Truly Dreadful Film

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Stowaway (1936): Dir: William A. Seiter / Cast: Shirley Temple, Robert Young, Alice Faye, Helen Westley, Allan Lane: Title not only addresses innocent Shirley Temple accidentally ending upon aboard a cruise ship. It also symbolizes her impact within the hearts of two individuals who only meet with her in the middle ground. Temple is an orphan in China who is wise beyond her years. Robert Young is the young bachelor whom she encounters and eventually accompanies. He is wealthy but good natured and certainly has a tolerance for children. Alice Faye plays the female lead who will predictably end up with young. Problem is that she is engaged to an arrogant guy who is controlled by his mother. Luckily Temple's spirit invades Faye's attention leaving the only link to connect is her to Young. Allan Lane plays Faye's fiancé who has been away until his mother contacts him alerting him to her association with Young. Helen Westley plays Lane's meddling mother who feels threatened with regards to Temple's influence over Faye's affections. Directed by William A. Seiter with a production that works despite a few corny musical numbers that fail to inspire. The one number that does work is Temple's song about smiling and her total confidence as she controls the stage. Not bad for a little tyke. Theme regards the reality of children needing two parents and how they can stowaway love into a promising future. Score: 8 / 10

This is still Shirley Temple's film, but the romance between Alice Faye and Robert Young gets lots of time in this film...making it a bit more balanced and not quite as child-oriented as some of Shirley's films.Shirley is...well...Shirley, with her musical highlight being "Goodnight, My Love", with the song being reprised by Alice Faye.Faye is very good here, and Robert Young is excellent. You really do hope they get married! The supporting cast does their jobs -- Helen Westley is suitably unbearable as the potential mother-in-law. Eugene Palette doesn't get much screen time, but his barrel-voice is always welcome. Arthur Treacher also doesn't get much film time, and does better in other Temple films.This is one of the better Temple films, but far from the best. But the balance with a more adult story line makes it quite enjoyable.

"Sparkle, Shirley, sparkle!" Gertrude Temple cried between takes whenever her little daughter's energy flailed. As Ching-Ching, an American girl living in China, Shirley sparkles, all right; she just never dazzles. Little Ching-Ching is full of happy grins and spouts plenty of wise Chinese proverbs, but not once does she break into one of the delightful song-and-dance routines that make Shirley's other films so memorable. She only dances very briefly in this movie, and it is a great disappointment to fans who want to see the tapping that made her such a world famous star.Another disappointment is the absence of memorable music. Shirley's song "You've Gotta Smile to be Happy" showcases her impressive talent for mimickry -- she channels Eddie Cantor and Ginger Rogers, among others -- but her other two songs, "Goodnight My Love" and "That's What I Want for Christmas," completely lack the snap and fun of catchy classics like "On the Good Ship Lollipop" (Bright Eyes), "Animal Crackers in My Soup" (Curly Top), "At the Codfish Ball" (Captain January), "Oh My Goodness" (Poor Little Rich Girl), or "The Old Kent Road" (The Little Princess).What sparkle Shirley does achieve is snuffed by the dreary adult performances. Ching-Ching's rural guardians, the Kruikshanks, and her pal Sun Lo are almost laughable. Alice Faye's character, Susan Parker, is clearly in love with Ching-Ching, but that's about the only emotion she seems to have. Susan has been harboring doubts about her engagement to the very contrived, cardboard character Richard Hope -- largely because of Richard's sickly enmeshment with his mother, played to meddlesome perfection by Helen Westley -- when she begins to feel a budding romance for Ching-Ching's rich, handsome guardian, Thomas Randall. Her choice between the two men is supposed to seem dramatic and difficult, but instead Susan only comes off as indecisive and wishy-washy. In another Shirley film, "Poor Little Rich Girl," Alice Faye displays a natural chemistry with her on screen husband Jack Haley, but in "Stowaway," Susan's relationships with both are Richard and Thomas are severely lacking, and together these three adults manage to display all the passion of a dentist office. Arthur Treacher does add some charming and unexpected wit in his small role as Thomas's butler, but if you want to see the full extent of Temple and Treacher's talents, watch them together in "The Little Princess," but not "Stowaway."

Fleeing from bandit-ridden China, a cute & incredibly precocious little orphan accidentally becomes a STOWAWAY on a luxury liner. Once aboard, she proceeds to charm (nearly) everyone in sight, while working to bring about the marriage of two lonely Americans.Shirley Temple switches on her megawatt smile & captures the viewers' hearts once more in this pleasant, crowd pleasing movie. Amply displaying the charm which made her Hollywood's box office queen for years, Shirley gets to sing, dance, and even speak quite a bit of Chinese.Robert Young & Alice Faye appear as the romantic leads, and they do a good job, but ultimately they are just so much grist for Shirley's mill. Little Miss Temple always found her stiffest acting competition coming from the character performers and this film features some fine examples: Helen Westley as a dreadful mother-in-law in-waiting; wonderful Arthur Treacher as Young's comic butler; Eugene Palette, boisterous as a perpetually inebriated American; Philip Ahn as a faithful friend of Shirley's family; Willie Fung as the negligent boatman who spirits her to Shanghai; J. Edward Bromberg as a no-nonsense judge; and Robert Greig as the kindly ship captain.20th Century Fox obviously pumped a good deal of money into this film and the production values show it. The scenes in China are particularly well done, although the use of rear projection during Shirley's walk near the Shanghai waterfront is all too obvious.Shirley sings 'Goodnight My Love,' 'That's What I Want For Christmas' & 'You've Gotta S-M-I-L-E To Be H-A-double P-Y'. During the performance of this latter song Shirley mimics Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor & Ginger Rogers. Originally, she also impersonated Mae West but that segment was considered too hot and excised.