an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Bright Eyes became the signature film for Shirley Temple as America's favorite moppet launched the Good Ship Lollipop and that song was the launching of her. It wasn't long after that the little girl became the number one seller of movie tickets in the Great Depression.Shirley lives with her mother Lois Wilson who is a live-in maid for Dorothy Christy and Theodore Von Eltz and their hellion brat of a daughter Jane Withers. Wilson is the widow of an aviator and the pilots have all made her a kind of mascot. Most of all James Dunn who was her father's best friend and her godfather. The outlook is grim for our plucky little moppet when mom is killed in a traffic accident. Shirley becomes a pawn in a great scheme for Von Eltz and Christy to get their cranky uncle Charles Sellon's money because he's always liked her. Still pluck and luck rule the day in the end.I really did love Jane Withers who had America hating her because she was so mean to Shirley. That scene at the very end when Withers finally got what was coming to her was priceless.Bright Eyes gave Shirley Temple her signature song On The Good Ship Lollipop which millions of stage mothers taught their daughters in the hopes the kid would be discovered as the next Shirley Temple. As a lad I remember hearing it on a 78 record sung by Rosemary Clooney though.Bright Eyes holds up very well even after over 80 years. It's still a nice voyage.

Growing up around fly boys and the snooty family her mother works for has made young Shirley Blake see the light about life. She's beloved by all who know her which includes cook Jane Darwell, gruff Uncle Charles Sellon (who made his money in sewage, NOT sanitation) and pilot James Dunn. Her long suffering widowed mother Lois Wilson is constantly being threatened with termination by her nasty employer (Dorothy Christy) who spoils daughter Joy (Jane Withers) to the point where she is no joy. Tragedy strikes, leaving a grieving Shirley up for grabs by the number of people who want to adopt her.The star making role for the not so cloying Shirley (which she would eventually become) made her replace the quite different Mae West as queen of the box office. She gets to sing and dance and charm everybody, and had the writing and directing for her been as good, she would have remained as likable rather than become the stereotypical "Little Miss Fix-It" who remained the same in most of her movies, not growing up even in her post teen years which exposed her lack of formal training.Shirley's rivaled in the scene stealing department by Withers as the bratty Joy (delightfully ripping the head off of dolls and asking for a machine gun for Christmas) and wheelchair bound Sellon, chasing his gated niece Joy around in anger and screeching grouchy wisecracks. Shirley sings her most popular song, "On the Good Ship Lollipop" without a seat belt on a moving airplane. When she does play Miss Fix- It (playing matchmaker for Dunn and his old girlfriend Judith Allen), it's out of plot necessity, not to be interfering or overly adorable. Up there with "Heidi", this ranks as her best performance.

Five-year-old Glendale, California tyke Shirley Temple (as Shirley Blake) hitch-hikes to the airport to visit her godfather pilot James Dunn (as James "Loop" Merritt). Not many kids could do that today. While she's away, we meet the curly top's family. She lives with mother Lois Wilson (as Mary Blake), who works as the maid for a wealthy family headed by another former "silent film" star, Theodor von Eltz (as J. Wellington Smythe). His snooty wife Dorothy Christy (as Anita) decides to fire mother Wilson for receiving too many telephone calls. However, their obnoxious but deep-down softie uncle Charles Sellon (as Ned Smith) likes Ms. Temple. He calls her "Bright Eyes". The illustrious cast includes servants Jane Darwell and Brandon Hurst. But the most memorable member of the household is Ms. Temple's antithesis – the classic spoiled brat character played by Jane Withers (as Joy Smythe). She decapitates dolls and terrorizes wheelchair-bound uncle Sellon from her tricycle..."Bright Eyes" was a very successful early vehicle for Temple. The cartoon-like film captures all of her adorableness. Temple sings "On the Good Ship Lollipop" with the girlish innocence (some say sexuality) of a bygone era. Her amateurish vocals balance the perfect doll-like looks. The film has all the subtext depression-weary audiences loved – most importantly, undeserving and insufferable rich characters are put in their place by the angelic, suffering poor. Temple won an "Academy Award" for her cumulative work in 1934; this film has been mentioned as the one most responsible for bringing her the juvenile acting award, but contemporary reviews and research give the honor to "Little Miss Marker" (1934). In the earlier film, "The New York Times" rated Temple's performance higher than co-star Adolphe Menjou. Until the end of the decade, Temple would play variations of her "Bright Eyes" character, ringing up box office cash registers like no other child star, before or since.****** Bright Eyes (12/20/34) David Butler ~ Shirley Temple, James Dunn, Jane Withers, Charles Sellon

Shirley Temple believes in every line of dialogue they give her. She is supposed to believe in Santa (while arch-nemesis Jane Withers does not); and you can tell that Little Miss Moppet does believe in Santa the way she says her lines. This is 'true' acting. And the scene where she kisses the old man in the wheelchair and says she likes him is brimming with truth, too. You can sense that this child performer does like adults who treat her kindly. And the moment when she puts her head on his lap is predictably sweet but no less effective-- gently reminding adults how to properly treat children.Yet despite all these charming aspects of David Butler's script (he also directed the picture), we know we are being manipulated for some serious drama ahead. Shirley starts out fatherless (except for surrogate daddy figure James Dunn) and by the 37th or 38th minute of the story, she is completely orphaned when her mother is killed on the street one day.Signal the tears. Lots and lots of tears. The scene where James Dunn learns about the mother's death while Shirley waves from inside the plane is tough to watch. Then, there's the sequence where he takes her up in the plane and while floating over some clouds, he tells her about heaven and her mother joining her father in heaven. She breaks down while he flies the aircraft and it is devastating. I can only imagine how audiences responded to this the first time it was seen in the 1930s. How can there be a dry eye left in the house after that tender, truthful display of emotion?And this is where Mr. Butler and Fox pull out all the stops. Shirley has lost both her parents now, on Christmas Day of all days. And miraculously, she still believes in Santa. The old man in the wheelchair plays Santa for her, James Dunn and all his buddies play Santa for her. Even the cook (Jane Darwell) and the butler are up to the task of playing Santa for her and providing her with a home if necessary.We are surrounded by a gift of love in this film. But the real gift-- then and now-- is always Shirley herself.