Shirley Temple: America's Sweetheart Collection, Vol. 5 (The Blue Bird / The Little Princess / Stand Up and Cheer!)

Lots of people have been a little harsh in reviewing this box set, believing it to be a lesser effort than previous entries in the Shirley Temple Sweetheart collection. This is something which I feel is rather curious, since it contains two of Shirley's best latter-day Fox vehicles, namely THE LITTLE PRINCESS and THE BLUE BIRD - both in glorious Technicolor.THE LITTLE PRINCESS (1939) has been lost in Public Domain territory for many, many years now, and it's a revelation to finally see the authorized Fox print. It's arguably Shirley's most popular movie, an adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic children's novel. During the height of the Boer War, little Sara Crewe (Shirley Temple) is left at an exclusive girl's boarding school while her widower father goes back to the front. When he's later reported as missing believed killed - on her birthday yet! - little Sara is forced to become a scullery maid in order to pay back the fortune which her father owed in tuition fees and board. Never once doubting her father is still alive, Sara clings to her faith that one day her daddy will return...Co-starring Cesar Romero (barely recognizable under an Indian turban and dark makeup), Anita Louise as kindly teacher Miss Rose, Richard Greene as her secret beau; and Mary Nash (a frequent Temple nemesis) as the witchy boarding school principal Miss Minchin, THE LITTLE PRINCESS gave Temple one of her most demanding acting assignments, with a strong script from Ethel Hill and Walter Ferris that pulls no punches with some of the harsher, dramatic details from the original book-source. Sybil Jason is a delight playing Sara's best friend Becky, a cockney servant girl; and in a departure from her previous role in Temple's "Heidi" as sweet wheelchair-bound Clara, teenaged Marcia Mae Jones is the haughty Lavinia. Temple also shares a wonderful musical number with Arthur Treacher ("Knocked 'Em in the Old Kent Road").THE BLUE BIRD (1940) was Fox's answer to MGM's Technicolor fantasy "The Wizard of Oz" (a project that Temple might very well have starred in, had Fox not been so strict about loaning her out to rival studios). Based on the celebrated play by Maurice Maeterlinck, Temple plays against her usual perky screen persona as the selfish and unhappy Mytyl. Woken up one night by the good fairy Berylune (Jessie Ralph), Mytyl and her little brother Tyltyl (chubby-cheeked Johnny Russell) are sent on a quest to find the Bluebird of Happiness. Accompanied by the human versions of their pet dog and cat (Eddie Collins and Gale Sondergaard), the children must travel through several lands, including the Past and the Future, in their search for the magic bird.Considered too heavy-handed and slow moving when first released, THE BLUE BIRD was a small flop and came during the period in Temple's child star career when her popularity was starting to dull. Personally I believe she gives one of her better performances and must have enjoyed the chance to play a more realistic, multi-faceted little girl. Gale Sondergaard is hissably evil as the children's duplicitous cat, and Helen Ericson is a striking presence as the children's guide, Light. The movie is filled with fascinating story angles; for example in one strikingly-designed scene the children venture into the Future, where they meet their as-yet-unborn little sister (Ann E. Todd); and are reunited with their dead grandparents (Al Shean and Cecilia Loftus) in the Land of the Past. Sybil Jason again co-stars as the afflicted Angela. Like "The Wizard of Oz", it teaches children that happiness is something you don't have to look for, that it lives in our home and heart. That's a timeless message which ensures that THE BLUE BIRD will speak to every generation of moviegoers.However, there isn't much I can say to recommend STAND UP AND CHEER! (1934), one of Temple's early assignments for Fox. It's the film where she introduced her hit song "Baby, Take a Bow", and was her first teaming with James Dunn, who'd later work with Temple in two subsequent hits ("Baby Take a Bow"--capatalising on the hit song title--and "Bright Eyes", both also released in 1934). Temple doesn't feature centrally in the plot and it's a pretty forgettable movie in lots of ways. Strangely--despite Fox doing a colorized version for cable television and home video release--the DVD edition of STAND UP AND CHEER! is only available in the original b&w format. While I'm a purist with my classic movies, it would have been nice to have the option, as with the other b&w titles in the Shirley Temple Sweetheart collection.I can highly recommend this set based on the strength of the two Techicolor features however, which are among Shirley's best. Just look upon STAND UP AND CHEER! as an amusing curiosity.

Again, we have three movies packaged together, but this time it's two clear winners and an "OK, for the historical significance" corny one.This version of The Little Princess is my favorite, in spite of the fact that it does not stick all that closely to the book, since none of the movies have done so. But it is more authentic than the more recent (and very good) Warner Bros. version from the 1990s. Shirley is the poor little rich girl whose adoring widower father puts her in Miss Minchin's snooty school in London while he goes off to the Boer War. She has lived all her life in India, and is accustomed to a very different lifestyle. But she adapts well, even when word comes that her father lost all his money and died. Shirley refuses to believe he is dead. Minchin turns her into a servant to pay off her outstanding tuition and costs advanced. So she goes to the attic and sleeps in what is mostly a storeroom, next to Becky, the Cockney servant, and finds that out the window of the room she looks directly into the house next door, where an elegant Indian servant can be seen in the window.The story relies rather too heavily on coincidence, but that's really its only flaw. Shirley is marvelous in the role, other actors we know and love (notably the "cowardly lion") brighten the story, and Shirley even meets Queen Victoria herself! Of course, her father is alive, and she finds him, with Victoria's help.Stand Up and Cheer is another of those "feel good" depression era movies, but this one is far more charming than most. Shirley is very, very young, and just as cute as anyone can imagine. The most important part of this movie is having it available for the history of film.Shirley's father (Notice how she has a great many more fathers than mothers in her movies?) is an unemployed vaudeville actor who has incorporated Shirley into his act, where of course she steals the show every time. So when the government creates a Department of Entertainment (bread and circuses, you know; there were really many such projects in the New Deal), they are recruited to make the country "stand up and cheer." The song that tells it all has lyrics that start "I'm laughing, and I've got nothing to laugh about." Again, some offensive stereotypes of blacks, but what can we do?The Blue Bird is the hidden gem. It was not popular when it was new because Shirley uncharacteristically plays a spoiled brat at the beginning. But since she learns better, I don't consider that a problem. The movie was clearly made to compete with The Wizard of Oz, and in my opinion [blasphemy warning!], it has more going for it as a story than Oz does. Shirley and her little brother are sent on a mission to find the Bluebird of Happiness by a friendly witch -- oh, sorry, a "good fairy." She travels through the graveyard to find her grandparents, who explain that they "wake up" whenever someone remembers them. They want her and her little brother to stay, but they have been warned by their spirit guide, named Light, not to stay more than an hour. Their grandparents have a large cage full of birds, but none of them is blue.They wander around and look for the bird, and have a variety of interesting encounters, but the most remarkable place is the one where little boys and girls live until it is time for them to be born. There is a strong mystic thread here, and seems to imply reincarnation, both pretty esoteric for 1940.Of course, they find the bluebird at home. As Dorothy put it, "There's no place like home."

just what we wanted as a gift