HONEYMOON

US, 1947, 80 minutes, Black and white.
Shirley Temple, Franchot Tone, Guy Madison, Gene Lockhart.
Directed by William Keighley.

Shirley Temple made this film when she was 19. She had been making films for over a decade, one of the most acclaimed stars of the 1930s, extraordinarily popular. She worked with many stars, could act, sing, dance, do comedy, do tears… And, of course, people saw her as cute.

She took on more adult roles, especially in Since You Went Away in 1944. However, while she was a pleasant screen presence, the public seemed to like her as a little girl rather than as an adult. She was to make half a dozen more films after Honeymoon and starred in John Fords Fort Apache.

This is the slightest of films and reflects the kind of film that was popular in post-war United States. Shirley Temple plays a young girl from Minnesota who meets up with a serviceman, Guy Madison, and arranges to meet him in Mexico where they will be married. His plane is delayed, she is stuck at the airport – but immediately shows her very self-confident and sassy style by making demands on everyone, especially the official at the American consulate, played by Franchot Tone. He is also the butt of a lot of physical pratfalls.

He is a rather good sport in this film, putting up with an increasingly irritatingly aggressive Shirley, all demands and then a few apologies, meeting her fiance who turns up unexpectedly, in the meantime having problems with his own fiancee, a musician from Mexico, and her demanding father, who are keeping an eye on him and are puzzled by his continual attentions to Shirley.

It is interesting to see that this film was written by celebrated writer-director, Garson Kanin, and the story came from Vicki Baum, author of Grand Hotel and Hotel Berlin.

This is a film which may likely entertain but is more of historical interest, especially for Shirley Temple as she began her adult career, soon to give it up and achieved great success as a diplomat.