Miss Annie Rooney

This is an adorable coming of age story starring Shirley Temple as the Irish American Miss Annie Rooney. Having lost her mother, Annie lives with her father the dreamer Tim (William Gargan) and her retired police officer grandfather Grandpa Rooney, played by the always fabulous Guy Kibbee.

While on the way to a friends house for a get together and jitterbug dance party she and her friend Joey (Roland Dupree) run into Marty White (Dickie Moore). Marty is from a different social bracket, but seems to become instantly smitten with Annie. Not only does Annie teach him to jitterbug, but she speaks to him of Romeo and Juliet. It's not long before Marty sends her red roses and asks her to his birthday party, which creates all sorts of financial issues for Annie's family as her father has just become unemployed.

This is one of those feel good movies where everything works out...and it is notable as Shirley Temple's first on screen kiss. I hadn't really seen a picture of her in the throws of growing up and she is just as adorable as when she was pint sized. The dancing is a real highlight for me as a dancer and fun to watch. I also got a kick out of the slang and the adults attempts to catch on to the contemporary lingo. Just a fun film that I recommend to classic film fans.

"May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows your dead."-Grandpa Rooney.

Poor Irish teen, living with her crusty grandpa and unemployed inventor-father, needs a party frock after a wealthy boy she likes asks her to his birthday bash. Naturally, along with a new dress, she'll need a matching wrap and evening sandals, too! Shirley Temple on the wane: she proves not to be a natural movie talent in her teenage years, nor does she seem to connect with this character or with the other kids in the cast (though one can hardly blame her for steering clear of Peggy Ryan's over-the-top Myrtle!). William Gargan, playing Shirl's father--a purveyor of a new technique which turns weeds into a rubbery substance--manages a nice sense of loving desperation, and Temple does break out her dancing shoes in the party sequence. But these teen-trials are completely unreal. This is the kind of penniless movie family with one foot on the street who still manage to live in a large apartment complete with telephone extension in the daughter's room! The film failed to get Temple's career on the right track, and her manner is blasé and indifferent throughout. ** from ****

Shirley Temple was now a teenager and she may have left 20th Century Fox, but even as a young teen she was busy raising the adults in her life. In Miss Annie Rooney the adults are grandfather Guy Kibbee complete with the brogue of an Irish cop which he was in the film and father William Gargan who has big dreams of hitting it big not unlike Frank Sinatra's character in A Hole In The Head.

A chance encounter with rich young teen Dickie Moore and invite to his birthday party has Temple mixing with society. But Gargan sees it as an opportunity to pitch his latest cause, synthetic rubber. The results are a social disaster.

Just like she did when she was a toddler on up Shirley sticks by her dad or father figure as the picture would have it. The ending was way too much to swallow though. I prefer the far more realistic ending of the Frank Sinatra film.

Still Shirley Temple fans will approve.

As Miss Annie Rooney, we have Miss Shirley Temple officially reaching adolescence in a Hollywood motion picture. The acceptable effort is a production from Edward Small's company distributed through United Artists. Despite the obviousness of its limited budget, the movie has plenty of merit, though its script could easily have undergone a rewrite to remove some of the more blatant stereotypes about the Irish-American culture.

Guy Kibbee is cast as Temple's grand-pop and serves stew along with an authentic-sounding brogue. However, William Gargan, who plays his son and Temple's father curiously does not attempt to convey the Irishness of his character much at all. For that matter, he does not attempt to convey much in the way of acting, either.

There are some charming moments in this film that make up for the occasional inconsistencies. One such moment is a teen party where our blossoming star dances with Dickie Moore, who has also officially reached puberty in this film. Like Temple, he suffers the pangs of young love in between fits of barely decipherable young folk slang.

It would be hard for me not to like any Shirley Temple movie.

It's too bad most people think of her as the cute little tyke, because, as she grew into an adult, she just got better as an actress, and in fact became a beautiful woman.

She was at the in-between stage in this movie, playing a young teenager, which was appropriate since she was 14.

As usual, she was adorable. Even as a fan, I will admit that sometimes she relied too much on pouty expressions left over from her very young years, but she also had the ability necessary to portray the pertinent emotions.

She liked dancing, as she wrote in her autobiography (which I highly recommend, to everyone), and she got to dance here, and was a lot of fun to watch.

Dickie Moore, of whom also I am a fan, was just not quite right as the rich boy. He didn't come across strongly enough, but his performance still does not detract enough to lessen one's enjoyment.

Roland du Pree, on the other hand, gave a very strong performance, strong enough, in fact, that I am dumbfounded he didn't have a major career.

He was a very good-looking young man, a good dancer, and a scene stealer, but apparently nothing is known about him, since even his birth date is not shown here at IMDb.

Look for a very young Noel Neill and a very young June Lockhart in the party scene.

The adults, by the way, rather varied in watchability, but, again, nothing can detract much from this very nice movie.