Merrily Yours

Apart from a chance to see Shirley Temple when she was very young, there isn't a lot to recommend this one. It's not terrible...but it also isn't very good.

The film stars Frank Coglan Jr. as Sonny--a rather annoying teenager whose classmates treat him pretty lousy. After having some girl trouble at school, he announces he no longer likes girls. Basically, this is a long and silly teenage rant...not much fun to watch. His mother later asks him to watch his bratty sister (Temple) and she is a handful. However, her time in the film is relatively brief and the plot then jumps to the new girl who just moved in next door...and Sonny suddenly forgetting his pledge. Soon, he's asked her out to some dance and little does he know that he will be in for some more bullying when he gets there. Ultimately, he's had enough and is ready to teach the head bully a lesson.

If you like watching teenagers act like teenagers, by all means watch this one. As a parent whose kids are now in their 20s, I have little desire to watch immature kids...which basically this all boils down to in this story. Not terrible but the characters are often annoying as well as broadly written.

Shirley Temple became a rising child star above all others since with her cute curly hair and personality. In this film, her big brother has trouble with women whether it's his mother, sister, or their pet dog. When he swears off his women, he meets his new next door neighbor who is an attractive girl and falls in love. He's a bit awkward and shy and obviously uncomfortable at times but he does a good job with the script. The quality of the film copy I have is quite poor and time has taken a toll on the film's quality. I suspect these short films held up when people went to the cinemas all the time. Today, these short films would show up on television or online. Still, Shirley Temple is the star attraction. Her appeal is still found today but the film could have used a better script overall.

Junior Coghlan is much taken with Mary Blackford, who has just moved in next door. He's trying to date her up when high school swell Kenneth Howell tries to move in on the young lovely. Coghlan is up for anything, but it turns into a disastrous evening.

It's a very good short comedy under the direction of Charles Lamont. If it's at all available, it's because it features Shirley Temple as Coghlan's annoying kid sister. Lamont wasn't the first director to put Miss Temple on screen, but he was the second, and he featured her in a dozen shorts from 1932 through 1934. This one came out in September of 1932. The next month Miss Temple was in her first feature, and within three years she would be the biggest -- as well as the littlest -- star in Hollywood.

Poor Sonny (Coughlan), he has a beat up car and most of the other high school boys make fun of him. When a beautiful new girl (Blackford) moves in next door, Sonny and his kid sister Mary Lou (Shirley Temple) make friends with her. The local wealthy masher shows up at a party and tries to take her away from Sonny and all HECK breaks loose when he insults the new girl. Director Henry J. Edwards is better known for two of his other films: Juggernaut and Scrooge (1935). Junior Coughlan plays Shirley's brother in at least one more film, "Pardon My Pups". This is a cute, but rather thin story in which a very young Shirley shows off her talents. Not a very big budget, International Pictures wasn't a very big studio, Director Edwards was lucky to get away from there and do better work.