Search - Shirley Temple Storybook Collection: The Early Years, Shirley's First Films on DVD

Shirley Temple: Alway a Star!!!!!!!!!!!!!

E. Vasquez | NYC, NY | 07/14/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you love Shirley Temple, then you have to have this one. The re-mastering is better than other versions offered, the colorizing (except for the gray teeth) is very good and there is a special treat; at least for me since I consider myself to be an authority on Shirley Temple movies there was one that I had never seen (The Kid's last fight). I now that for some, the subject matter my be offensive, that's why it was banned from the theaters but if your a die-hard fan you'll love it. Her wit and charm make up for the films shortcomings and it's very funny too! I know you'll enjoy it even more than I! Buy it you won't be disappointed."

Early Temple a real treat

Byron Kolln | the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood | 09/11/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"No collection of Shirley Temple films is complete without her enjoyable shorts from the "Baby Burlesks", produced by Educational Films/Comedy House in 1932. These little films provided Temple with the springboard needed to become a bankable child star, and the success of the films paved the way for Temple's later films with Universal and Twentieth Century-Fox. In the films, four-year-old Temple and a cast of talented tots (including Danny Boone Jr., Georgie Smith and Sidney Kilbrick) play adults in parodies of grownup movies and musicals. The "Burlesks" were produced quite economically by Jack Hays, but were quickly overshadowed by the "Our Gang" comedies, and the company folded in 1934.

All seven films featured on this disc have been newly-colourised and restored, quite simply these films have never looked better. Legend Films has released this disc as a supplement to their series of "Shirley Temple's Storybook" DVDs. Includes:

"Kid 'in Hollywood" - In the heydey of Hollywood talkies, exhausted leading lady 'The Great Snobbo' walks off her latest picture, so the director hires a young unknown called Morelegs Sweetrick... A great sendup of Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich films.

"Glad Rags to Riches" - Temple plays a glamorous nightclub entertainer called La Belle Diaperina, and gets to wow the crowds with her singing and dancing, whilst trying to escape the advances of her sleazy manager.

"War Babies" - In an obvious dig at the French Foreign Legion/Gary Cooper epics of the period, Temple plays a sophisticated cabaret singer who charms the G.I.'s.

"Kid in Africa" - Temple plays a gun-ho missionary, determined to tame the natives.

"The Kid's Last Fight" - One of the rare titles. Temple plays the pretty girlfriend of a prizefighter who becomes his lucky charm.

"The Pie-Covered Wagon" - An hilarious Wild West parody; Temple plays a damsel in distress who gets kidnapped by Indians.

"Polly-Tix in Washington" - Temple plays a young innocent who is hired to ensure that a senator's campaign becomes the most successful.

TECHINICAL DETAILS:
Single-sided, single-layer disc
Keep case
Audio: 2-channel stereo"

A peculiar collection

J. Castrillo | 12/15/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is a peculiar and rather uncomfortable feature from the early days of Shirley Temple's career. It's rather strange to see such a complete contrast between the innocent, almost syrupy tone of her best-known full-length movies and the risqué, often rather inappropriate nature of many of her early short features. If nothing else, it provides some interesting examples of how the perspectives of the time differed from those of today.

Temple, at four years of age, is part of a cast consisting entirely of equally young children (as was also the case in many of her earliest short movies). She plays a dancer who entertains a group of soldiers in a café, soon becoming the source of a rivalry between two of them. Besides the basic story line, there are a lot of isolated gag ideas, many of them using milk in one way or another.

The children are depicted as thoroughly amoral characters, leading to a lot of situations that the vast majority of today's viewers would find uncomfortable or even disturbing. Certainly, no film-maker today could film such material using children without suffering irrevocable consequences to his or her career. Setting aside whatever one's personal feelings may be, it points out some very different attitudes or sensitivities - and of course, there are things that are routinely accepted in today's movies that would have provoked nearly universal outrage in the 1940s.

If you can set aside the uncomfortable nature of the material, there are probably a handful of amusing moments. The intent was obviously to use the children to satirize adult behavior, and on occasion it works. But, to be painfully honest, it's just not really a very good movie anyway. Besides the racy behavior of the child actors, they threw in some racial stereotypes, apparently just for good measure, and then the constant emphasis on milk is a bit odd in itself.

One thing, though, that does stand out is that Temple has an obvious energy and screen presence that transcends both her character and the nature of the material. It's no surprise that she could be spotted and groomed for stardom even while performing in things like this. What's a little less expected is to see such a complete contrast between the movies for which she is usually remembered and the movies that gave her a start.

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