Also known as A Kiss for Corliss this was a sequel to Kiss and Tell a popular late period Shirley Temple ("late period" being when she was a teenager). She's boy-crazy and madcap yet again, getting a crush on a handsome man about town (David Niven) and making up fantasies about the two of them going out in her diary. Eventually this leaks and her parents and boyfriend think it's real.
That's not a bad concept for a comedy - indeed, Shirley had just enjoyed a big hit with that plotline in The Bachelor and the Bobbysoxer, although in that case there was another subplot around involving Myrna Loy in her sister. The most successful late period Shirley Temples didn't rely on her to drive the action but this one does - and not for the best.
The script is the undoing of this one. I went with the set up of why Shirley initially lied - it's simple sitcom stuff - but as the complications began to mount (Niven becoming involved, the press publicising it, a marriage ceremony starting) it simply didn't make sense for Shirley to keep lying, or for Niven to start and keep lying. At any stage of the action all she or he had to say "I made it up" and it would be over. So there were no real dramatic stakes.
Another problem is Shirley Temple was 21 by this stage and looks too old to be playing someone who's meant to be a teenager. By now she was an attractive young woman who could easily play a newlywed; maybe this is through my later generation eyes but I struggled to buy her as someone who would be so immature.
In a way it's a shame because her performance is fine - bright and sparky and all that - and there is decent support, including David Niven doing his David Niven thing. He's not in the movie that much, only really in the last third, and his career was in real trouble at this stage, but few people did light comedy better and he seems completely comfortable.
No comments:
Post a Comment