Petite princesse

There are those who claim Shirley Temple couldn't really act--but The Little Princess is living proof that she was much more than just a dimpled tot who could sing and dance on cue. Her tearful reunion with her missing dad (Ian Hunter) in a hospital ward at the conclusion of this classic story should move even the most hardened cynic. Her tears range from joy to hysteria as she tries to tell the shell-shocked soldier that she is his daughter.

This is a lavish technicolor delight with Shirley Temple at 12 doing an expert job as Sara, the little miss who has to bear the indignities of a boarding school once her father has been declared dead in the Boer war. The harsh mistress (Mary Nash) has her stripped of all privileges and makes her live in the attic while becoming a servant in the very household where she was once called "the little princess" by the other girls. There are departures from the novel since the script is given a "Shirley Temple formula" to ensure its success as the right vehicle for her at that time. But the addition of a dream sequence does no discernible harm, nor is the brief song-and-dance with Arthur Treacher to "The Old Kent Road" much of a distraction.

It succeeds in being a heart-warming tale of a girl's courage and determination when it seems that there is no hope of finding her father alive. The ending with Queen Victoria giving Shirley an approving nod, is an added delight. One of Shirley's best performances with a wonderful cast of supporting players: Richard Greene, Anita Louise, Mary Nash, Sybil Jason, Arthur Treacher and Cesar Romero all doing expert work.

Between the ages of 7 and 10, little Shirley Temple was the biggest box office star in the world. But as she grew older, her popularity quickly began to wane. At 11 (though she believed herself to be 10 because her mother shaved a year off her age), Shirley was still quite a child when she made "The Little Princess." But because she was no longer as cute and cherubic as she was at 6, when "Stand Up and Cheer!" first made her a star, it was to be her last successful film in a children's role.

As Sara (a Hebrew name meaning "princess"), Shirley plays her standard rags-to-riches storyline in reverse: Sara's wealthy widowed father loses everything in the Boer War, and her cruel boarding school headmistress Miss Minchin makes her an underfed, overworked servant girl to pay the tuition debt her father owed. Sara goes from luxurious rooms and private tutors to friendless, freezing attics as suddenly as the swinging America of the 1920s sank into the dust storms, breadlines, and squattervilles of the 1930's Great Depression. But where did poor Americans turn to briefly forget all these problems during the Great Depression? To the movies, where Shirley Temple, her unwavering hopefulness (as present in "The Little Princess" as in any of her movies), and her cute song-and-dance numbers -- with titles like "Laugh, You Son of a Gun" (1934), "You Gotta Smile to be Happy" (1936), "Be Optimistic" (1938), and "Come and Get Your Happiness" (1938) -- cheered up the entire nation. The same singing and dancing cheers up Sara Crewe while she's working as a galley slave in 1899 London, as Shirley performs "The Old Kent Road" with her pal Arthur Treacher (her four-time co-star).

In short, "The Little Princess" is Shirley Temple's career in a nutshell. It is a must-see film for both longtime Shirley fans and newcomers.

This Shirley Temple feature is worth seeing for a number of very nice moments in the story of "The Little Princess". It might be a little longer than necessary, and the story development is sometimes uneven, which keeps it from achieving its full potential. It offers the young Temple a variety of material to work with, and she has some very good sequences.

For the most part, it follows the familiar story, though often embellished, particularly towards the end. The story and Temple's characterization give it a rather different feel from, for example, the silent version that starred Mary Pickford. Here, Temple projects much of her own persona, with her best moments coming with Arthur Treacher, who plays the easygoing brother of the stern headmistress. The character of Becky is still significant, but Temple does not ever have the rapport with her that Pickford and Zasu Pitts had in the earlier version.

As a result, it's a bit uneven overall, but for those who enjoy this kind of story, it's still worthwhile. The public domain print makes it somewhat difficult to evaluate the production end, although it clearly contained plenty of detail and color. It's a decent if unexceptional feature whose high points are usually worth waiting for.

