Agora e Sempre

If you're looking for a Shirley Temple vehicle, Now and Forever isn't it. She's very young and hardly in the movie. She isn't her singing, tap-dancing persona in this movie. This is a Gary Cooper, Carole Lombard drama that happens to have a little girl in the story. Shirley does sing one song, though, but she's not the lead.

Gary is a small-time crook with no plans to go straight. He hasn't seen his daughter in a long time, and his wife Carole has never met her. While he initially plans to unload Shirley's custody onto someone else, when the father and daughter are reunited, the little curly top melts his heart. Carole adores her, too, and soon Gary vows to clean up his act. But will it stick? Will his vow of "honor bright" to Shirley see him through?

If you're a fan of the cast, you'll want to check out this early '30s picture. Shirley isn't the focal point, but if you love her, you're going to want to watch all of her movies, right?

Gary Cooper and Carole Lombard reminded me of the romantic thieves in "Algiers" played by Charles Boyer and Hedy LaMarr. That movie was 1938 and this one 1934, so this movie is the original. It is a pre-code movie, so don't expect the stupid moral standards that the Hays office enforced in the years after this movie. Cooper and Lombard are wonderfully charming in their first few scenes together. They become more intense later on and less fun. In fact the whole film become less fun when Shirley Temple enters. At age six, Temple wasn't yet the brilliant seasoned pro and entertainer she became the following years.

This is Henry Hathaway's eleventh film, but eight of those were one hour Westerns with Randolph Scott, so it is only his third non-Western. His work with the actors, camera placements and story-telling techniques are excellent.

The main problem I found was with the stings or cons that are in the film. They seem far too easy. Perhaps people were much more gullible and assumed honesty in those days, but it is hard to believe that Cooper could have pulled off his cons without the luck of having a screenwriter watching over him.

It is not a great film, and not the best for Cooper, Lombard, Temple or Hathaway, but there is a lot of talent here and the film is enjoyable most of the time.

Incidentally, Dorothy Dell starred with Shirley Temple in 1934 in "Little Miss Marker" and died in a car crash at the age of 19. Carole Lombard starred with Temple in this movie and died in a plane crash at the age of 34. I thought I had discovered a "Temple Curse," but when I checked all of Temple's other female co-stars, almost all lived into their 80's or 90's and died of natural causes.

Gary Cooper stars as Jerry Day, a con man who roams the luxury spots of the world with his girlfriend Toni (Carole Lombard), staying one step ahead of the law and bill collectors. He learns that he has a 6-year old daughter named Penny (Shirley Temple) from a previous relationship. It seems the child's mother has died, but since she was wealthy, Jerry sees a potential payday, so he takes charge of the young girl. However, the child's infectious charm causes Jerry to reassess his lifestyle and change his ways, a decision that may be easier said than done.

I'm not normally a fan of Temple's films, but this outing, in which she's supporting, is much easier to take, even if it is more than a little saccharine. Cooper is good as the morally compromised man trying to change his ways. He's especially effective in the rather dark final act. Temple is Temple, while Lombard doesn't have much to do. Charlotte Granville is enjoyable as a rich old widow who wants to adopt Temple. While the money may be nice, I'm not sure how many years old Charlotte has left in her to be raising a 6-year-old to maturity. I liked this more than expected, and would recommend it to those who have perhaps avoided it due to Temple's presence and a dislike of child centered production code era films.

The only Shirley Temple appeared away from Fox studios was in this loan out film to Paramount co-starring Gary Cooper and Carole Lombard. After Fox became 20th Century Fox, Darryl F. Zanuck would not lend out his biggest star and America's biggest star during those years. Now and Forever was made slightly before Temple's peak years, but she was rising fast.

Another viewer said he could not understand why Cooper and Lombard would want to be associated with this film. Very simply it was going to make money and they would also gain exposure. The challenge was holding their own against the adorable little moppet.

Cooper is a confidence man who apparently isn't as good as he thinks he is. He swindles Guy Standing, but later finds out he's actually been the one taken. Of course by that time he's reunited with his little daughter and she introduced to his new wife Carole Lombard.

Cooper just is an instinctive grifter though, content to lead life one step ahead of the law. It's not however a life that he can have a little daughter along with for the ride.

The ending here is a little darker than most Shirley Temple movies are and that makes it somewhat unique. Lombard is good, but she's somewhat subdued in this film. Best in the film besides Shirley is Guy Standing.

Not one of Cooper's best or Lombard's best, but Shirley Temple fans of every generation will probably like it, but find the film a bit strange.

