Little Miss Broadway

Little Miss Broadway is a very enjoyable movie musical format in miniature with bright,bouncy tunes,a plot that moves with light touches of comedy,sentiment and slight conflicts..All the main characters perform solidly,but THE main sharply etched brilliant performance belongs to Edna May Oliver...when I was a child,I was at first repelled by her "mean old pumpkin" ways...OH! but to look closer as one grows older..WOW! What subtle hysterical faces and brilliance beneath that unique face and her ever so subtle softness of heart which peeks out more and more towards the end..She truly stands out..such a marvelous artist!

This might be the best of all the Shirley Temple movies of the 1930s because its so interesting start-to-finish.

The only annoying person is Edna May Oliver, who plays the standard mean old lady who is out to ruin things for the ""good guys" Fortunately, she's not in a lot of scenes and eventually even changes her thoughts for the better.

The rest of the film is nothing but nice people who are a lot of fun to watch. George Murphy and Phyllis Brooks are the typical (for Temple movies) super nice, handsome young couple which gets together in the end.

Edward Ellis plays a nice old man and Donald Meek nearly steals the show with some funny lines and funny faces. I thought James Durante would be funny, but he had more of a straight than comedic role.

Other features which make this movie stand out from normal Temple fare were unique characters (midgets, twins, penguins and more) and a tremendous amount of songs and dances (much more than normally heard).

All the elements that made Shirley Temple's films so successful are rolled up into this movie. Great stuff!

What a spectacular Shirley Temple movie I have chosen to see. It is entitled "Little Miss Broadway." I have been, for long, a big lover of musicals.

That is especially true for those with little Shirley Temple. She has adored audiences worldwide with her singing, acting, and tap-dancing in the films.

This is one of those rare movies that I would automatically give the number 10 to. It has an array of great songs such as the title. Shirley opens her act with the song "Be Optimistic." That is one of those songs where you can learn a life lesson.

"Little Miss Broadway" -- the song and the film itself -- are indeed heartwarming. That is rare for a musical show or film. Since it is a 1930s filmusical with Shirley Temple, I'd say it is right up there with the rest.

Being this the very first Shirley Temple movie I've ever seen, I must say it's my favorite. Shirley gives a great performance singing and dancing in all her numbers! And that one we can really call "musical". On the other ones we can see only one or two scenes with singing and dancing, but at this one you can see singing and dancing almost all the time.

Shirley's an optimistic orphan who is adopted by a Vaudeville hotel "owner" and his daughter. She meets a guy (George Murphy, who is FABULOUS dancing with Shirley on the number "We Should be Together") trying to convince his aunt (Edna May Oliver, the real owner) to not close the hotel.

Shirley looks so sweet in that movie, in all her numbers -- especially in "If the world was a paper", "We should be together" and "Little Miss Broadway".

Anyway, this is a very enjoyable movie. Anyone who watches it can enjoy not just Shirley's performances but almost everything in the movie: the story, the characters, the songs, the dancing and so on. A heartwarming movie starring one of the sweetest Child-Stars of all the time with fabulous co-stars. A family movie that can be watched by children, adults and even teenagers and old people.

Darryl F. Zanuck gave Shirley Temple a really great supporting cast for Little Miss Broadway. You can't go wrong with a cast that includes Donald Meek, Claude Gillingwater, Edna Mae Oliver, El Brendel, and the great Jimmy Durante.

Shirley is adopted from Jane Darwell's orphanage by Edward Ellis a friend of her deceased parents and his daughter Phyllis Brooks who run a hotel for theatrical types. Ellis is a guy who gives easy credit so when the imperious dowager landlady of the hotel wants what is due he's caught in a bad cash flow situation.

It's more than that, Oliver hates theatrical folks and is determined to close the hotel even going against her brother Donald Meek and their dancing nephew George Murphy who likes Ellis, Temple, and especially Brooks.

The finale is a courtroom scene where Shirley pleads the case of the performers who have to prove how good they are to the satisfaction of Judge Gillingwater. Shirley is a persuasive advocate.

For fans of Fox's eternal moppet and fans to be.