La vie en rose

I would agree with other reviewers who felt this was a mediocre Shirley Temple outing--neither particularly good nor particularly bad. It's worth seeing, however, some might have a hard time stomaching the schmaltz and propaganda--the film does lay it on pretty thick.

The film begins with Shirley being taken from her boarding school and sent home. It seems her father (no mention is EVER made of the mother, by the way) has lost his fortune and cannot afford to keep her in the school. But, as Shirley is MORE optimistic and chipper than Pollyanna or Ned Flanders, she sees this as all a grand adventure. Through the course of the film, she remains unabashedly optimistic and does her best to make everyone have a happily ever after--even the nasty old man she refers to as 'Uncle Sam'! I liked and disliked the film. The humor was very sweet and you can't help loving Shirley. Additionally, the theme song throughout the film is very peppy and you'll most likely find yourself humming along with it. But, on the other hand, the optimism angle wore a bit thin, as did the stuff about Uncle Sam and the Depression. In fact, it came off, at times, as pure propaganda. Had the intent been disguised a bit, it would have made it all less obvious.

If you do see the film, pay attention to the fund-raiser at the end. Shirley had a huge bag of nickels from all the kids who paid to see it. However, when you see the ridiculous sets and costumes, the kids should have paid at least $100 a ticket to break even!! Silly, but also kind of funny.

Additionally, look for Charles Farrell in a rare starring appearance. Although Farrell was arguably the most famous male star of the late silent age, by 1938 his career was pretty much over in Hollywood. Why? I have no idea nor is there any indication why on his IMDb page. Also, this is the fourth and final film pairing Shirley and Bill Robinson--and to watch them dance, that's more than enough reason to watch the movie.

Taking a cue from Mickey and Judy over at MGM, Shirley Temple decides that the problems she and father Charles Farrell are facing because of the Depression can be solved by putting on a show. The show is for the benefit of Claude Gillingwater who is Benny Bartlett's grand uncle Sam. The fact that Shirley confuses Gillingwater who is a tycoon with the euphemism for the USA is certainly not her fault.

Farrell is an architect who's now out of work in his chosen profession and now living in the basement of the building where he had the penthouse suit. Living there now is Cora Witherspoon who is Gillingwater's daughter and her son Bartlett. Among other things Shirley turns him from a spoiled brat into a regular kid.

Just Around The Corner reunited Shirley with Bill Robinson her famous dancing partner from The Littlest Rebel. Also in the cast are Joan Davis as a maid/dogwalker and Bert Lahr as a chauffeur who formerly worked for Farrell and now for Gillingwater's family.

How could Uncle Sam not get better with Shirley Temple as his biggest booster? Fans of the eternal moppet will not be disappointed with Just Around The Corner.

Certainly the curse that caught the child players, met his first victim in Shirley Temple, she was the perfect paradigm to strengthen such matter, in this picture she is back from school due his broken father is no longer had a high class engineer job, he accepts a humble job as maintenance work at same building that he had used to live.

The best thing that this picture offers is quite sure the ill tempered multimillionaire Samuel G. Henshaw played shiningly by the veteran actor Claude Gillingwater mistaken by Uncle Sam, smart script well developed to help the girl prodigy, possibly silly and dated, however nobody can deny the kindness and dexterity of Temple, a true benchmark at it's time, the DVD has an additional colorized version, recommended for all ages!!

Resume:

First watch: 2009 / How many: 2 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.

Here's a so-so Shirley Temple entry with a catchy song that plays throughout the film. The movie features a bunch of nice characters. The "bad guys" in here - a snotty woman, her butler and a crabby "Uncle Sam" - aren't overly mean and don't have huge roles in here so the atmosphere, for the most part, is very genial.

In addition to the main song ("This Is A Happy Little Ditty," a very catchy song), there is a good production number near the end of the film. Both of those numbers feature Shirley and Bill Robinson. Those two were always fun to watch dance and sing together.

There are two negatives in here: some of the spoken lines are a little stupid and poorly delivered, mostly by the male rich kid "Milton Ramsby" (Bennie Bartlett) who looked like he was reading his lines and the female adult lead, "Lola Ramsby," played by Amanda Duff, was weak. I can see why Duff never had much of a screen career.

I would like to have heard a few more songs, too, but it's still a charming film: not her best, but not the worst, either.

JUST AROUND THE CORNER (20th Century-Fox, 1938), directed by Irving Cummings, stars Shirley Temple in what might be her only venture into "screwball comedy," and reportedly her first box-office flop. Temple plays Penny Hale, a child who returns home from boarding school to her prominent architect father (Charles Farrell), unemployed and now living in a basement of the same skyscraper in which they used to live in style up in the penthouse. Amanda Duff, a new Fox starlet at the time, is featured as Farrell's love interest.

Songs by Walter Bullock and Harold Spina include: "Just Around the Corner" (sung during opening credits); "This is a Happy Little Ditty" (sung by Shirley Temple, with Joan Davis, Bert Lahr/danced by Bill Robinson and Temple); "Brass Buttons and Apple-Lass" (sung and danced by Bill Robinson and doormen); and the lively tune, "I Like to Walk in the Rain" (sung by Temple/danced by Temple and Robinson).

Aside from familiar character actors in the supporting cast, featuring the likes of Franklin Pangborn and Cora Witherspoon (who later appeared opposite WC Fields in 1940s THE BANK DICK), along with Joan Davis and Bert Lahr as maid and chauffeur, some of the comedy strains for laughs. Shirley was about 10 years old when this movie was made, and recites lines and lands herself in comedic situations that would have performed better if she were a few years younger. Instead of being cute, she appears more silly than charming, sorry to say. The dance numbers in which she participates with Bill Robinson, as the building doorman, are still good but not given enough screen time to make amends for trite storyline. As with Temple's previous LITTLE MISS Broadway (1938), JUST AROUND THE CORNER plays at "B" movie length of 70 minutes, both giving some indication of it being longer, and having gone through some tight film editing process. Joan Davis whose name is billed second after Temple, disappears before the movie is half way over. What became of her? Maybe she and Lahr, who are very amusing together, had more to do, even in a supposed production number in a charity benefit near the film's end that possibly got the ax. Maybe deleted scenes such as the this might turn up as part of a documentary on 20th Century-Fox movies or Shirley Temple's career in the similar fashion to American Movie Classic's well constructed HIDDEN Hollywood (From the vaults of 20th Century-Fox) specials that premiered in the mid 1990s. Charles Farrell, billed third, as Temple's (supposedly) widowed father, had seen better days in his career at the old Fox Film Studios when he achieved popularity as the romantic leading man opposite Janet Gaynor in 12 feature films from 1927 to 1934. He was by then a name of the past whose movie career came to an end by 1941. And Shirley gets to share screen time opposite a boy actor, Bennie Bartlett, playing a rich "momma's boy" named Milton with curls and glasses, but with the encouragement by little Penny, Milton earns respect from his "Uncle Sam" (Claude Gillingwater Sr.) by losing those "girly" curls (Penny had given him a much needed haircut), and getting a black eye in a fight with a bully. Aside from that, Temple continues to play her usual "little miss fix it."

JUST AROUND THE CORNER, available on video cassette in both black and white and colorized versions since the late 1980s, appeared as part of Shirley Temple festivals on the Disney Channel in the early 1990s, followed by American Movie Classics cable channel from 1996 to 2001, and the Fox Movie Channel, where it is currently shown. (**)