The Shirley Temple Collection - Volume Five (The Blue Bird/The Little Princess/Stand Up &
Cheer!/20th Century Fox)
Picture:
B-/B-/C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Films: B-/B-/C+
Working
their way somewhat chronologically through their catalog of Shirley Temple
hits, Fox offers two of her most interesting films and one of her most
politically incorrect in The Shirley
Temple Collection - Volume Five. In
a famous faux pas, Darryl F. Zanuck refused to loan Temple to MGM for The Wizard Of Oz and was determined to
create one of his own. He tried twice in
the first two films here. Those films
include:
The Blue Bird (1939) – a somewhat blatant Oz rip-off beginning with Temple
playing the older sister of two children who might be considered lower middle
class. They come home and after watching
rich kids celebrate Christmas, she asks why they do not have more money, food
and other goodies in life. She has
trapped a brown bird and her father has to off to war. When she wakes up, it is a Technicolor world
in her own home, with only her brother remaining. A fairy (Jessie Ralph) arrives with Light
(Helen Ericson) and turns her dog and cat into human form. Eddie Collins does his Cowardly Lion best as
the dog, while and amusing Gale Sondergaard is the cat. What and see how many things you think they
rip-off from Oz. Though no classic, you’ll get a kick out of
the mix of cynicism and selfishness versus sudden warm, fuzzy moments. Nigel Bruce also stars.
The Little Princess (1940) had Zanuck trying again,
but in a non-Fantasy drama again directed by Walter Lang. This one was a huge hit and is one of
Temple’s best-known films to date. She
is the daughter of a rich soldier who goes to war while she stays as a star
darling in an all-girls home. When he is
thought dead and with no wealth around, she is treated like garbage by even the
headmistress and abused along with the other girl who is stands as an epitome
of violating child labor laws. With Ian
Hunter as her father, Cesar Romero as the exotic assistant to a wealthy
neighbor and another solid supporting cast, it holds up very well despite some
melodrama and predictability.
Stand Up & Cheer! (1934/ aka The Fox Movie Follies Of 1934) offers no less than FDR hiring a new
“Secretary Of Amusement” complete with an autogyro landing on the Capitol lawn
and has a cast that includes two icons of racist stereotyping: Stepin Fetchit and Aunt Jemima (played here
by Tess Gardella). This is a 69
minutes-long cut of a film once issued at 80 minutes. A younger Temple is also joined by future
Dick Tracy Ralph Morgan, Warner Baxter, Madge Evans and Nigel Bruce.
The 1.33
X 1 image is pretty good on all three considering their age, but the black and
white opening for Blue Bird (lensed
by cinematographer Arthur C. Miller, who co-shot Little Princess with William V. Skall) does not look as good as the
more brittle monochrome on Stand Up
& Cheer! by cinematographers L. William O’Connell and Ernest
Palmer. The other films were originally
issued in three-strip, dye-transfer Technicolor and though Little Princess looks better here than it ever did in previous
DVDs, Blue Bird is one of the
best-looking Technicolor films to show up on DVD-Video to date and is more
vibrant despite minor flaws.
The Dolby
Digital 2.0 Mono here is not bad for its age, but boosted Stereo Dolby 2.0 is
also included for all three films.
Extras include pieces on The
Little Princess on the other DVDs, but that is sadly all.
For more
on Temple, try these review links:
Shirley Temple Koch/Passport Set
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/1527/Shirley+Temple+Collection+(Koch)
Shirley Temple Fox Volume Three
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3468/Shirley+Temple+Volume+Three+(Dimples/The+Little+Colonel
- Nicholas Sheffo
