Blackfeet Indians, Susannah of the Mounties has been nicely restored in its original black and white format and is also presented in a new, fairly realistically colorized, remastered version. Shirley Temple stars as Susannah Sheldon, a young girl who’s orphaned as a result of an Indian attack on her Grandfather’s pioneer settlement. Susannah is rescued from the massacre by the kindly Inspector “Monty” Montague (Randolph Scott) of the Northwest Mounted Police. Mr. Monty takes Susannah in and, once she’s settled in her temporary home, Susannah quickly develops a crush on Mr. Monty that promises to put her at odds with a beautiful young lady visiting from more civilized lands. While residing with Mr. Monty, Susannah learns a lot about the Indians and their customs thanks to ongoing peace treaty efforts between the officers and the Indians and a budding friendship with Indian Chief Big Eagle’s (Maurice Moscovitch) son Little Chief (Martin Good Rider). Dubbed Golden Hawk by her young Indian friend, the spunky and outspoken Susannah becomes the most unlikely of negotiators between the white men and the Indians and proves invaluable to the preservation of peace on the frontier. Violence and fairly mature themes make this film appropriate for ages 10 and older. Bonus features include a “Movietone News” segment with Jimmie Fidler reporting on Carnation Stable’s gift of a pony in honor of Shirley Temple’s 8th birthday. –Tami Horiuchi
Andy, the single schoolteacher has a crush on Dora, the local baker and she is proud to show him her perfected donut, one that soaks up your coffee and floats. Andy thinks that she could help her failing business by advertising on the radio so he convinces her to buy time on a local station and put on a show. Using his class as the entertainment, Andy’s intentions to have a perfect radio show go awry, with the help of little Shirley (Shirley Temple).
Shirley Temple’s superstardom in the 1930s was associated with Twentieth Century Fox, but before Fox locked her down she made two films for Paramount. It was 1934, her breakthrough year, and these pictures are not quite yet the showcase vehicles Fox would assemble for their pint-sized meal ticket. In Little Miss Marker, Shirley comes under the wing of Sorrowful Jones (Adolphe Menjou in good form), as Damon Runyon’s world of bookies and gamblers and soft-hearted gangsters comes to life around her. It’s a heartstring-tugger of an expert kind; Shirley’s final line, delivered in an operating room, should have grown men weeping on their knees. –Robert Horton
It can’t really be called a “Shirley Temple movie,” because the original Little Miss Sunshine appears in it for just 10 minutes or so. But you can easily see how Stand Up and Cheer! gave birth to the most dominant star of the mid-1930s: Shirley Temple brings down the house. With just a bit of dialogue and one musical number, “Baby Take a Bow,” Ms. Temple sets the cuteness meter to 11 and packs considerable hilarity into her already-definable personality. (Old pro James Dunn, who co-starred with Temple in a few subsequent features, plays her father/dance partner here.) The movie itself is something else again, in every sense. Purportedly based on an idea by Will Rogers, it imagines a new cabinet position–Secretary of Amusement–established by the President himself. Said official (Warner Baxter, fresh off a similar role in 42nd Street) must drum up lotsa socko entertainment to pull America out of its Depression doldrums. The near-surreal results include the acrobatic vaudeville team Mitchell & Durant as loopy senators and a sequence involving Stepin Fechit and a talking penguin dressed up as Jimmy Durante. Yes, you read that right. Meanwhile, corporate fatcats conspire to ruin the plan; they want America to remain scared and passive. But you know they don’t stand a chance against Shirley Temple–whose 1930s career fulfilled the movie’s idea of cheering up a population staggered by hard times. –Robert Horton
Shirley Temple’s superstardom in the 1930s was associated with Twentieth Century Fox, but before Fox locked her down she made two films for Paramount. It was 1934, her breakthrough year, and these pictures are not quite yet the showcase vehicles Fox would assemble for their pint-sized meal ticket. Henry Hathaway’s Now and Forever casts Gary Cooper and Carole Lombard as world-traveling con artists, suddenly forced to grow up when Coop decides to take charge of his daughter. The lure of diamonds and the easy life is never far away, but rely on Shirley to keep her Daddy on his toes. The dimpled Ms. Temple plays a distinctly supporting role in this one, and her singing and dancing is limited compared to the vehicles she would command within the year. Cooper is all charm, although Lombard is stuck in something of a nag role. Still, a solid enough studio picture of the era, and a logical launching pad for the greatest child star in film history. –Robert Horton
This sounds like a more modern movie and many children could relate to this. Molly (TEMPLE) is a sweet little girl who only see both parents together two days a year. When they want to get a divore Shirley(Molly) tries to keep them together. She goes to the circus and decides to run away. I think they could have found a better thing then running away but can’t do that now. She sings one short song in this movie and it takes away from the hapiness because when Shirley sings-everyone’s happy. In the movie her parents really don’t seem to care about her which I think is very odd.
