Pauvre petite fille

This definitely is one of Shirley's three or four best, mostly because she is not required to perform a tearful treacly scene as in some other films, those which tug at your heart but later seem somewhat embarrassing. This is one in which she comes across as a young actress, and not simply as a personality. The musical numbers are unusually effective; probably because they are shared with Alice Faye and Jack Haley and not strictly solo. (You have to smile over the final number, when the military band number, well done though it is, is done with full costumes and choreography, even though the performance is taking place over a radio hookup.) Shirley conveys an innocence and trustfulness and joy in life which is a universe removed from portrayals of children in contemporary film and TV. One more remark: I was truly surprised to see the appearance of a pedophile in a film of that era, and to see Jack Haley confronting and fighting him as he is about to lead Shirley away from the apartment house.

The precocious & incredibly talented little daughter of a widowed soap merchant dreams of living like a normal child. On her way to boarding school, she loses herself in New York City, changes her name and ends up living with a couple of ex-vaudeville performers. With spunk & vitality, the child makes them all stars of a radio show sponsored by her father's greatest business rival. Will she continue to enjoy her new freedom, or will her identity be revealed so that she once again becomes a POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL?

Shirley Temple is in top form in this winning film which gives her ample opportunity to display her many charms. She lights up the screen with her youthful joy. It's no wonder she was Hollywood's biggest star for several years.

Shirley is given fine support from Jack Haley & Alice Faye as her musical partners, and Michael Whalen & Gloria Stuart as her father & his new lady love. Claude Gillingwater is very good as the crotchety business rival who is melted by Shirley's affection. That's Jane Darwell as Shirley's nanny & Henry Armetta scores as an Italian organ grinder. Film mavens should keep an eye out for Billy Gilbert, in a tiny bit as a hilarious waiter.

Shirley sings `Oh, My Goodness', `When I'm With You' & `But Definitely' and joins with Faye & Haley in `You Gotta Eat Your Spinach, Baby' & "Military Man".

The second of four films Shirley Temple made in 1936 is a solid star vehicle tailored for her unique talents but, apart from her winning charm, proves to be hard tack as entertainment for this admitted non-fan of musicals! The thing is that the plot is so incredibly contrived that it's impossible to take any of it seriously: Shirley is the pampered daughter of a millionaire soap manufacturer who is eventually sent to an exclusive college so that she can be with children her own age instead of her prissy butler-nanny-guardian combo. However, she is stranded at the train station and never gets to the college but instead follows an Italian immigrant (Henry Armetta, who else?) who is an accordion-playing busker and has a pet chimp for companion. Before long, however, she is 'adopted' by the penniless husband-and-wife performing team of Jack Haley and (a constantly grouchy) Alice Faye who, thanks to Temple's addition to their act, become radio stars publicizing through song the products of a rival (and predictably cantankerous) soap manufacturer! All this while, Temple's dad is blissfully unaware of her absence from school and subsequent radio success because he's perpetually swooning over his rival's ad campaign manager (the lovely Gloria Stuart). Eech! Another decidedly irritating recurrence in the film is the mystifying appearance of a stranger (John Wray) who seems to follow Temple everywhere and is always on the point of molesting or kidnapping her but for Jack Haley's timely and heroic interventions! Having said that, the film satisfactorily climaxes with the "Military Man" production number which is a tour-de-force of virtuoso tap dancing performed by Temple, Faye and Haley in remarkable unison.

"Poor Little Rich Girl" is an interesting Shirley Temple movie because it seems to have been, at least in part, the inspiration for the 90s film "Baby's Day Out"!

When the film begins, Barbara (Shirley Temple) is a pampered little girl living in a mansion. But she's also lonely and begs her father to send her to school. Instead of having her live at home and go to school (what normal folks would do), he decides to send her off to a residential school. On the way, however, she's separated from her governess when the lady is run over!!! This part sure shocked us! And Barbara just wanders off and ends up in the poor section of town. There she recognizes characters from a story book she loved and sees everything as a big adventure...and she tells everyone she's the little orphan girl, Bonny, from the book.

During the course of Barbara's adventures, she meets up with the Dolans (Alice Faye and Jack Haley). The Dolans just accept Barbara's story that she's an orphan and take her in...never contacting the police or children's services! Much of this might be because she's a great singer and they want to put her in their singing/dancing act. Oddly, Barbara doesn't seem to miss her father nor does he seem to notice that she never arrived at the school!!! What a weird story.

During the course of the film, Shirley sings a lot of cute but forgettable songs (there's no "Good Ship Lollipop" song in this one!), dances with Haley and Faye and is gosh-darned adorable. Pretty much, all the stuff you'd normally expect in a Temple movie...but with a MUCH weirder and nonsensical plot than usual. In addition there's a weird guy who likes to look in the windows at Barbara and offers to take her out to buy her candy--and I think he's supposed to be a pedophile (my wife, incidentally, thought maybe he was just a fortune-hunter who wanted to kidnap her)!!! Because of this, I wouldn't rank it among he better Temple outings but like almost all her other films (with the exception of "The Blue Bird") she made as a child, it's fun and worth seeing--and the kid is just adorable. Among the best part of the movie, by the way, is the cute portion where Barbara wins the heart of a grouchy old guy who looks to be the inspiration for Jeff Dunham's character 'Walter'! Well worth seeing despite its flaws.

By the way, at the very end, Faye, Haley and Temple dress up and do a song AND dance routine...and it's supposed to be on the radio!! Does this make any sense at all?!

Here is another very nice Shirley Temple film, one of the above-average ones for her (and most of hers were above-average to start with!). This one featured really nice characters, downplayed the villain, and had a lot of songs.

It didn't have as much tap dancing as I would like to have seen, but it did feature a prolonged dance at the end with Shirley, Jack Haley and Alice Faye.

The villain was some mysterious dude who was either a child molester or a kidnapper. It was never really explained. Thankfully, he had a small role. Otherwise, it was all good people and fun ones to watch. I like seeing Gloria Stuart in her early days, too.

The story is predictable, but most of them are and everyone winds up happy in the end. I find nothing wrong with that! It's all the better that Shirley winds up with vaudeville performers, guaranteeing we get a lot of musical entertainment in this movie. And.....where else but a Shirley Temple movie, would you have a song called "You've Got To Eat Your Spinach, Baby?"