It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Blistering performances.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This is a very early comedy short, presenting a very young Shirley Temple, with comedian Andy Clyde. In this simple story, Andy is a schoolteacher who eats at Dora's Home Bakery every morning on his way to the school. On this particular morning Dora has discovered how to make the perfect dunking doughnut. Andy is very fond of Dora, and decides to help her advertise her donuts by taking his talented students to a radio station to make a commercial. Between the musical numbers, we are treated to the charms of an adorable young Shirley Temple as she literally steals the show. Temple's magical star charisma is very strong in this short film, making this very light entertaining comedy, a great example for Shirley Temple fans to have a look at the very talented child before she became a huge star on her own, in feature films.

Early in her film career, Shirley Temple appeared in quite a few shorts. So, although she was HUGELY famous in the 1930s, you can see her in supporting roles in small films up through 1934. Most of them are pretty dreadful and "Dora's Dunking Doughnuts" is certainly pretty much the norm for these early films when it comes to quality.This film stars Andy Clyde as an incredibly irresponsible school teacher. The film begins with him making eyes at Dora at her doughnut stand--even though school should have started already. But, the kids are an odd lot and they come get him instead of just running amok! And, once school begins, you see they are REALLY odd--breaking into song and dance numbers in the classroom!! When Dora creates the ultimate doughnut(?), Clyde decides to help her by having his kids go on the radio and sing its praises. Really. And how does it all end? Well, you probably won't care but I'll say no more in case you want to see it and be surprised. Overall, the film is pretty limp--with lots of singing, a dumb plot and very real little comedy. Not good by any standard.

A previous IMDB reviewer has said that "Dora's Dunking Doughnuts" is about a boy who's afraid of dogs. That reviewer is thinking of a different movie, called "Pardon My Pups". Both are short comedies which feature Shirley Temple before her stardom. Both of these films have been released on video as part of a compendium of Shirley Temple shorts, which explains why the reviewer has got them switched. "Dora's Dunking Doughnuts" is often packaged as a Shirley Temple film; she's prominently featured in a supporting role, but she is certainly not the central character here."Dora's Dunking Doughnuts" was made at Al Christie's low-budget Educational studio, which (despite its name) specialised in short comedies. (Educational started out making educational films, then producer Christie discovered that slapstick was more profitable.) The star of this film is silent-film comedian Andy Clyde, cast here as a bashful schoolmaster and speaking his dialogue in a soft Perthshire accent. Andy is sweet on Dora, who runs a small roadside diner which isn't getting much custom. But her food is good, especially her doughnuts: if only she could afford to advertise, and attract more customers!Andy maintains order (just barely) over a classroom of students, ranging widely in age. They're all good kids, but very mischievous. Little Shirley is the prize pupil. Andy organises his students into an orchestra and chorus, then he uses his savings to buy some air time on the local radio station. This is quite realistic: in the golden age of radio, many shows were "on sustaining", meaning that the performers had no sponsor and they paid for their own air time.We see some very unrealistic yet amusing shenanigans at the radio station, including a performance by a matronly singer (Florence Gill) who clucks her song as if she were a chicken. Andy leads his schoolkids in a rendition of an advertising jingle, "Dora's Dunking Doughnuts", which is actually quite enjoyable. But of course a few things go wrong during the live broadcast...Special attention should be paid to Bud Jamison, unfortunately misspelt in the credits of this film as 'Jamieson'. Bud Jamison was the greatest straight man in the history of film comedy! He worked with most of the greatest comedians in the first 50 years of American films, including Chaplin, Keaton, WC Fields and the Three Stooges. In the Stooges classic 'Disorder in the Court', Jamison is the defence attorney who hands Curly a revolver while speaking the immortal line "Never fear, it's not loaded." Bud Jamison gave sterling service in many of the greatest comedies of the 1920s through '40s (and in a lot of obscure comedies too), yet he remains utterly unknown to old-movie fans ... probably because Jamison specialised in making other comedians seem funnier than they were. Here in "Dora's Dunking Doughnuts", Jamison is quite funny as the put-upon manager of the small-time radio station.I'll rate this nice comedy-musical short 10 out of 10. You'll probably watch it to see Shirley Temple, and Andy Clyde is excellent in the lead role. (Ethel Sykes is quite good too, as the titular Dora.) But please rewind it and watch it again, this time concentrating on Bud Jamison's expert comedy timing.

A doughnut shop in money trouble is saved when the school music class appear on radio to promote the doughnuts. Shirley looks beautiful in this film. Shirley hasn't really got a big part in this, but when she does, she is brilliant!!!