A Queridinha da Família

When valuable pearls are stolen, two ex-cons working in the home are immediately suspected. One of these fellows has an incredibly precocious & talented little daughter who manages to get her chubby hands on the missing necklace. When the real thief returns, will the tiny tot handle the dangerous situation to everyone's satisfaction? Will, once again, BABY TAKE A BOW?

Except for the presence of Shirley Temple, most likely this film would long ago have slipped into complete obscurity. James Dunn, Claire Trevor & the rest of the adult performers do their best with the rather tired material, but it is Shirley that one remembers. She is a darling & lights up her scenes with her sparkling personality. Everything else fades away...

Baby Take A Bow is based on a Broadway play called Square Crooks and ran a respectable 150 performances in 1926 and also was a silent film in 1928. But noting in the credits of both the Broadway cast and the silent film I noted all the names save for an equivalent of Shirley Temple.

Fox films showed some good judgment in grafting Shirley Temple's child character into this version. A couple of guys played by James Dunn and Ray Walker are trying to go straight and are succeeding. Both are employed by a wealthy family as chauffeurs. Dunn and Walker are married to Claire Trevor and Dorothy Libaire respectively. But Dunn and Trevor have that little bundle from heaven named Shirley Temple.

Both these guys face a pair of menaces. A recently released con played by Ralf Harolde who tries to get them back in the life. And Alan Dinehart who is a private detective who would like to become a real cop, but they won't have him. His role model in law enforcement is Inspector Javert and he hounds Dunn and Walker especially after a jewel heist is pulled on their employer.

Of course it's Shirley who in her innocent way gets Dunn and Walker out of a potential jackpot. Dunn and Trevor both have trouble keeping up with her.

Fans of the eternal moppet will be pleased.

This was my first attempt at watching a Shirley Temple movie, though this film was made before she really hit it big and therefore her screen time isn't as much as it would quickly become. The story instead centers on a likable ex-convict Eddie Ellison (James Dunn) who has harmless fun playing practical jokes on his friends and comes out of jail to marry a loyal woman (Claire Trevor). Six years later, the couple have young Shirley as their daughter and Eddie tries to hold a job. But a bitter and nasty private investigator (Alan Dinehart) is determined to do whatever it takes to ruin Ellison and send him back to the slammer again and tries to nail him for a theft he wasn't involved in. Here is where daddy's little girl helps her father out by trying to foil the real crook.

It's easy to sense the potential which shines off Shirley Temple during her scenes with Dunn and Trevor, and the precocious little charmer does delight with some mild dancing and her cutesy antics, but this film is reportedly not one of her best. It's lightweight stuff, though probably a feature that wouldn't be remembered at all today if not for the participation of Miss Temple. ** out of ****

**Some Possible Spoliers**

It was 12pm in the afternoon, and the announcer happened to indicate that a film with Shirley Temple was to come up next. My mother told me to tape the film since she thought that any film with Shirley Temple is a sure winner.

I was reluctant, but once the film started going i was rather intrigued. The story is rather good, and the actors are not so bad. Yet the adult actors tend to be a little too rigid in some moments of the film.

Shirley has to be without a doubt, the person who steals the show in this movie. Being cute and full of charm, she has the potential to just blow other actors right off the screen.

Although sometimes you wish she hadn't done things, like cut Mr Stone loose, she still remains as the best actress on screen. The last scene of the film on the rooftop was a reassuring one. There was some pretty good acting by Claire Trevor (Kay) which made the scene believeable. And the ending was rather sweet and happy (predictable).

I really enjoyed watching this film, and the scene with the coffee pot and the beads always gets me nervous. Anyone who likes old fashioned comedy, you'll be in for a treat. Shirley's charm surely makes this film worth watching.

Rating: 8/10

When I got this film from Netflix, it said that this film was Shirley's first starring full-length film. However, I noticed that "Stand Up and Cheer!" and "Stand Up and Cheer" (among others) came out a month earlier. In fact, about a half dozen Temple films all came out about that time. Perhaps they meant the first full-length film where she received top-billing--which is the case with "Baby Take a Bow".

The film begins with Eddie (James Dunn) getting out of prison and marrying his girlfriend, Kay (Claire Trevor). He then gets a job working as a chauffeur and several years pass. Now they STILL are amazingly happy and have the world's most perfect child, Shirley (Shirley Temple). But, into their idyllic world comes a serious problem--there is a jewel robbery and when their employer finds out that Eddie and his friend, Larry, both had been to prison, they are fired. A dogged cop, Welch, is convinced one or both of these men did it and he spends the rest of the film trying to return them to Sing Sing. Are they innocent? And, if so, who did it and how will they prove it? And, more importantly, will little Shirley's heart be broken?!

The film has a couple minor problems--though neither harms the film significantly. Welch is a bit one-dimensional and annoying--perhaps too annoying. Also, there is a song near the beginning that Shirley and James Dunn sing--and it's so sickeningly sweet that diabetics in the audience are encouraged to stop the film to check their blood sugar! However, the film uses a young Shirley well. She is awfully young and so she is given a part that is mostly comic relief--and so the plot itself does not rest on her small shoulders--a good decision in hindsight. And, despite the schmaltz, the film is enjoyable and fun.