Captain January

I had an unusual opportunity to see both the original 1924 version of "Captain January" (Starring Baby Peggy) and the 1936 version (Starring Shirley Temple). And, while I will freely admit that Shirley was an amazing talent, I actually preferred the original a bit more. Much of it might be because the singing and dancing in the remake seemed a bit out of place with such a sad story. Part of it might be that I just prefer originals in almost every case.

The story is not exactly the same as the original. The biggest difference is WHO Captain January is. In the 1924 film, it was the child's nickname but in this film, it's the name given to the child's adoptive father. Either way, the child was found along the shore following a shipwreck where the child's parents were killed. She was raised by a nice old lighthouse keeper (Guy Kibbee) and years later, a nasty old biddy wants to take the child away and put it in an orphanage because she feels the man is a bad influence on the kid. In the original, it was the child's aunt and uncle who threaten to take the kid and the old biddy was only a minor character. Either way, it all ends well--and everyone, naturally, is very happy.

This is a good family film....but not a great one. Shirley was fine and the film enjoyable but it just didn't seem like an improvement on an already lovely film. Worth seeing, but I recommend you see both.

Once again, Shirley Temple steals the show, and warms the heart with her curls and dimples. This is a great movie for the kids and the whole family, along with all of Temple's other family features. Guest star Buddy Ebsen puts on an entertaining show in the beginning of the movie with little Shirley Temple. 7 out of 10.

Actually, Captain January is one of my favorite Temple flix because of the music. For many years, it was out of circulation, not shown on the tube, and not available on video. I finally got to tape it on AMC several years ago, and it's still fum to watch. The score is especially warm and interesting. It's supposed to be written by Louis Silvers, but it was fine writing by whomever the arranger/ orchestrator was. Not my FAVORITE Temple flick, 'cause she did several that are better than this in terms of substance. The main attractions are the music, her dance episodes with a young Buddy Ebsen ( was there ever such a thing?), and the mushy relationship with the Cap'n. And the whole family can get in on the act !!

CAPTAIN January (Fox, 1936), directed by David Butler, is prime Shirley Temple in a formula story about an orphan named Star who is being raised by Captain January (Guy Kibbee), a crusty old lighthouse keeper of Cape Tempest, Maine, after being rescued from a shipwreck that has drowned both her parents four years ago. All goes well until Agatha Morgan (Sara Haden), a new tyrant officer from Salem, who feels that the child isn't being reared properly, makes arrangements to take the child away from him and have her placed in an institution.

Based on the story by Laura E. Richards, CAPTAIN January is an updated reworking to an earlier 1924 Principal Pictures 1924 silent version starring Baby Peggy, Hobart Bosworth and Irene Rich. As much as this new adaptation has the makings of a straight drama, due to Temple's musical talents, and the support of a young hoofer named Buddy Ebsen (on loan from MGM), song numbers were inserted to give it some added sparkle. With the score by Lew Pollack, Sidney Mitchell and Jack Yellen, songs include: "Early Bird" (sung by Shirley Temple); "The Codfish Bowl" (sung and danced by Temple with Buddy Ebsen); a portion from "Lucia di Lammermoor" (an opera by Gaetana Donizetti, performed by Temple, Guy Kibbee and Slim Summerville) "The Right Somebody to Love" (sung by Temple/ and unseen chorus during dream sequence); "The Right Somebody to Love" (reprise by Temple) and "The Codfish Bowl" (sung by Temple, Kibbee and Summerville). With the exception of a dream sequence, where singing is possible, all the other song numbers are inserted the story, with the music played by an off-screen orchestra right on cue. For the fade-in, it's morning and Kibbee places a record player into Temple's bedroom. Temple awakens, stretches her arms into the air and looking straight into the camera starts singing the opening lyrics of "Good Morning" which begins her opening number of "Early Bird." She dances her way to the bathroom where she changes into her sailor clothes, and occasionally continues to look her way towards the camera as she brushes her teeth. A little fake, but not as imaginative as her next number, "The Codfish Bowl," displaying the dancing talents of both Temple and Buddy Ebsen. This is performed on the dock surrounded by loafing seamen playing a harmonica and according before the hi-fi off-screen orchestration sets in. A show stopper that's regrettable in not having Ebsen and Temple performing another one for an encore. Also in the cast are Jerry Tucker (Cyril Morgan); Nella Walker (Mary Mason); George Irving (John Mason); Harry Hayden(Ira J. Slocum(; and James Farley(The Deputy Sheriff).