A small child, affectionately known as THE LITTLE PRINCESS, must endure great hardship after her father is killed in the Boer War.

Shirley Temple had her last great box-office triumph in this splendid Technicolor adaptation of the Frances Hodgson Burnett childhood classic. No longer a tiny tot - she turned eleven the year THE LITTLE PRINCESS was released - but still a little trooper, Shirley exhibits once again the tremendous charm & talent which made her Hollywood's top box office draw. With wrinkled brow & tremulous lip or bouncing curls & joyous smile, she adeptly displays just the right mood or mannerism to keep the focus of the audience's attention firmly grasped in her chubby fists.

The supporting players' roster is abundantly well cast: stalwart Ian Hunter appears as Shirley's soldier father - this very fine actor wisely uses his acting skills to keep from being completely upstaged by the mighty moppet; handsome Richard Greene & lovely Anita Louise play the riding master & teacher who befriend Shirley - their roles aren't terribly significant, but they fill them quite well.

Mary Nash is once again cast as Shirley's tormentor, this time playing the evil-spirited headmistress of an exclusive girls' seminary. This accomplished actress did not appear in many films, but she could generally be counted on to provide a vivid performance - notice the relish with which she essays her small part in the medieval fantasy sequence (`I know my rights, I know the law and what I say I saw, I saw!'). Long-legged, adenoidal Arthur Treacher plays her henpecked brother; he is a delight during his two romps with Shirley to the music hall ditty ‘Knocked ‘Em In The Old Kent Road.'

Cesar Romero quietly portrays an Indian servant in a small, but important, role; Miles Mander & E. E. Clive both appear as hardhearted, crusty old gentlemen - only one is regenerated by film's end. Sweet Beryl Mercer makes the most of her few moments as a stately, kindhearted Queen Victoria - while Eily Malyon is a true fright as the school's slatternly cook. Marcia Mae Jones participates in one of the film's most memorable moments, when, as a particularly vile teenager, she receives a face full of fireplace ashes, courtesy of sweet Shirley.

Special attention should be given to ten-year-old South African Sybil Jason, who plays the wistful waifish charmaid who idolizes Shirley. In her American film debut, Warner's LITTLE BIG SHOT (1935), she proved wonderfully winsome & winning, but the storm of attention surrounding Miss Temple (exactly 19 months older than Miss Jason) tends, at this remove, to swamp the boats of the other female child stars of the period. However, delightful Sybil deserves to be remembered & appreciated for her own accomplishments.

The Stolen Kiss, a lavish fantasy dream sequence, provides a welcome few minutes change of pace for Temple, Nash, Louise, Greene, Treacher & Romero.

While American audiences loved this and all the other Shirley Temple vehicles, across the Pond this story of a young girl refusing to accept reports of her father's death in combat must have struck a responsive chord with war-weary Brits who could easily identify with her troubles. Although the Hollywood film industry has always come under some well-deserved criticism for twisting history and other literary sources in its screenplays, they do get it right at times. The largely British cast and English setting give the classic story the right look and feel, and the romance and song-and-dance numbers don't take anything away from the main storyline. Shirley is even reunited with some of her co-stars from other films. (This includes Cesar Romero as a servant here. 8 of his next 11 films were westerns, a genre he'd never tackled, including a pairing with Randolph Scott as Doc Holliday to Scott's Wyatt Earp and a starring role in a handful of Cisco Kid features. Much later would come famous movie and TV roles as Kurt Russell's nemesis A.J. Arno in several Disney comedies in the 70's, and his most famous part, the Joker, in BATMAN.) In a year when so many great films appeared that were taken from the pages of popular books (GONE WITH THE WIND, THE WIZARD OF OZ, THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN, THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME,GUNGA DIN, WUTHERING HEIGHTS, GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS,THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, TARZAN FINDS A SON, THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK) you can add THE LITTLE PRINCESS. If you never get to read any or all of these books, at least watch the films derived from them. You won't regret it. Dale Roloff