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After Shirley Temple was released from Twentieth Century Fox, this was her attempt to transition to mature roles. At the time, Temple was in her preteen phase and had outgrown the type of characters she usually played. KATHLEEN was her first, and only film, at MGM. Temple was left out of the teenybopper movies that were being made with the likes of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. KATHLEEN is still a decent effort though the story is a bit uninspired. The lead character Kathleen (Temple) is a restless child who only wants to win the affection of her father (Herbert Marshall) who is marrying a woman who does not love him (Gail Patrick). After Kathleen drives away her governess, Dr. Martha Kent (Laraine Day) has been enlisted to get to the root of Kathleen's nasty behavior. I enjoy this film because Shirley still gave us a good performance and handled her dramatic scenes well. She would go on to work with David O. Selznick who gave her better material.

By the time Shirley Temple makes Kathleen in 1941 she had been cut loose from 20th Century Fox by Darryl Zanuck as the budding teen Shirley was no longer box office. Imagine being a has been at 12.

Still MGM grabbed her for Kathleen where she's a girl entering puberty and quite frankly in this film a bit spoiled. She's a rich kid, daughter of Herbert Marshall who is all about business. She misses her late mom and Shirley also cannot stand the housekeeper/governess Nella Walker. And the one she really can't stand is Gail Patrick, the woman who Marshall wants to marry.

These films are usually so loaded in the sense we watch and can't believe that Marshall is such a blockhead that he can't see that Patrick is a bad woman and the lady psychologist that is there to treat Temple, Laraine Day is the woman for both of them.

Kathleen is not in a league with some of Shirley's best work at 20th Century Fox, but it is reasonably entertaining.

Shirley Temple plays Kathleen, a 12-year-old with a rich imagination who lives with her emotionally absent father, a household of servants, and a governess who is a cross between the worst prison guard and Miss Gulch from "The Wizard of Oz". When Kathleen lashes out in rebellion, a doctor is called in to diagnose the girl. This film starts as a drama, but it does not remain all darkness and demons.

All child actors must eventually face uncertainty when they outgrow the young roles that made them successful. Shirley Temple was beyond successful as a child actress, capturing the hearts of moviegoers for years. When she became too old for the "Good Ship Lollipop", would she be able to transition successfully into teen roles and adult roles?

In 'Kathleen", Shirley is 13 years old. The drama of this film is similar to dramatic scenes she had previously played as a child, but viewers expect more from older performers. In "Kathleen" she portrays angst and outrage, but her performance is too childlike, which impacts the early scenes especially. In a few years, she would be better equipped to emote with greater depth. In 1947's "That Hagen Girl", for example, she adeptly portrays a troubled teen beset with a haunting past who is the target of an entire town. 1949's "A Kiss for Corliss" (A comedy with David Niven) is effectively the end of her film career, so she used her newfound skills only sparingly.

Watch for Laraine Day and Gail Patrick, who face off over Kathleen's well-being and the girl's father, played by Herbert Marshall. All of them acquit themselves well. Day, remarkably, is only 8 years old than Shirley, but convincingly plays a professional woman who possesses authority and confidence.

One final note: this film was released soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor. I can only wonder what effect that had on attendance and the public's willingness to be entertained. The nation was in shock and dealing with important matters that completely altered its way of life. A determined response to aggression, and fears about worldwide aggression, were paramount. Still, the nation would learn to use cinema to channel its patriotic fervor and, conversely, to escape harsh realities.

Kathleen (Shirley Temple) is a lonely young lady. Her mother is deceased and her father is never home. Because of this, she has a governess--a woman who is just plain nasty. As for Kathleen, she's a bit of a brat--mostly because she's so emotionally neglected and lonely. However, her clueless father (Herbert Marshall) takes her to see a psychotherapist instead of giving her what she needs--his time and attention. Fortunately, the therapist quickly realizes the situation and tells the father that the governess is evil. Instead, the therapist recommends a child psychologist (Laraine Day) becomes the child's governess--at least temporarily. Almost immediately, Kathleen decides that this woman would make a perfect mother for her. Unfortunately, the manipulative girl has a problem with her plan--Dad already has a woman picked out to be his new wife. And, this wife-to-be is a superficial and annoying woman indeed (Gail Patrick). What's Kathleen to do?!

"Kathleen" is an odd film. It isn't bad, but along with other films like "The Blue Bird", it managed to alienate the public from Temple because the films were such a departure from the sweet Temple films of the 1930s. Part of this, of course, is because Shirley was older and the old style films wouldn't have worked as well with a child about to become a teen. Part of it, however, is that the studios didn't really seem to know what to do with her.

I liked the Kathleen character. Her manipulative personality was pretty funny and I liked some of her bratty moments. However, what I didn't like about her were the fantasy scenes. These involved musical interludes that just weren't necessary and really slowed down the film. In fact, had they cut them all out, the movie would have worked much better--especially since music seemed inappropriate to this style of film. Plus, while Shirley was great singing as a child, here she seems a bit out of her element in these production numbers.

So is it worth seeing? Sure. The negatives about this one are far outweighed by the good. Shirley's performance is very nice and the story quite clever. And, although the ending was a bit sticky, I did like it. A very different sort of film for the actress, that's for sure--but a nice one. But also it's so different that I could easily see folks disliking it.

I saw "Kathleen" thanks to someone who taped it off TCM.com then put it up on YouTube. It's still on YouTube if you're interested. It has never been released on DVD or VHS.

In Shirley Temple's autobiography "Child Star", there's a photo of her on the set of "Kathleen" with bongos strapped to her waist. She's in a shell-shaped bandstand with other cast members performing a calypso number.

She writes that the stage undulated (moved in a wave fashion), making it very difficult for the dancers to get the scene down right. Everybody had to stay late for constant re-shoots.

So, in the movie from YouTube, the scene is not in there. There's just one song and dance routine but it's not a calypso with the bongos. The one from YouTube ran almost an hour and a half.