LITTLE COLONEL

US, 1935, 80 minutes, Black and white. (Colour sequence).
Shirley Temple, Lionel Barrymore, Evelyn Venable, John Lodge, Bill Robinson, Hattie McDaniel?, Sidney Blackmer.
Directed by David Butler.

The Little Colonel is considered one of Shirley Temple's best star vehicles. It is also one of her earliest. Based on a story, which resembles Little Lord Fauntleroy, Shirley is the cute daughter of an army man who elopes with the daughter of a stern Southern Colonel in the 1870s. Needless to say, he disowns the family but through the charm of his granddaughter he is reconciled.

Shirley is a precocious actress, almost a little adult in the way that she puts on tantrums and exercises her charm. She does not seem to be any way awed by working with Lionel Barrymore as the Colonel. Made up to look like Buffalo Bill, he gives an entertaining performance. Evelyn Venable is her attractive mother.

However, while the film shows the aftermath of the Civil War and the assertion of the South, there is emphasis on relationships between black and white. Hattie McDaniel? and Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson are stars and Shirley gets to do a famous 'going up the stairs' dance with Robinson.

The film was very popular in the '30s, has the popular ingredients of stories from the 19th. century, highlights the charm of the child star and has fine production values with direction by David Butler who was to direct Shirley Temple in a number of her '30s features.