The Worst Film Ever

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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.

Even though there is very little singing and dancing, which is a big part of the appeal of Shirley Temple, it's still a solid film.This was the first movie in which was Shirley was the big star, I believe, and you can see why she quickly won the hearts of Americans.Although there is only one song, it's perhaps her most famous: "On the Good Ship Lollipop." The rest of the film is almost as charming as that song with many sweet, touching moments that made her films so endearing.It also helped to have James Dunn as the male lead. Dunn was one of the more likable guys in classic Hollywood, on and off the screen. He and Shirley make a great pair. Other interesting people to watch in this movie are the crabby old grandfather, played by Charles Sellon; the spoiled brat played by Jane Withers, who is so bad she's funny and an assortment of other characters from fliers to cooks to old girlfriends.The only negative is the ending. It looked like they didn't know how to end this, so they rushed to finish it without much thought. Oh, well, the main thing is Shirley's charm.....and that's there in abundance.

Hollywood's smallest, biggest star Shirley Temple plays an orphan caught up in a custody battle. She worships a daredevil pilot(James Dunn)and through the course of the movie gets the chance to sing and make immortal "On the Good Ship Lollipop". Also in the steadfast cast are: Jane Darwell, Judith Allen, Charles Sellon and probably the show stealer Jane Withers. Withers is the perfect rich brat to be mean to the poor little orphan(Temple). One of the better projects of the busy little "curly top".

Jane Withers, at age four, started as one of the deep South's most popular radio stars on Aunt Sally's Kiddy Club. She was so small she had to be lifted up to reach the microphone. She was the mischief-maker of the Kiddy Club program, called "The Little Pest". Like Mitzi Green, she had an uncanny ability to imitate the voices and facial expressions of actors, actresses and other people, something she learned playing with the mirror. On stage by age five, she became a famous actress throughout the South, finally moving to Hollywood at five-and-a-half. In Hollywood, Jane began by playing in a weekly radio-revue and gave numerous stage performances for beneficial organizations."Bright Eyes" was Jane's first credited movie role and led to a long-term contract with Twentieth Century-Fox. She stared in numerous movies of the thirties, and was Shirley Temple's main competition. Jane was one of the great child actresses of all times, very popular with the children of her era, and after watching Shirley's goodie two-shoes act in Bright Eyes playing against Jane's power-house comedy performance, I can see why. Shirley Temple was her usual cute, sugar-coated, man-worshiping self with everyone giggling politely at her jokes except the audience. In contrast, Jane Withers had my daughter and I laughing our heads off until we had stomach-aches. Jane in Bright Eyes was bratty, adorable and hilarously funny. Her brat act has seldom, if ever, been equaled in the annals of film. It is really a shame, and I hope the studios who own Jane Withers' many films as a child take note, that Bright Eyes is the only Jane Withers performance to survive to contemporary video. What ever happened to her movies "Ginger", Paddy O'Day", "Gentle Julia", "Little Miss Nobody", "Can This be Dixie?" and "Pepper"? In a published chat-room article Jane, who is still very much alive, says that she will eventually finish her book on her child star days. Like the kids of Our Gang, she remembers a fun, privileged childhood and has nothing in the way of sob stories. Let's hope that the studios will stop suppressing her films and release them on video soon, perhaps coinciding with her book.