Bright Eyes *** (1934, Shirley Temple, James Dunn, Lois Wilson, Dorothy Christy, Theodore von Eltz, Jane Withers) – Classic Movie Review 821

The six-year-old Shirley Temple gets to sing her all-time greatest hit ‘On the Good Ship Lollipop’ in director David Butler’s 1934 comedy drama movie Bright Eyes, her first big star show. She went on to enjoy a happy, if inevitably brief career as the most popular child star of all time.

She plays Shirley Blake, a cute little orphan who, when her mom is accidentally hit by a car and killed, is stuck in a complicated tug-of-love between prospective foster parents, as rich, bad-tempered old Ned Smith (Charles Sellon), his niece Adele Martin (Judith Allen) and dashing young aviator ‘Loop’ Merritt (James Dunn) all compete to help Temple.

Shirley’s mom was a maid in the house of a snooty couple, and the little girl at first is forced to live with them. But the aviator adores the little girl and a child custody battle for her ensues between him and Uncle Ned.

Bright Eyes is a not-too-taxing, relentlessly cheerful, amusingly sentimental family comedy drama that was just right for its Depression-era time. It is perfectly tailored to showcase Temple’s sweet tiny tot charms. Angelic and assured, with her hair in ringlets and wearing a checked pinafore dress, Shirley captured the hearts of cinemagoers and became one of the biggest box office draws of the era.

Jane Withers (April 12, 1926 – August 7, 2021).

A much less famous name, Jane Withers, aged eight, is good fun as the less cute, much naughtier villainess of the piece – as the spoiled, obnoxious Joy Smythe, the eight-year-old daughter of the haughty nouveau-riche J Wellington Smythe and his equally arrogant wife Anita Smythe – and she was to become another big child star in her own right.

The cast are Shirley Temple as six-year-old Shirley Blake, James Dunn as James ‘Loop’ Merritt, Shirley’s godfather, Lois Wilson as Mary Blake, Shirley’s widowed mother, Judith Allen as socialite Adele Martin, Charles Sellon as Uncle Ned Smith, Theodor von Eltz as J Wellington Smythe, Dorothy Christy as Anita Smythe, Jane Withers as Joy Smythe, Brandon Hurst as the Smythes’ butler Higgins, Jane Darwell as the Smythes’ cook Elizabeth Higgins, Walter Johnson as the Smythes’ chauffeur Thomas, George Irving as Judge Thompson and Terry as Loop’s dog Rags.

Also in the cast David O’Brien, Wade Botelier, Robert Burgess, Crilly Butler, Russ Clark, Fred Crawford, Robert Dalton, David Field, Pat Flaherty, James Flavin, Earle Foxe, Rodney Hildebrand, Sunny Ingraham, Selmer Jackson, Gardner James, Sam Labrador, Phil Marshall, John McGuire, Harry McKee, Paul McVey, Frank Moran, Tom Murray, Steve Pendleton, Peter Potter, Harry Strang, and Paul Swegler.

The screenplay by William Conselman is based on a story by David Butler and Edwin J Burke.

‘On the Good Ship Lollipop’ (1934) has music by Richard A Whiting and lyrics by Sidney Clare.

It is made and distributed by Fox Film Corporation.

By the end of 1934 Temple was eighth most popular movie star in the US. She was given an honorary Oscar at six, going on to star in films such as Curly Top and The Littlest Rebel, helping the US cope with the Depression and helping save the film company 20th Century Fox from bankruptcy. She retired from the movies in 1949, later becoming a distinguished diplomat, serving as the US ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia. Shirley Temple died on 10 February 2014, aged 85.

Jane Withers (April 12, 1926 – August 7, 2021) became one of the most popular child stars in Hollywood in the 1930s and early 1940s. She appeared as an extra in many films until landing her breakthrough role in Bright Eyes. She made 38 films before retiring at the age of 21 in 1947 but returned to film and TV as a character actress in the 1950s.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 821 derekwinnert.com