A surprising number of Western stars wound up supporting/co-starring with Shirley Temple: Gary Cooper, Joel McCrea, and here Randolph Scott. They actually worked a lot better than some of the whimpier male leads because they seemed less dodgy.
Like Poor Little Rich Girl this is a remake of an old Mary Pickford movie with a show biz subplot shoved in. Even with that the movie feels padded - Shirley wins a radio singing competition but doesn't know it, goes to live on a farm with an aunt who doesn't want her to sing, the singing comp organiser (Randolph Scott) happens to be a neighbour and recognises her, but she does it on the sly to not upset the aunt.
It's a dodgy flimsy script stuffed with musical numbers - Shirley even does a medley of her old hits from earlier films as well as a dance with Bill Robinson (in his last appearance with her - he's a servant but this is the least racist Temple movie to feature blacks). It kind of feels lazy story wise, with nasty relatives turning up to take her away (including William Demarest who is too likeable for his role - he should have played a Shirley ally), and a romance, and a kindly aunt whose heart is melted.
But the cast is excellent (including players like Helen Westley and Slim Summerville), Jack Haley adds some comedy, Scott has a fun romance with Gloria Stuart, Phyllis Brooks is a pretty rival love interest.
No comments:
Post a Comment