Miss Annie Rooney

As Miss Annie Rooney, we have Miss Shirley Temple officially reaching adolescence in a Hollywood motion picture. The acceptable effort is a production from Edward Small's company distributed through United Artists. Despite the obviousness of its limited budget, the movie has plenty of merit, though its script could easily have undergone a rewrite to remove some of the more blatant stereotypes about the Irish-American culture.

Guy Kibbee is cast as Temple's grand-pop and serves stew along with an authentic-sounding brogue. However, William Gargan, who plays his son and Temple's father curiously does not attempt to convey the Irishness of his character much at all. For that matter, he does not attempt to convey much in the way of acting, either.

There are some charming moments in this film that make up for the occasional inconsistencies. One such moment is a teen party where our blossoming star dances with Dickie Moore, who has also officially reached puberty in this film. Like Temple, he suffers the pangs of young love in between fits of barely decipherable young folk slang.

This film does not deserve the negative criticism it received, apparently even from Miss Temple herself. Perhaps its depiction of amiable teenagers of that era is a Hollywood version. (Unlike today, when teens are shown as cynical, foul-mouthed, pot-smoking, alcoholics.) Shirley is always her delightful self. Dickie Moore is wonderful as a kind, thoughtful young man. It is great to see Shirley again with Guy Kibbee ("Captain January.") The performance from William Gargan, as a loser but well-meaning father, is remarkable. His scene where he invades a birthday party is so embarrassing it is hard to watch. There isn't any singing, but there are entertaining dance scenes. The only problem with the film for me is the predictable, unrealistic conclusion. It would have been better if the writers could have thought of a more creative way to have a happy ending. This is a fun, underrated, very likeable movie.

In my opinion, "Miss Annie Rooney" is the best Shirley Temple movie ever made. The movie features a fourteen year-old Annie Rooney(Temple) who meets a young man(Moore) from a wealthy family by accident(literally). He invites her to his birthday party and Annie's family(her father and grandfather) go through many changes to raise the money for Annie's evening gown and accessories. After she arrives at the party, she soon discovers that the fireworks has just begun. Real good PG family entertainment.

This is an adorable coming of age story starring Shirley Temple as the Irish American Miss Annie Rooney. Having lost her mother, Annie lives with her father the dreamer Tim (William Gargan) and her retired police officer grandfather Grandpa Rooney, played by the always fabulous Guy Kibbee.

While on the way to a friends house for a get together and jitterbug dance party she and her friend Joey (Roland Dupree) run into Marty White (Dickie Moore). Marty is from a different social bracket, but seems to become instantly smitten with Annie. Not only does Annie teach him to jitterbug, but she speaks to him of Romeo and Juliet. It's not long before Marty sends her red roses and asks her to his birthday party, which creates all sorts of financial issues for Annie's family as her father has just become unemployed.

This is one of those feel good movies where everything works out...and it is notable as Shirley Temple's first on screen kiss. I hadn't really seen a picture of her in the throws of growing up and she is just as adorable as when she was pint sized. The dancing is a real highlight for me as a dancer and fun to watch. I also got a kick out of the slang and the adults attempts to catch on to the contemporary lingo. Just a fun film that I recommend to classic film fans.

"May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows your dead."-Grandpa Rooney.

Annie Rooney (Shirley Temple) is a 14-year-old romantic and Myrtle is her best friend. Her salesman dad's newest get rich scheme is a new form of synthetic rubber. They live check to check on her grandpa's pension. Joey is a boy and a friend. He's driving Annie when they run into 16-year-old Marty White. Annie has love at first sight for Marty who comes from a wealthy rubber family fortune.

Shirley Temple is trying to be more than a child star. She's still plenty cute but she comes off as a try-hard. Worst still, Marty is terribly stiff and her love for him does not shine a good light on her. Joey isn't much either but at least, he has a little bit of charisma. It would be a much better move to have the best friend show his worth for her love. All the characters are mostly two dimensional and the tire story is tired. This is not a movie with depth. This is notable for Shirley's first on-screen kiss which is no more than a peck on the cheek and quite awkward at that. The big question is whether Shirley ever had a chance at prolonging her career. She could have been a Nancy Drew type but she isn't really a romantic type. She tries hard and that's the character type that she should concentrate on.