There's nothing wrong with trying to use movies to push a social message but I don't think Dore Schary every quite learned how to make them fun while doing so - which is why his output is strong in the areas of war films and film noir, but less so when it comes to comedies. Which is what this movie is meant to be (I think) when it's not pushing its message, but any sort of lightness seems to be beyond the filmmakers.
It's set in 1905 and has Shirley Temple as the daughter of a pastor (God was always popping up in Schary movies) who is expelled from her school for having feisty opinions: suggesting the amount of petticoats that are worn be reduced, and wanting to draw nude forms. She returns home, whereupon it becomes unclear what exactly the story is: I expected Shirley to fight for women's rights but she doesn't really, only joining in a suffragette march at the end to help some women under attack; she does write a pro-emancipation speech but never delivers it herself - she gives it to John Agar to speak on her behalf.
They throw in this plot about her being an artist - she sells paintings, gets Agar to pose for her which causes a scandal.... but then there's no more of that. So the female angle is unfocused, as is Shirley's character. It's probably best to approach it as standard small town Americana in the early 20th century with a vaguely "woman's right" slant.
At least that's a point of novelty, which the film needs. It doesn't do comedy, romance or charm particularly well. Shirley Temple and John Agar were a couple in real life but don't have much chemistry here; partly their fault, particularly the stiff and awkward Agar (this worked in action films, wasn't so good in rom coms), but also because their banter isn't well written. See what I mean about it not being fun? For instance when Agar gives a pro-suffragette speech that Temple is written it's meant to be funny, I think, but it just isn't because Agar is a lazy idiot for not writing is own speech and... it's also just not funny.
Also not fun is the fact Robert Young is a pastor and wants to be a bishop - I've no doubt pastors are ambitious to be bishops but its yuck watching him have these dreams on screen when, say, a blustery businessman whose business dealings are threatened by a suffragette daughter would be more entertaining. They try to jazz up Young's character by having him box and having wanted to be a ballroom dancer but he is basically a pompous bore, giving a long monologue about tolerance at the end that we're all supposed to admire. Dore Schary later had a major hard on for Spencer Tracy when he was at MGM and Young's performance seems to channel Tracy at times (even the fact he's a boxing pastor is reminiscent of Tracy in San Francisco).
Maybe if this was in colour and had songs it would have been more enjoyable, but I simply think the filmmakers were unable to pull off this sort of combination of social message, Americana and charm..
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