While 20th Century-Fox might have used some of its own resident lovable old coots as Claude Gillingwater Sr., playing Captain January, for example, the studio used Guy Kibbee from Warner Brothers, who, in the final product, proved to be the logical choice. Kibbee also makes a memorable over-sized baby with a bib sitting in the high chair in an amusing dream sequence with Temple acting as his nursemaid.

Aside from some melodramatic scenes, including Temple crying for "Cap" as she is being being taken away by the officers after losing his position as lighthouse keeper, CAPTAIN January is equipped with amusements, the best being the exchanges between Guy Kibbee and the underrated Slim Summerville as Captain Nazro, January's best friend, along with the middle-aged Eliza Croft (Jane Darwell), a rich widow woman after the affections of January. Buddy Ebsen, years before immortalized on television as Jed Clampett in THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES (1962-1971), supports as the loafer with a talent for dancing who finds companionship with the local school teacher named Mary (June Lang). Their characters are essential to the plot, but both have little to do. The story relatively belongs to the trio of Temple, Kibbee and Summerville.

Temple, who rarely gets a chance to share screen time with another child actor of equal age status, does so this time with Cyril Morgan (Jerry Tucker), a precocious but obnoxious little boy with whom she finds she has to compete in an entrance exam to enter the third grade. It so happens that Cyril happens to be the nephew of the woman who wants to take Star away from January. As much as the boy keeps telling Star that she knows nothing, this equally precocious little girl eventually displays how much she does know and more.

CAPTAIN January, at 76 minutes, was one of the handful of feature films displayed in 1989 on Playhouse Video, a division of CBS/Fox Video, as part of the Shirley Temple collection. With video transfer satisfactory, most important, it's complete, with the restoration of the closing cast credits to the underscoring to "The Codfish Bowl", usually cut from TV prints. In some local television markets (particulary the New York City area prior to 1976), the closing cast credits was substituted with a NTA (National Television Association) logo. When the Disney Cable Channel presented Shirley Temple movies in the early 1990s, all of which were colorized, the closing cast credits were included while prints for American Movie Classics (1996-2001) and later, the Fox Movie Channel, in the original black and white format, eliminated the closing credits with an insertion of a THE END title card taken from another movie. FMC later had the closing credits restored. While the Shirley Temple collection from Playhouse Video has been out of print, CAPTAIN January can also found colorized in both the VHS and DVD format.

Regardless of format CAPTAIN January, is recommended viewing for adults and youngsters alike, especially those who endure themselves with old-fashioned screen entertainment equipped with comedy, songs and a touch sentiment combined. (**1/2)

A vindictive truant officer attempts to wrest little Star from CAPTAIN JANUARY, the old lighthouse keeper who saved her from a watery grave.

Shirley Temple captivates her audience once again in this, one of her most popular films. Aided by fine production values courtesy of Fox, the Tiny Tyke does not disappoint. Singing & dancing, laughing or crying, she once again exhibits all the talents which for years made her top of the Hollywood box office heap.

It's difficult to imagine anyone other than cuddly Guy Kibbee in the title role. He's excellent, but he's also given firm support from old pros Slim Summerville & Jane Darwell. Sara Haden makes a nasty villainess, while OUR GANG bad boy Jerry Tucker is her obnoxious nephew. Pretty June Lang plays the sweet village schoolteacher.

Amiable hoofer Buddy Ebsen joins Shirley in a wonderful song & dance number, ‘The Cod Fish Ball.' Tall & pliable, with plenty of goofy facial expressions, Buddy's performance gives a little idea as to how much he might have contributed to THE WIZARD OF OZ three years later over at Metro, had not health reasons forced him to withdrawal.

Shirley also sings ‘Early Bird' and, in a delightful nursery fantasy, ‘The Right Somebody To Love.'