The film that effectively killed Shirley Temple's career as a star - a big budget attempt to match the success of The Wizard of Oz, it was the victim of what can be seen in hindsight to be an astonishing miscalculation. After a highly successful career playing plucky orphans, Fox turned her into the bratty daughter of two hard working parents. It gets this movie off to a dodgy start from which it never quite recovers - Shirley being a selfish little brat who needs a comeuppance goes completely against every role she'd played before them.
Good on Fox for trying to expand her range, and it does give her character somewhere to go - but Shirley had never played a character which had any sort of development before. I can't understand why the studio risked such an expensive project on a new template when they so easily could have made her character likeable, poor and struggling at the beginning. I guess they figured that would rob the piece of its point - but it meant we had to spend over half the running time in the company of bratty Shirley. She doesn't even sing any songs.
It's a shame because the movie has much to admire - colour photography, impressive sets, a support cast that includes such reliables as Gale Sondergaard and Nigel Bruce, a genuine sense of magic and some really moving scenes, such as reviving her grandparents.
I know studio executives were worried about Shirley Temple growing up but her transformation to teenager could have been achieved with better handling - Deanna Durbin and Judy Garland pulled it off, and Temple grew up quite pretty. A Hollywood hypothetical: had this been changed into a musical about Shirley the plucky orphan and her adventures in this colourful land, then I believe it would have been a hit.
Admittedly event then it wouldn't have been perfect - that weird sequence with the unborn children is creepy, the plot seems to start and stop. But it deserved better.
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