The Littlest Rebel

With enough material to get Temple "cancelled" at least 5 times over, this balm to those who thought GONE WITH THE WIND was too much of a love-letter to those damn Yankee sourpusses is at heart a middling vehicle for Temple, who shows how well she could skirt the line between precocious and grounded. If it weren't for the flagrantly dubious and ugly political messages on display, I would be tempted to score this higher because what Temple is doing here is done so well it deserves applause.

If you view it as "Gone With The Wind" but with Shirley Temple and Bill Robinson - then the whole thing seems a bit less grotesque. Instead of a ghastly love letter to the Slavers Rebellion, it seems only as clumsy and stupid and racist as all fiction that seeks to romanticise America's civil war. The camera loves Temple - it just adores her. And her dancing scene with Robinson (when they're trying to raise train fare) is one of the most remarkable things I've seen on film. Robinson stunned me.

The cutest little rebel! She even wins both sides over during the war! Yet another sweet Shirley Temple movie about the south with some sensitive race/pro-slavery issues which are hardly correct today. But Shirley's chemistry with Bill Robinson stepping along with him for a few numbers and the two white men in her life, north and south, Jack Holt & John Boles was undeniable and helped cover over the poor stuff. Plus the fighting with Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams gave this some hatred too.

A racist thirties reunion film. I'm surprised with all of the high ratings.