Little Pioneer

It's a shame that so few Hollywood films have been done about South Africa--and almost none about the early years of this country. In light of this, it's even sadder that one of the few is this limp little film. Aside from being filmed in glorious Technicolor or a chance to see Jane Wyman in a very early appearance, there really isn't much to make this worth watching.

The story is set in the Natal (now part of South Africa) and the characters are mostly Boers--that is, Dutch settlers. It appears to be set during the first Boer War (1880-1881) due to their costumes. Regardless, some of the characters are fighting the British and it's a rare Hollywood film to not take the side of the Brits. I could try to explain the plot but won't--suffice to say it's a lot like an American western but with black people instead of Indians as the baddies. In addition, there's LOTS of singing and limp acting--none of which manage to make this interesting period of history the least bit interesting. To make it worse, EVERYTHING works out perfectly in the end--every single tiny plot thread!! Rather dumb and probably only of interest if you want to laugh at the acting.

Carlyle Moore Jr. And sister Sybil Jason are traveling by Conestoga in the Transvaal in the 1880s. Miss Jason is left with Boer Frederik Vogeding while he goes on ahead. Vogeding is preparing with neighbors to fight the British. Is Miss Jason cute enough to bring peace?

It's one of the Warner Brothers short subjects intended to show off Technicolor as much as interest its audience with story or the musical numbers. This was 1937, and Shirley Temple was one of the biggest film stars around. There were hopes that Miss Jason might be as profitable as Miss Temple. Alas, she was cute enough, but lacked the talent.

An insufferably "cute" mixture of western (although the story is set in 1850s South Africa) and musical, featuring child star SYBIL JASON in her usual Shirley Temple type of role wherein she emerges the heroine who saves the day.

The only decent aspect of the whole featurette is the rich looking Technicolor and the gorgeous scenery.

Otherwise, forget it. The only other point of interest is seeing JANE WYMAN in a costume film (rather than a modern story or musical), with little to do but look concerned about her thwarted romance with a British soldier (CARLYLE MOORE, JR.), who looks an awful lot like a young Shepherd Strudwick.

There are a couple of songs, none of them memorable, and the whole thing winds up predictably with little Sybil saving the day. There are too many "icky" moments for comfort as the slight story unwinds.

Worthwhile for the astonishingly lovely Technicolor alone.

Little Pioneer (1937)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Technicolor short from Warner about rival families who must put their differences behind them when one of their daughters is kidnapped by blood-thirsty tribe. I think a lot of people are going to watch this thing today and question the two white families being "forced" to stick together and fight off the evil black tribe but I don't think this was the original intent so the racial stuff is probably a non-issue. The film takes place in South Africa during 1880 and for the most part I think they got the look right but that's about it. There's very little going on here, story wise, to get overly excited about as we've seen this type of thing before. Naturally, in the two families we have a man who loves a woman on the other side and this just adds drama that we've seen in countless other films. A young Jane Wyman plays the love interest who ends up kidnapped but she gets very little to do. Sybil Jason, Carlyle Moore, Jr. and Frederick Vogeding round out the supporting cast. The Technicolor is certainly another major plus but the two musical numbers add zero as does the majority of the story.