weezeralfalfa
Like Dorothy, in the later MGM film version of "The Wizard of Oz", Shirley fortuitously escapes her confined, all too familiar, world, as a lonely spoiled child, with minimal contact with other children, to wander into the lives of several incognito, but interesting, families, again with minimal contact with other children. Along the way, her character's name and identity are changed from Barbara Barry: daughter of wealthy soap manufacturer Richard Barry, to Betsy Wier: runaway orphan, for the benefit of organ grinder Tony and his family, to Bonnie Dolan, member of the Dolan song and dance family. But, like Dorothy, she seems glad to be reunited with her father, who recognized her singing voice on the radio. One of the most important people she meets and stays with during her odyssey is Jack Haley(Jimmy Dolan), who later played The Tin Man, in "the Wizard of Oz". Here, he gets to sing and dance, as well, not being encumbered by his stiff and uncomfortable Tin Man costume. Haley is paired with Alice Faye, emerging as Fox's most important female musical star, and who might be though of as the equivalent of The Good Witch, in the latter film. Both she and Haley exhibit unrecognized tap dancing talent, along with Shirley's, in the long finale "Military March" production, dressed as soldiers. ...In place of Frank Morgan's Wizard, we have cranky old Claude Gillingwater, playing Simon Peck, owner of the main local rival soap company to Shirley's father's Barry soap company. She has to charm him into hiring the Dolans to sing the Peck commercials and sing on his sponsored radio show. Gillingwater was yet another of a lineup of cranky old men or women Shirley had to charm in most of her films into being more forgiving of their standard sour attitudes. Like most of the others, he was quite a good actor, and often comical in his behavior....In place of the evil witches, we have the nameless pickpocket and stalker of Shirley, who initially steals the purse of Shirley's governess, then periodically is seen stalking Shirley, with the presumed purpose of kidnapping her, then extracting a handsome ransom from her father. Eventually, he has a brawl with Haley, when caught abducting Shirley......I don't mean to overplay the basic plot similarities between this film and "The Wizard of Oz", as many of these plot elements were included in other S.T. films. Of course, Shirley was the initial choice to play Dorothy in that MGM production, but Fox wouldn't give her up. As it turned out, the much older teen, Judy Garland, was the optimal girl for that role, all things considered.Shirley's little girl singing voice and enunciation wasn't the greatest. Thus, one of the pluses of this film is that several adult singers were included, who sometimes alternated with Shirley in singing a song, sometimes with appropriately altered lyrics. The uncredited Tony Martin lent his great singing voice to the initial singing of "When I'm With You", while Shirley cuddled in the lap of her father(Michael Whalen). Soon, she sang her version to her father. Much later, Alice soloed it. She would soon marry Martin. This song is heard a final time when Shirley sings it on the radio, her father recognizing her voice, leading to their reunion. Aside from the finale "Military Man" tap dance routine, the other two main songs, done by all 3 leads, are "But Definitively", and "You've Got to Eat Your Spinach". Shirley's dislike of spinach, shared by many kids(including me), is a running gag, that crops up several times. Mack Gordon and Harry Revel did the score. They also contributed some key songs to the later S.T. films "Stowaway" and "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farms". Gordon then teamed with Harry Warren to score most of the songs for Shirley's last Fox film: "Young People".I thought Alice's make up and hair styling were unbecoming, still trying to make her look like a Jean Harlow copy. She exhibited more of her emerging new look in the subsequent S.T. film "Stowaway"...I'm sure I heard her quip "orphan asylum, your ass!"Jack Haley would return for the later S.T. film "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm". He would then participate in one song , dominated by his love interest, played by Phyllis Brooks. It is perhaps more memorable than those in the present film. His comedic talent is also more emphasized in that film.Gloria Stuart plays the bland, but wholesome, presumed future stepmother of Shirley: a role she reprised in "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm". She is the one, in the final dramatic scene,who suggests that the warring soap manufacturers(Barry and Peck) bury their hatchets and form a united company. That presumably would solve the problem of her romance with Barry, while being an important person in Peck's company, as well as the conflict between Peck and Barry over Shirley working for Peck.Whether or not governess Collins died in the hospital following her collision with a vehicle is left undetermined, irrelevant to the story in the screenwriter's mind. In the 1933 S.T.film "Bright Eyes", Shirley's mother dies after being hit by a vehicle, thus rendering her an orphan. Through most of this film, Shirley claims to be an orphan, after Collins inexplicably vanished.
C-Cat
Pretty good story, but if I had had to hear "When I'm with you" one more time I would have puked. Claude Gillingwater, as always, gives a wonderful cranky performance as Simon Peck. Pretty sad too, that no one seemed to care about what became of poor Sara Haden, as Collins, even if she was her ususal cold, unfeeling self. If you can, try to catch the non-colorized version, Miss Temple just doesn't look right in anything but good old black and white.
JohnnyOldSoul
...it's still vastly entertaining. It was common practice for 20th Century Fox to buy film rights to a classic novel, and turn it into a Shirley Temple vehicle that has not even a passing resemblance to the original. The book "The Poor Little Rich Girl" is far more tragic than this cute-fest, but as an entertainment film, it certainly succeeds.The performances are right up there. One of my favourite screen stars Alice Faye is so brilliant, she never gets lost in Temple's glare as do so many of her costars. Jack Haley is hilarious, and the songs are amazing. Alas, Gloria Stuart isn't given much to do but she looks wonderful.Favourite moments include the spaghetti-eating scene, Shirley's conversation with the curb-side porter and of course "You Gotta Eat Your Spinach Baby." Fine film for parents to watch with their kids.Try to get the original black and white version if you can, the colorized version looks a little weird.
