Kathleen

Kathleen Davis (Shirley Temple) is a smart 12-year-old living in a large mansion with her servants. With her beloved mother dead, she is in a constant battle with her nanny. Her father John Davis (Herbert Marshall) is always away at work. Her father brings home girlfriend Lorraine Bennett who suggests bringing in Dr. Foster to examine her. Foster suggests hiring psychiatrist Dr. Angela Kent (Laraine Day) to look after her for the summer before she goes off to boarding school. Kathleen takes a liking to Dr. Kent especially for her father to replace Lorraine.

Shirley Temple is having trouble growing into her terrible teens. It's a tough thing to have an icon change in front of your eyes. That's the difficulty faced by an audience of her era. She's also stuck using the same acting tricks that had worked so well as a child actor. While it looks cute as a child, it looks like sentimental cloying as she gets older. I do have an issue with the dream dance sequence with full grown men. It has different meaning as she grows into a young woman. The other big issue is the lack of chemistry between the father and Dr. Kent. It's not enough for Lorraine to be a sneaky gold-digger. This has all the ingredients but the mixture is barely passable.

After Shirley Temple was released from Twentieth Century Fox, this was her attempt to transition to mature roles. At the time, Temple was in her preteen phase and had outgrown the type of characters she usually played. KATHLEEN was her first, and only film, at MGM. Temple was left out of the teenybopper movies that were being made with the likes of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. KATHLEEN is still a decent effort though the story is a bit uninspired. The lead character Kathleen (Temple) is a restless child who only wants to win the affection of her father (Herbert Marshall) who is marrying a woman who does not love him (Gail Patrick). After Kathleen drives away her governess, Dr. Martha Kent (Laraine Day) has been enlisted to get to the root of Kathleen's nasty behavior. I enjoy this film because Shirley still gave us a good performance and handled her dramatic scenes well. She would go on to work with David O. Selznick who gave her better material.

Shirley Temple plays Kathleen, a 12-year-old with a rich imagination who lives with her emotionally absent father, a household of servants, and a governess who is a cross between the worst prison guard and Miss Gulch from "The Wizard of Oz". When Kathleen lashes out in rebellion, a doctor is called in to diagnose the girl. This film starts as a drama, but it does not remain all darkness and demons.

All child actors must eventually face uncertainty when they outgrow the young roles that made them successful. Shirley Temple was beyond successful as a child actress, capturing the hearts of moviegoers for years. When she became too old for the "Good Ship Lollipop", would she be able to transition successfully into teen roles and adult roles?

In 'Kathleen", Shirley is 13 years old. The drama of this film is similar to dramatic scenes she had previously played as a child, but viewers expect more from older performers. In "Kathleen" she portrays angst and outrage, but her performance is too childlike, which impacts the early scenes especially. In a few years, she would be better equipped to emote with greater depth. In 1947's "That Hagen Girl", for example, she adeptly portrays a troubled teen beset with a haunting past who is the target of an entire town. 1949's "A Kiss for Corliss" (A comedy with David Niven) is effectively the end of her film career, so she used her newfound skills only sparingly.

Watch for Laraine Day and Gail Patrick, who face off over Kathleen's well-being and the girl's father, played by Herbert Marshall. All of them acquit themselves well. Day, remarkably, is only 8 years old than Shirley, but convincingly plays a professional woman who possesses authority and confidence.

One final note: this film was released soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor. I can only wonder what effect that had on attendance and the public's willingness to be entertained. The nation was in shock and dealing with important matters that completely altered its way of life. A determined response to aggression, and fears about worldwide aggression, were paramount. Still, the nation would learn to use cinema to channel its patriotic fervor and, conversely, to escape harsh realities.

I first saw this film when I was about 13 and loved it then. It's a good film for the right age group. I was fascinated with the tricks Kathleen plays on her nurse, the strict household she lived in and how she gets away. It was also interesting to see the difference in the manners of the 40's. For example, Kathleen politely says "how do you do" to an adult she hates. She accepts a decision her father makes which she feels is unfair. I can see how this film might not be very interesting to an adult seeing it for the first time. But is good classic entertainment for the right audience. It's also great seeing Shirley in a role where she's not a sweet little tyke!

One of the other reviews called this picture a weak vehicle for Shirley Temple. It's definitely not her best, but it's not terrible either. This said, I think she was wrong for the part-- which was given to her after her mother objected to Shirley being cast in a Wallace Beery film called BARNACLE BILL. Virginia Weidler, who had originally been cast as KATHLEEN, was pulled off this movie and paired her with Beery instead. Shirley then took over to do what her mother felt was material better suited for her. But it's really not a good vehicle for her, for a variety of reasons.

I think the main problem is that Shirley looks too old. Virginia would have been more believable (with the braids, which were becoming a cliché by this point in her career). However, it certainly would have worked best with a young Margaret O'Brien. It really had to be someone very tiny and fragile looking, who desperately needed a new mommy to look after her. Laraine Day is fine in her role, Nella Walker as a battle-axe is very good, and I find Felix Bressart to be as charming as ever. However, as much as I enjoy Herbert Marshall, he is wrong for his part as daddy. It should have been someone like Walter Pidgeon.

Overall I don't think the story is the issue-- it's the casting and how these roles were directed. By the way, when Shirley was signed by MGM, the first project the studio announced for her was an Andy Hardy picture. But probably Mama Temple vetoed that in a hurry-- no B films for her daughter, and no second fiddle to Mickey Rooney. Can you imagine her conversations with Mayer about that!