Stepping Toes

In the 1930s there were a lot of child stars in Hollywood.Apart from Temple there was Freddie Bartholomew,Jackie Cooper and another English girl,Sybil Jason.In this country there were few attempts at imitating these child stars with the exception of Hazel Ascot,who appeared in a total of 2 films.This film is directed by John Baxter who appears to have had a passion for music hall and the theatre and many of his films were set in such venues often,as is the case here with a grand finale.The story is fairly familiar and had already been used by Hoyywood of a young child uniting her estranged family.There are a lot of musical numbers particularly in the last 15 minutes.Ascot seems to be quite talented although she employs a maniacal grin when tap dancing.The finale includes children doing all sorts of turns.Accordion playing,uke playing,string orchestra.It is all very entertaining.

Producer-Director John Baxter made pioneering dramas about life among the underclass which he underwrote with glossy escapism like this, which is the usual stuff about a talented young entertainer who rises to the top in the face of parental disapproval. (Including a blackface number that shocks her headmistress for entirely different reasons from why it might offend modern viewers.) The title makes it clear that 'Stepping Toes' was devised as a vehicle for pre-war nine-day wonder Hazel Ascot, an attractive young lass with an engaging smile and nimble gangling legs.

Miss Ascot is not called upon to do much acting, most of the dialogue being handled by the grown-ups, who spend much of the film's running time talking about her during her long stretches offscreen (while she herself was presumably at school).

Ernest Butcher provides welcome relief from the prevailing upbeat tone with his miserable face and growling delivery during some the film's more caustically amusing moments.

Nine-year-old Hazel Ascot is a natural dancer, who taps her way down to breakfast. That's because her mother, Enid Stamp-Taylor is the daughter of old trouper Wilson Coleman, who's still putting on shows. Miss Stamp-Taylor is embarrassed by this because what plot would there be without it? When Miss Ascot wins an amateur competition run by her grandfather, will Miss Stamp-Taylor have her way, or will there be a big production number to end the movie?

Miss Ascot's publicity proclaimed her "the English Shirley Temple" for both her movies, and she's pretty good, as are the hundreds of other children who perform in this film. Her work is choreographed by her father, Duggie Ascot. It's a competent kiddie show-biz movie, with not a surprise in its 77 minutes, but director John Baxter supervises a pleasant shoot.

The copy I looked at was in awful shape. Unless you can put up with that, I'd give this one a miss, and look for her other movie, which, it is claimed, is on a disk.