Review by Michael_Elliott

The Pie-Covered Wagon (1932)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

The Baby Burlesque series of shorts are some of the most interesting from this era for all the wrong reasons. The series basically had scripts for adults but all of the roles were played by children with Shirley Temple being the star. In this one set in the West, Temple has a crush on a boy and soon their wagon is attacked by Indians.

THE PIE-COVERED WAGON was made as a comedy. It was a spoof of the countless Westerns that were out at the time. The problem is that it's not really that funny and the entire series, more times than not, just came across as being rather creepy. There are scenes where a bear chasing a young black boy. There are scenes where Temple and her "love" kiss each other. The idea of having kids playing adult roles might have gone over big at the time but today it just seems a little strange to say the least. Yes, you must judge a film for when it was made but I'm still curious as to what people really felt about some of these back in the day. This one here is poorly made, contains no laughs and is really just of interest as a strange freak show.