In the 1930s, Shirley Temple was BIG--I am talking HUGE. When it came to popularity, this kid managed to be the top box office draw four years in a row! However, by 1940, things had changed radically. Shirley was no longer a cute child but a budding adolescent and she left her familiar haunts at Twentieth Century-Fox. MGM and a few other studios tried her out in films--mostly to a mediocre reception from the crowds and reviewers. The bottom line is that the studios just didn't know what to do with her--and her talents just didn't fit most of the script she was given. There were some exceptions, such as her supporting performances in "Since You Went Away" and "Fort Apache", but most of the rest of her films were very, very forgettable. She deserved better.
Among the worst of these post-Fox films I've seen is "Miss Annie Rooney". Most of this is because the dialog is simply godawful and the writers, I think, were chimps. All the pubescent characters were one-dimensional and uttered the same annoying catch phrases again and again. Shirley always talked like her dialog was written by a BAD romance novelist--and she must have said 'divine' about 193 times. Dickie Moore was worse and seemed VERY ill-at-ease as a rich boy--who said 'old man' in practically every other sentence.
The bottom line is that the writing was so bad, it made me cringe and getting through this film was a HUGE chore. I rarely, if ever, enjoyed the thing and have nothing particularly good to say about it. If you are a masochist, try watching it streaming on Netflix. Why? Because their print is colorized and most of it looked really, really pink! An ugly film AND annoying one at that.
Among the worst of these post-Fox films I've seen is "Miss Annie Rooney". Most of this is because the dialog is simply godawful and the writers, I think, were chimps. All the pubescent characters were one-dimensional and uttered the same annoying catch phrases again and again. Shirley always talked like her dialog was written by a BAD romance novelist--and she must have said 'divine' about 193 times. Dickie Moore was worse and seemed VERY ill-at-ease as a rich boy--who said 'old man' in practically every other sentence.
The bottom line is that the writing was so bad, it made me cringe and getting through this film was a HUGE chore. I rarely, if ever, enjoyed the thing and have nothing particularly good to say about it. If you are a masochist, try watching it streaming on Netflix. Why? Because their print is colorized and most of it looked really, really pink! An ugly film AND annoying one at that.