June 30th, 2010 by Shirley
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.
June 30th, 2010 by Shirley
Forget about its potentially politically incorrect subject manner. Shirley Temple, America’s sweetheart by the time this film was made (1935), utterly charms as Virgie Cary, a plucky baby belle during the Civil War. Virgie is the treasured daughter of a Confederate officer, Capt. Herbert Cary (John Boles). Captain Cary ventures back to his decaying plantation for but a glimpse of his beloved family. Meanwhile, Virgie has managed to captivate a Union officer, Colonel Morrison (Jack Holt). Colonel Morrison becomes sympathetic enough to their plight that he assists Captain Cary’s escape, only to have them both caught and set for execution. Trust plucky Virgie–who enlists the help of Abraham Lincoln (!)–to help get them out of their scrape. As with any Temple film, there’s a message of familial love and perseverance. And even though there’s a celebration of the Old South’s genteel ways, Virgie’s affection for her family’s slaves comes through, as Temple and Bill “BoJangles” Robinson (as loyal Uncle Billy) happily dance together. The film is based on a 1914 silent film of the same name. –N.F. Mendoza
June 30th, 2010 by Shirley
Curly (Shirley Temple ) and her sister Mary are secretly adopted by Mr. Jones. Curly adds joy to Mr. Jones life while Mary falls in love with Mr. Jones. Curly sings and dances through-out the movie with some of her best songs yet. She sings “When I Grow-up” and “Animal Crackers in my Soup”. Mary and Mr. Jones also sing and play a few songs as well. There are a few comic moments and the ending is a happy one. This film is apporiate for people of all ages and a film everyone can watch over and over again. Curly Top is wonderfully cheographed and has a great moral to the story.
June 30th, 2010 by Shirley
Shirley Temple is at her plucky peak in this film. She bests legend Lionel Barrymore: literally (her credit is above his) and figuratively (as her character softens his). The Little Colonel is set in the post-Civil War South. Little Lloyd Sherman hopes to reunite her mother, Elizabeth Lloyd (Evelyn Venable), with her stern Confederate Civil War veteran grandfather, Colonel Lloyd (Barrymore). Six years earlier, Lloyd’s mother had run away to marry Yankee Jack Sherman (John Lodge). Now the young family hopes to return to Elizabeth’s plantation home.
Like The Littlest Rebel, made the same year (1935), the film has questionable politics, featuring a supplicant Mom Becky (the formidable future Oscar-winner Hattie McDaniel) and a poor-spelling butler, Walker (Bill “BoJangles” Robinson). But Temple, as sweetly energetic little Lloyd, is affectionate with both, as well as with her African American playmates, May Lily (Avonnie Jackson) and Henry Clay (Nyanza Potts). (Temple apparently shared the sentiment in real life, and once said Robinson was her favorite costar.) The Little Colonel features the amazing dance number with Temple and Robinson merrily tapping up and down a staircase. –N.F. Mendoza