The Littlest Rebel

Shirley's comfy confederate life is disrupted by Yankees invading her home and breaking up her family. It is perhaps unfair to criticize the performance of a seven-year-old, but her mugging can become tiresome for those who are not fans of the diminutive star. The acting of the adults is pretty bad, not helped by the corny script, awful dialog, and characters that don't resemble real people. McGlynn makes a laughably goofy Lincoln. The depiction of blacks is embarrassing, particularly Best as a mentally challenged slave, a character meant to be funny. The best thing about this mercifully short film is the dancing of Temple and "Bojangles" Robinson.

I almost believe Shirley could end a war single-handed. Not the entire war, of course, but a few regiments from each side, camped across a creek from each other, going over their plans for tomorrow's battle... but wait! What's that noise? Why, it sounds like singing! And tap dancing! Then from out of nowhere, floating down the creek on a raft is little Shirley herself, singing 'Those Endearing Young Charms' in her prettiest dress, a pink bow in her hair. Hooray! shout the rebs, Hooray! shout the yanks! The generals from each side wade out to meet her and carry little Shirley off on their shoulders to the White House where an oddly blond-bearded Abe Lincoln asks her help in ending the war, reconstructing the south, appeasing the slaves, preventing his own assasination, working things out with Mary, and sobering up Grant. Accomplishing this in less time than it takes to curl her hair, our three-foot heroine bids a tearful farewell to America and sails to Germany, where she charms the baby Kaiser out of starting World War I.

This was the first Shirley Temple movie I ever watched (on VSH....hey, I'm not THAT old) and I still consider it one of her best.

That's because it has a great mixture of drama, comedy, song/dance and suspense. Almost all the characters are likable. The two dances scenes with Temple and Bill Robinson are excellent....a joy to watch. I don't know if Shirley ever looked cuter than in this film. She runs the gamut of emotions in here quite frequently.

The 74-minute story never has a lull. John Boles and Karen Moreley are people you root for, Willie Best provides good comedy and there is a surprising amount of suspense.

Overall, however, this is simply a sweet, sentimental film that leaves you feeling good after watching it.....and what's wrong with that?

The previous review of this movie begins with the question "Can you get past the racism of the era?", and concludes that you can't. I won't argue that you should "get past" the racism. Rather, I'd argue that you need to look right at it and see that it is not simple, and not just a matter of stereotypes.

Yes, Willie Best's character is an embarrassment when it is not infuriating. There's no arguing that.

But Bill Robinson's character is very different. He is the one on whom Mrs. Cary relies when her husband is at war, he is the one who makes it possible for Cary to get back to see his wife as she is dying, etc. He is also the one who makes it possible for he and little Virgie to get to Washington and, eventually, plead her father's case with President Lincoln. In short, he is the character who makes pretty much everything good happen.

Yes, there is injustice in that he should have received higher billing as a result, and he should have been in the final shot with Temple, as he was as important as her father and more important than Jack Holt. That was unfair, and though probably based on what Fox thought American audiences of the time would tolerate, nonetheless a concession to the racism of the time. But for its time, this movie is remarkably devoid of the "dumb and happy darkie" stereotypes of the time that are so infuriating.

Furthermore, little Virgie never once treats "Uncle Bill" as anything less than an equal. Nor do her parents ever treat him disparagingly.

Race relations in this movie are not perfect. But neither are they stereotypes. There is no point on zooming in on Willie Best's character and going through all the modern clichés of moral superiority, only to dismiss it. The movie deserves better than that.

Yes, the dancing by Robinson and Temple is a wonder. But this movie has other things that are worth examination as well.

Forget what you may have been told about this movie and try to watch it with an open mind. You won't waste your time.

The thing which is racist about the film is not that it sets out to show anything evil about the black people - Shirley seems to be quite fond of her slaves, unless of course they do something wrong - but in the subtle way it suggests there was nothing wrong with the situation the Deep South was in before the civil war.

The black people are not only less intelligent than the whites (notice the girl so dumb she can't even remember a single line her mother told her to memorise to impress the young white child star - or perhaps she's just so nervous in the presence of the superior species that she can't remember), but they're completely happy being enslaved.

They absolutely love being told what to do by the six year old landowner's daughter, and the neighbourhood slaves just wait around for young Shirley to lavish some attention on them.

The thing I most regret about the film was that they forced the blacks to dance and entertain their white hosts like a bunch of chained elephants or circus freaks.

Its always a bad sign when the civil war is portrayed as a distruption to the desired state of affairs, as it is here and in Gone with the Wind.

1/5

Only youngsters, who don't yet understand that the only difference between white folks and black folks is skin pigment, which only evolved from a group of people living in an ultra-sunny climate for years, will be able to enjoy this film. But perhaps its better for society if you don't show it to them - the young are so impressionable, after all.

UPDATE: Can I point out that I've noticed people don't like this review, and I'm not surprised; its intentions were so innocent, it feels a shame to accuse it of causing offense, but unfortunately, I'd still suggest this one not be shown to impressionable kids for the reasons I have outlined above.