Fossettes

For this Shirley Temple feature Frank Morgan was borrowed from MGM and worked awfully hard to keep America's favorite moppet from stealing the whole film. Morgan was no mean scene stealer himself.

A lot of his Professor Marvel aka known as the Wizard over in Oz went into Morgan characterization of the Professor who is Shirley's grandfather. He's a former actor who has seen his better days and now lives hand to mouth. Shirley and her street peers and an integrated group of peers they are distract the crowd while he pilfers their pockets.

I won't say how but Shirley comes to the attention of society matron Helen Westley who offers to adopt her. At the same time she's got a nephew Robert Kent who wants to enter that most ignoble of professions, being an actor. She won't hear of it, especially his adaption of that current best seller Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin.

These two issues meet and are resolved in the finale. Though we're never sure whether Frank Morgan will end his thieving ways. It's practically an addiction now.

Morgan and Temple made a good team on screen. Their scenes are almost a dress rehearsal for his role in The Wizard Of Oz.

People are often made uncomfortable by elements that reveal racial attitudes in old movies, but those elements can make the movie fascinating. "Dimples", which is set in the 1850s before the Civil War, often makes explicit references to slavery and also reveals 1930s stereotypes. (Also, the movie keeps referring to "the depression," drawing parallels to the '30s.)

The opening legend calls attention, with deliberate irony, to the fact that some young radicals are questioning "that respectable institution of slavery". Then we see Shirley dancing with black and white street orphans, implying that they are equal in their economic straits. Stepin Fetchit has an important but unbilled role as Frank Morgan's servant (who isn't a slave, but isn't getting paid either). Black servants are shown everywhere, especially at Mrs. Drew's house.

Two plot points are important. The central question is whether Mrs. Drew will "buy" Shirley for $5000, and the characters go back and forth on this question. On the night of the debut of the "Uncle Tom's Cabin" play, Mrs. Drew arrests Frank Morgan (in disguise as Uncle Tom). Then while watching Shirley's death scene in the play, where she begs for Uncle Tom to be free, Mrs. Drew "frees Uncle Tom" (letting Morgan go). Shirley converts Mrs. Drew's impulse to "enslave" people.

We see (with historical accuracy) that the play uses white actors in blackface--but in a curious twist, the play closes with a "new entertainment from the South," a minstrel show with the actual black performers (including Fetchit) pretending to be white actors in blackface. These elements make some viewers uncomfortable, but if you can watch critically, it reveals how the movie was attempting at some level to recognize and deal with unpleasant realities of U.S. history and address freedom, equality, and integration in disguise as entertainment. The Hall Johnson Choir appear, and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson choreographed the dances.

As one of several films Shirley Temple made for Fox Studios in 1936,"Dimples" is also an underrated favorite of mine and it shows why. Temple plays Dimples,a young street corner singer whose beloved grandfather (played by Frank Morgan of "Wizard Of Oz" Fame) is a pick-pocket thief a la Oliver Twist's Artful Dodger. Meanwhile a stage production of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is being performed with Dimples in a supporting role. The film ends with an exciting and memorable musical number with Temple and Stepin Fetchit around blackfaced actors which was directed by Bill Robinson. Director William A. Seiter (Laurel & Hardy's "Sons Of The Desert") does a great job with the well-done cast and storyline which may or may not appeal to today's political incorrect audiences but it's a fun and enjoyable film to watch with memorable songs and sequences. Recommended ! James Welch Henderson Arkansas 6/4/21.

DIMPLES, a precocious little tot in the New York City of 1850, must decide between life with her penniless but charming rogue of a grandfather & a wealthy old lady who loves her.

Shirley Temple, that pint-sized package of amazing talent & energy, delights once again. Her megawatt smile & boundless vivacity are only the outward manifestations of her unique personality & status which still keeps her - after so much time - Hollywood's greatest child star.

Frank Morgan, who had honed his scene stealing techniques for decades before Shirley was born, plays her grandfather. Given good lines, he was the rare actor who could dominate the dialogue even at the mighty tyke's expense. He is constantly entertaining to watch and adds greatly to the enjoyment of the film. His classic role would come a few years later when he was to portray THE WIZARD OF OZ, over at MGM.

The supporting players all give solid performances, most notably Helen Westley & Berton Churchill. John Carradine & ubiquitous child actor Leonard Kibrick both have small roles. Movie mavens will recognize Stepin Fetchit, unbilled as Morgan's servant.

The romantic subplot, consisting of Robert Kent trying to choose between Astrid Allwyn & Delma Byron, is a dull affair - as is usual in most Shirley Temple films.

Shirley sings `What Did The Bluebird Say,' `He Was A Dandy,' and, with The Hall Johnson Choir, `Get On Board, Little Children'. Although he does not appear in the film, the legendary Bill Robinson choreographed Shirley's tap routines; his influence is readily apparent.

It has to be mentioned that there is quite a lot of racism in the film. It should also be noted that this was not an unusual situation in Hollywood films of the 1930's.

Shirley Temple plays a singing, dancing street urchin in 1850 New York City whose multi-racial music troupe is managed by her pickpocket grandfather (he uses the kids as ruse for robbery); when a rich matron takes kindly to the youngster, the wily grandpa has to decide whether to sell the child for five grand (in the hopes she'll have a better life) or continue living happily together in squalor. Not-bad star vehicle allows Shirley to be more sly and precocious than in some of her other pictures. She stumbles over big words (like 'peneteniary') which seems out of character, though her scene with Mrs. Drew returning a stolen clock is funny ("I'm so wicked, I don't know what's to become of me."). Temple was always goaded into acting like a wise-beyond-her-years wind-up doll, but here she has a more distinct personality, and the director gives her time to think things through. She's still far too choreographed (in both her acting and dancing), but her responses seem pretty fresh, and matching her with Frank Morgan was a good casting move (they play off each other warmly). Interesting subtext about racial equality, as well as some clever material aligning the desperation of 1850 with Depression-era audiences circa 1936. **1/2 from ****