The grand tradition of Shirley Temple movies shows the sweet orphan child melting the crust off an old curmudgeon. In The Little Colonel, she's not an orphan, but she still gets to melt Lionel Barrymore, the king of all crotchety old men! It's a perfect pairing, and a very sweet movie, so if you haven't seen it in a while (or haven't seen it at all), rent it and remind yourself how cute it is.
This one's set in the post-Civil War south. Shirley's grandfather is Lionel, and he disowned his daughter for marrying a Yankee. When Shirley and her mother Evelyn Venable move to the same neighborhood as Lionel, the young girl doesn't understand why they're not allowed to socialize with a part of their family. Do you think she'll wander over to the scary grandfather's property and eventually win him over? It's Shirley Temple, so that's always a safe bet.
Every Shirley Temple movie has its own reason for being famous, and this one is the staircase dance. The incredibly famous staircase dance between Shirley Temple and Bill Robinson comes from this movie, and it was so scandalous to have an interracial dance in 1935 that Southern states, the theaters cut that scene from the projection! It was totally acceptable to show Hattie McDaniel working nonstop in the kitchen, joking about her no-good ex-husband, but it wasn't okay for Shirley and Bill to hold hands and tap dance up the stairs. That's 1935 for you! In any case, this cute movie is worth seeing, especially because you can now see all of it.
This one's set in the post-Civil War south. Shirley's grandfather is Lionel, and he disowned his daughter for marrying a Yankee. When Shirley and her mother Evelyn Venable move to the same neighborhood as Lionel, the young girl doesn't understand why they're not allowed to socialize with a part of their family. Do you think she'll wander over to the scary grandfather's property and eventually win him over? It's Shirley Temple, so that's always a safe bet.
Every Shirley Temple movie has its own reason for being famous, and this one is the staircase dance. The incredibly famous staircase dance between Shirley Temple and Bill Robinson comes from this movie, and it was so scandalous to have an interracial dance in 1935 that Southern states, the theaters cut that scene from the projection! It was totally acceptable to show Hattie McDaniel working nonstop in the kitchen, joking about her no-good ex-husband, but it wasn't okay for Shirley and Bill to hold hands and tap dance up the stairs. That's 1935 for you! In any case, this cute movie is worth seeing, especially because you can now see all of it.