Miss Annie Rooney

This film does not deserve the negative criticism it received, apparently even from Miss Temple herself. Perhaps its depiction of amiable teenagers of that era is a Hollywood version. (Unlike today, when teens are shown as cynical, foul-mouthed, pot-smoking, alcoholics.) Shirley is always her delightful self. Dickie Moore is wonderful as a kind, thoughtful young man. It is great to see Shirley again with Guy Kibbee ("Captain January.") The performance from William Gargan, as a loser but well-meaning father, is remarkable. His scene where he invades a birthday party is so embarrassing it is hard to watch. There isn't any singing, but there are entertaining dance scenes. The only problem with the film for me is the predictable, unrealistic conclusion. It would have been better if the writers could have thought of a more creative way to have a happy ending. This is a fun, underrated, very likeable movie.

This is an adorable coming of age story starring Shirley Temple as the Irish American Miss Annie Rooney. Having lost her mother, Annie lives with her father the dreamer Tim (William Gargan) and her retired police officer grandfather Grandpa Rooney, played by the always fabulous Guy Kibbee.

While on the way to a friends house for a get together and jitterbug dance party she and her friend Joey (Roland Dupree) run into Marty White (Dickie Moore). Marty is from a different social bracket, but seems to become instantly smitten with Annie. Not only does Annie teach him to jitterbug, but she speaks to him of Romeo and Juliet. It's not long before Marty sends her red roses and asks her to his birthday party, which creates all sorts of financial issues for Annie's family as her father has just become unemployed.

This is one of those feel good movies where everything works out...and it is notable as Shirley Temple's first on screen kiss. I hadn't really seen a picture of her in the throws of growing up and she is just as adorable as when she was pint sized. The dancing is a real highlight for me as a dancer and fun to watch. I also got a kick out of the slang and the adults attempts to catch on to the contemporary lingo. Just a fun film that I recommend to classic film fans.

"May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows your dead."-Grandpa Rooney.

There's a scene in "Miss Annie Rooney" that ranks among the most awkward I've ever seen in a movie. Poor high school girl Shirley Temple is at her wealthy boyfriend Dickie Moore's birthday party, having just won over his snobbish friends with her dancing skills. Unexpectedly, her father William Gargan bursts in, determined to demonstrate to Moore's industrialist father a system of converting millweed into rubber. He practically burns down the whole place in the process. The level of cringe is so off the charts that I had to pause the movie to collect myself.

That scene exemplifies the strange divide in the movie. Half the scenes are lighthearted fun with Shirley Temple and her teen gang, the other half is a really depressing kitchen sink drama centered around the constant family crises caused by her dad's impulsivity and flightiness. The upbeat scenes are much better and less contrived, with plenty of 1940s jive talk, jitterbugging and jury-rigged jalopies. There's a nifty swing dancing scene where Shirley really gets to really let loose, although Moore is obviously doubled. Unfortunately, there's a rather silly happy ending tacked on that will make you roll your eyes.

Shirley had left Fox and was in a sort of limbo waiting for suitable roles when she did 'Miss Annie Rooney' for Edward Small, her first teen-age role before the more successful one in 'Since You Went Away'. I saw this in the colorized video version and, although certainly not one of her best films, it was passable enough and fun seeing Shirley develop into her "older" roles. A lot of teen-age jive talk (1940s-style) makes up most of the dialogue and the plot is a slender one about a poor girl infatuated with a rich boy and facing disapproval of his friends. Guy Kibbee is enjoyable as Shirley's grandfather and William Gargan and Peggy Ryan do well enough in supporting roles. Shirley's teen-age poise is impressive and she looks charming--but this is a distinctly minor item among her credits, an interesting curiosity piece if you want to compare today's teen-agers to the swinging juveniles shown here. The script is weak, and yet Temple manages to be her charming self. As far as the colorization goes, it's one of the better jobs I've seen.

As Miss Annie Rooney, we have Miss Shirley Temple officially reaching adolescence in a Hollywood motion picture. The acceptable effort is a production from Edward Small's company distributed through United Artists. Despite the obviousness of its limited budget, the movie has plenty of merit, though its script could easily have undergone a rewrite to remove some of the more blatant stereotypes about the Irish-American culture.

Guy Kibbee is cast as Temple's grand-pop and serves stew along with an authentic-sounding brogue. However, William Gargan, who plays his son and Temple's father curiously does not attempt to convey the Irishness of his character much at all. For that matter, he does not attempt to convey much in the way of acting, either.

There are some charming moments in this film that make up for the occasional inconsistencies. One such moment is a teen party where our blossoming star dances with Dickie Moore, who has also officially reached puberty in this film. Like Temple, he suffers the pangs of young love in between fits of barely decipherable young folk slang.