JLRMovieReviews As Shirley Temple's mother has previously died, she is very close to her father, here played by Ian Hunter. He is a soldier who is called away on duty. She says a prayer for him to come home. In fact, they had a prayer they said together all the time due to his vocation about although he may be gone he is never far away in spirit and will be home soon. Meanwhile, she keeps him in her heart and she is his little princess. In this children's story by Frances Hodgson Burnett, author of "The Secret Garden," little Shirley is in a private school when she is told that her father has been killed in the war and leaving his estate penniless. Due to the conditions, Shirley is unable to continue her studies as she had been, but she is kept on by the hard schoolmistress, only for appearance's sake, but Shirley is forced to keep quarters in a stuffy attic and having to work for what schooling she is getting. Anita Louise plays a kind teacher and Richard Greene is her young suitor and horse riding teacher to the girls. But the film belongs to Ms. Shirley and Mary Nash as the cold headmistress. I had started to watch Shirley Temple movies at the beginning of the year and thought I would review most of them. But oddly enough I reviewed a couple and then stopped, maybe because most of them seemed very similar and I must not have been particularly inspired with anything to say, but I had to comment on this film. In most of the early films, young Shirley with her curly locks tugs at your heart and manages to mend fences between bickering family members and winning the heart of crotchety old men in the process. But here, she is using more of her emotions and inner will in her scenes and therefore investing more of herself; in short, she's really acting here and really getting into the moment. The highlight of the film, at least to me, is when she talks back to Mary Nash in one particular scene up in the attic. Everyone keeps insisting that her father is dead, but she still feels in her heart that he isn't and no one can tell her otherwise. She is insistent on visiting the hospital for the incoming injured. Child actors Sybil Jason and Marcia Mae Jones costar and are really good (I really liked Sybil Jason a lot,) but the film showcases Shirley Temple at her best. By the end, you feel so uplifted and so happy for her when lo and behold..... And, Mary Nash is exceedingly chilling as the detestable headmistress. But, if you want to see only but the very best of her films, then see Shirley Temple as "The Little Princess," which is a heartwarming tale with America's Favorite Little Girl.

TheLittleSongbird For a more faithful adaptation, look for the 1986/7 version. However, if you are the kind of person who tries to judge movie adaptations on their own merits and likes their movies to be beautiful and with emotional impact, the 1995 Alfonso Cuaron film and this will have you satisfied. The costumes and sets are very elegant, and the gorgeous Technicolour and cinematography help. The music is both sensitive and catchy, and the choreography is suitably nifty. The script is mostly engaging, the film is beautifully directed by Walter Lang(who I remember best for the 1956 musical The King and I) and while darker in tone(I did miss some of the fascinating imagination aspects from the book admittedly) the story is still charming, with a fun song and dance interlude with Shirley Temple and Arthur Treacher and the ending is very moving. I have not seen enough of Shirley Temple's films to judge whether The Little Princess is among her best or worst, but while a couple of the more emotional moments were a little forced her adorable appearance and charm makes for a delightful Sara overall. Sybil Jason is a sweet Becky also, although I find the chemistry between Becky and Sara more believable in Cuaron's film and in the book. Mary Nash's Miss Minchin is suitably nasty, while a young Cesar Romero is handsome and quietly composed as Ram Das, Ian Hunter in what he has is a loving father figure and as Bertie Arthur Treacher(whose scenes with Temple are among the best of the film) has an easy-going charm. Beryl Mercer is appropriately dignified in her cameo as Queen Victoria. All in all, a lovely film. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Ela411 I grew up watching Shirley Temple and whenever I watch one of her movies today, I start out thinking "this is so corny," then by the end of the movie I'm searching for a box of tissues.In 1938, Darryl Zanuck said that this was the greatest picture he was ever associated with, and his words have stood the test of time. This movie has everything, told children's style. Even the wicked witch, Miss Minchin lets her guard down and joins in the fun and games with the children when she hears that the soldiers have been relieved at Mafeking.This is definitely Shirley Temple's best movie, but it is also probably Arthur Treacher's best movie, too. The expressions on his face during the "Fantasy Sequence" ending as he watches Richard Greene and Anita Louise kiss are worth the price of the movie alone.The only question is why doesn't Hollywood make movies this corny today?

Snow4849 Between the ages of 7 and 10, little Shirley Temple was the biggest box office star in the world. But as she grew older, her popularity quickly began to wane. At 11 (though she believed herself to be 10 because her mother shaved a year off her age), Shirley was still quite a child when she made "The Little Princess." But because she was no longer as cute and cherubic as she was at 6, when "Stand Up and Cheer!" first made her a star, it was to be her last successful film in a children's role.As Sara (a Hebrew name meaning "princess"), Shirley plays her standard rags-to-riches storyline in reverse: Sara's wealthy widowed father loses everything in the Boer War, and her cruel boarding school headmistress Miss Minchin makes her an underfed, overworked servant girl to pay the tuition debt her father owed. Sara goes from luxurious rooms and private tutors to friendless, freezing attics as suddenly as the swinging America of the 1920s sank into the dust storms, breadlines, and squattervilles of the 1930's Great Depression. But where did poor Americans turn to briefly forget all these problems during the Great Depression? To the movies, where Shirley Temple, her unwavering hopefulness (as present in "The Little Princess" as in any of her movies), and her cute song-and-dance numbers -- with titles like "Laugh, You Son of a Gun" (1934), "You Gotta Smile to be Happy" (1936), "Be Optimistic" (1938), and "Come and Get Your Happiness" (1938) -- cheered up the entire nation. The same singing and dancing cheers up Sara Crewe while she's working as a galley slave in 1899 London, as Shirley performs "The Old Kent Road" with her pal Arthur Treacher (her four-time co-star).In short, "The Little Princess" is Shirley Temple's career in a nutshell. It is a must-see film for both longtime Shirley fans and newcomers.