ccthemovieman-1 Here is another very nice Shirley Temple film, one of the above-average ones for her (and most of hers were above-average to start with!). This one featured really nice characters, downplayed the villain, and had a lot of songs.It didn't have as much tap dancing as I would like to have seen, but it did feature a prolonged dance at the end with Shirley, Jack Haley and Alice Faye.The villain was some mysterious dude who was either a child molester or a kidnapper. It was never really explained. Thankfully, he had a small role. Otherwise, it was all good people and fun ones to watch. I like seeing Gloria Stuart in her early days, too.The story is predictable, but most of them are and everyone winds up happy in the end. I find nothing wrong with that! It's all the better that Shirley winds up with vaudeville performers, guaranteeing we get a lot of musical entertainment in this movie. And.....where else but a Shirley Temple movie, would you have a song called "You've Got To Eat Your Spinach, Baby?"

dolphin330 I was six years old when I saw Shirley in Poor Little Rich Girl. I had been watching Shirley Temple movies since I was four, and I absolutely adored her.I was very impressionable at this age. My parents used to take me to the movies every Saturday. If Shirley Temple was playing I didn't want to miss it.The day after I saw this movie, we were sitting down for Sunday dinner. My mother was about to serve up spinach. I never had liked it, and Mother had to cut my serving in half to get me to eat it. She had about given up on getting Jerry to eat spinach. She said, "Well, I guess I'll give Norman some spinach today, but I know Jerry doesn't like it, so I'm not going to give it to him anymore." I immediately replied. "But Mom,I want the spinach. Yesterday I saw Shirley Temple at the movies, and she said we've got to eat our spinach. If she says to eat it,I'm gonna eat it! From now on I want spinach."My mother and father turned and stared at each other with their mouths open, in a look of disbelief that I will never forget. A little girl had accomplished in one day what they had been unable to do for months. From that day on, I ate my spinach and even got to like it!

classicmoviecomedy Anyone familiar with Shirley Temple (once the nation's biggest star, today nearly forgotten) knows that while her films almost always contained a great deal of charm and talent, they were, for the most part, quite average as films. HEIDI is perhaps rightfully regarded as her most timeless film, and REBECCA OF SUNNYBROOK FARM is an above-average musical comedy for her. But by and large, I find her films unmemorable, even such famous titles as BRIGHT EYES, CURLY TOP, THE LITTLE COLONEL, THE LITTLEST REBEL, DIMPLES and WEE WILLIE WINKIE (directed by John Ford, no less) fail to impress me on repeat viewings.So why is POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL my favorite Temple film? I think it's because it's so quintessentially a 1930s movie. The soap radio program, to the urban setting, to the music numbers-everything about this film is just purely of its time. It's really a time capsule into the time in which it was made in a way that few films really are. Paradoxically, it is also a timeless film in many ways, which really can be attributed to the talent and energy from all the principals in this film. Jack Haley and Alice Faye are in fine form as the husband and wife team of Dolan and Dolan; movie fans will recognize Gloria Stuart (from TITANIC) as Michael Whalen's love interest, and the supporting cast is uniformly excellent, especially Henry Armetta.The film contains sparkling black and white cinematography against the classy urban sets that 20th Century Fox could do so well. This also contains some excellent songs. The radio finale serves the film well and really acts as an excellent time capsule all around.

doc-55 This definitely is one of Shirley's three or four best, mostly because she is not required to perform a tearful treacly scene as in some other films, those which tug at your heart but later seem somewhat embarrassing. This is one in which she comes across as a young actress, and not simply as a personality. The musical numbers are unusually effective; probably because they are shared with Alice Faye and Jack Haley and not strictly solo. (You have to smile over the final number, when the military band number, well done though it is, is done with full costumes and choreography, even though the performance is taking place over a radio hookup.) Shirley conveys an innocence and trustfulness and joy in life which is a universe removed from portrayals of children in contemporary film and TV. One more remark: I was truly surprised to see the appearance of a pedophile in a film of that era, and to see Jack Haley confronting and fighting him as he is about to lead Shirley away from the apartment house.