NOW AND FOREVER (Paramount, 1934), directed by Henry Hathaway, based on the story "Honor Bright" by Jack Kirkwood and Melville Baker, stars two-time Academy Award winner Gary Cooper and Carole Lombard, best known for screwball comedies, in a leisurely paced drama made watchable for the early screen presence of little Shirley Temple. While noteworthy as a Temple film, NOW AND FOREVER virtually belongs to the adults, particularly Cooper in an offbeat performance.

The story opens in Shanghai where adventurer Jerome "Jerry" Day (Gary Cooper), along with his traveling companion/wife Toni (Carole Lombard) of three years (whom he constantly asks, "Who do you love?), staying at the Occidental Hotel. Aside from living out of suitcases, catching planes, trains and boats for their next destination, Jerry is also an international crook. Unable to pay his hotel bill, he acquires the cash posing as a hotel auditor from guests whose bills are long overdue. Fully aware of his background, Toni is surprised to learn that Jerry has a child ("For a man who talks so much, you say very little"), living under the guardianship of his late wife Elsie's rich brother (Gilbert Emery) at an estate in Connecticut. Instead of reclaiming his daughter, Jerry decides on making easy money by selling the custody over to him for $75,000. Unable to cope with this situation, Toni decides to remain in Paris while Jerry meets with his brother-in-law and attorney (Henry Kolker). Once Jerry meets with his daughter, Penelopie, better known as Penny (Shirley Temple), whom he hasn't seen since birth, he is touched by the child and takes her away with him. After sailing back to Paris, Jerry introduces Penny to Toni as her new mother. All goes well, with Jerry now earning an honest living as agent for Rivera Realty Company, until he meets up with Felix Evans (Sir Guy Standing), an elderly gentleman to whom he sold a phony gold mine for $5,000 while with Penny in New York. Being a crook himself, Felix let Jerry swindle him in order to blackmail him into stealing a valuable necklace belonging to Mrs. J.H.P. Crane (Charlotte Granville), a wealthy widow whom Penny has already befriended. Further complications arise for Jerry as Mrs. Crane, who senses his adventurous ways, wanting to adopt Penny in order to give her a better life than her father ever could.

NOW AND FOREVER became Temple's second and final loan-out assignment from her home base at Fox Studios, her first being LITTLE MISS MARKER (1934). Although both films are equal to the point of having its opening credits orchestrated to the score of "Laugh, You Son-of-a-Gun," LITTLE MISS MARKER has proved more favorable by today's standards than NOW AND FOREVER in spite its top name cast of Cooper and Lombard. Temple has little screen time with Lombard, but gets the most out of playing opposite the extremely tall Cooper as well as the elderly co-stars of Charlotte Granville (giving an Alison Skipworth-type performance) and Sir Guy Standing. Temple's most crucial scene occurs while crying after discovering Mrs. Crane's necklace hidden in her teddy bear, believing "Daddy" had stolen it, even worse after swearing "honor bright" to her that he didn't. This is followed by a touching scene of forgiveness with daughter kissing Daddy. Take notice that the portion where society woman wanting to adopt child was reworked into Temple's latter film, DIMPLES (20th-Fox, 1936) with Helen Westley as the matron and Frank Morgan as Temple's petty thief grandfather.

As much as Temple is seldom seen mixing with other children on screen, she gets an opportunity enacting briefly opposite Ronnie Cosbey as the little boy by the poolside with whom she trades roller skates, as well as entertaining children guests attending Mrs. Crane's dinner party by singing, sneezing and stomping her feet to the tune of "The World Owes Me a Living" (by Harry Revel and Mack Gordon).

Of all the Temple features produced from 1934 to 1940, NOW AND FOREVER appeared to be the only one not part of any Shirley Temple Film Festivals on commercial television during the 1960s and 70s. The movie did air regularly on television in the New York City area on WNEW, Channel 5 prior to 1979, usually during the mid morning or after midnight hours possibly for its theme being more adult than one appealing to children. There's even gun shooting involved, not typically found in Temple's family oriented films. For many years, NOW AND FOREVER had virtually disappeared from view, making this and her 20th-Fox 1940 musical YOUNG PEOPLE the only hold-outs on VHS and DVD formats until the late 1990s when both distributed on VHS colorized formats. Cable television showings have been elusive for NOW AND FOREVER until making its Turner Classic Movies premiere July 6, 2015, as part of its "Star of the Month" tribute to the one and only Shirley Temple.

In spite of script weakness, NOW AND FOREVER remains of sole interest due to its principal players early in their careers, particularly Temple, whose popularity remains legendary, now and forever. Honor bright. (***)