“Wee Willie Winkie” (1937) VERY loosely based on Rudyard Kipling’s popular story. Taken by her mother (June Lang) to live in India, a young girl (Temple) gradually wins the heart of her feisty grandfather (C. Aubrey Smith), a colonel at a British army outpost. Before long, she captures the hearts of his entire regiment as well as his chief enemy (Cesar Romero), using her charms to prevent a full-scale war. Directed by John Ford; definitely one of Temple’s best films, thanks to the chemistry between Temple & Romero, and Temple & Victor McLaglen (get the hankies out for one of their scenes). Presented as a flipper disc featuring a tinted version of the film (in a very pleasing sepia tone) that was based on original notes and research to make the film look as it was first released as well as the black and white original, both in their original full-screen theatrical aspect ratio. With English Stereo plus English and Spanish Mono, the feature also includes English, French and Spanish subtitles. 100 minutes. Bonus feature: Restoration Comparison which describes in detail what was done.
Although it blithely rewrites the history of a legendary race horse, The Story of Seabiscuit is still an appealing example of Technicolor entertainment from Hollywood’s studio system. It wasn’t unusual for contract players (in this case Shirley Temple, Barry Fitzgerald, and Lon McAllister) to play fictional characters in fact-based stories, since factual fidelity was often considered a secondary priority. That’s why this blandly charming drama makes no mention of the legendary Seabiscuit’s actual trainer Tom Smith or jockey Red Pollard, who were duly recognized in 2003’s Seabiscuit, based on Laura Hillenbrand’s historically accurate 2001 bestseller. McAllister plays a loose rendition of Pollard (including his accidental chest injury), wooing a race-phobic nurse (Temple) while “the Biscuit” is trained for championship by luck-of-the-Irish Fitzgerald. A bit quaint by modern standards, but ironically, this is the only movie that features the real Seabiscuit in action, since vintage race footage is included in the black-and-white newsreel interludes. Plus, a bonus featurette from 1946 offers a still-valid primer on the backstage details of horseracing. –Jeff Shannon
The pathologically adorable Shirley Temple provides a neat escape hatch from modern movies’ irony and cynicism in Dimples, a 1936 classic about a down-and-out 6-year-old busker sharing a squalid Bowery flat with her scoundrel of a grandfather, the Professor. When Dimples and her posse of ragamuffin performers score a gig at a rich old lady’s party, the thieving Professor pulls the plug on everyone’s good time by five-fingering the guests’ furs. Dimples is nabbed but negotiates her freedom from fat-cat hostess Caroline with nothing more than her cuteness. Indeed, the lonely widow is so smitten by Dimples that soon she’s offering the money-grubbing but goodhearted Professor five grand for the girl. No amount of money, of course, could buy the precocious Dimples from her grandpa, whom she considers “a gentleman and a scholar,” but when he winds up in a heap of trouble for letting $800 slip through his fingers–money that was supposed to go toward costumes for a play in which Dimples stars–his only hope is to cash in on Caroline’s desire for Dimples. The great Bill Robinson directs all Temple’s dance numbers, none of which dashes nostalgic viewers’ notions that a dose of sugar and spice and everything nice needn’t be nothing special. Even those overly susceptible to sneering will succumb to this film’s sweetness. The black and white film is also available in a colorized version. –Tammy La Gorce
Shirley returns home from boarding school because of an unspecified problem. After she returns home we learn that Shirley’s architect father has lost his job and has moved from a penthouse apartment to the basement. Her father is now the electrician for the building in which they live. Shirley takes everything in stride and does her best to persevere.
Shirley Temple was about 10 years old when this movie was made, but she looks younger. She retains much of the charm she had as a little girl. Shirley manages to keep the action and the humor both high as we see her raise money for wealthy Samuel G. Henshaw, thinking that he is Uncle Sam. Shirley manages to cut the curls from a boy’s hair, causing his mother to throw a genuine fit, simultaneously generating some of the best laughs in the movie. Shirley also manages to have a dance routine with Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, the fourth and last dance routine in a movie for Shirley and Bojangles.
A 1939 classic Shirley Temple film about prejudice and the conflict between the workmen building the Canadian Pacific Railroad and the Blackfeet Indians, Susannah of the Mounties has been nicely restored in its original black and white format and is also presented in a new, fairly realistically colorized, remastered version. Shirley Temple stars as Susannah Sheldon, a young girl who’s orphaned as a result of an Indian attack on her Grandfather’s pioneer settlement. Susannah is rescued from the massacre by the kindly Inspector “Monty” Montague (Randolph Scott) of the Northwest Mounted Police. Mr. Monty takes Susannah in and, once she’s settled in her temporary home, Susannah quickly develops a crush on Mr. Monty that promises to put her at odds with a beautiful young lady visiting from more civilized lands. While residing with Mr. Monty, Susannah learns a lot about the Indians and their customs thanks to ongoing peace treaty efforts between the officers and the Indians and a budding friendship with Indian Chief Big Eagle’s (Maurice Moscovitch) son Little Chief (Martin Good Rider). Dubbed Golden Hawk by her young Indian friend, the spunky and outspoken Susannah becomes the most unlikely of negotiators between the white men and the Indians and proves invaluable to the preservation of peace on the frontier. Violence and fairly mature themes make this film appropriate for ages 10 and older. Bonus features include a “Movietone News” segment with Jimmie Fidler reporting on Carnation Stable’s gift of a pony in honor of Shirley Temple’s 8th birthday. –Tami Horiuchi
