That Hagen Girl * (1947, Shirley Temple, Ronald Reagan, Rory Calhoun, Lois Maxwell) – Classic Movie Review 12,578

Lois Maxwell (Miss Moneypenny in 14 James Bond films) won the first ever Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Actress for her performance in the 1947 Warner Bros black and white drama film That Hagen Girl.

Director Peter Godfrey’s 1947 Warner Bros black and white drama film That Hagen Girl is written by Charles Hoffman based on a novel by Edith Kneipple Roberts, and stars Shirley Temple, Ronald Reagan, Rory Calhoun, and Lois Maxwell.

That Temple girl gets her first adult part as Mary Hagen, an illegitimate young lady romantically involved with older lawyer Tom Bates (Reagan). Local small-town gossips believe (wrongly) that the late-teenaged Mary Hagen is the illegitimate daughter of the former resident Bates, who moves back into town and begins a friendship with Hagen’s favourite teacher Julia Kane (Maxwell). She tells Bates to stop playing Hagen’s father, as he is in love with her and Mary seems to be in love with him.

This poor, Lolita-themed tale with Temple (born on April 23, 1928) as a nymphette understandably alienated her fans. Reagan sensibly tried to turn the picture down, and it later remained his most disliked role. Maybe there is some nostalgic kitsch appeal in the star pairing, but that’s about all.

Lois Ruth Maxwell (born Lois Ruth Hooker; February 14, 1927 – September 29, 2007).

There is one nice thing though. It marks the credited film debut of Canadian actress Lois Maxwell (as Julia Lane), aged 20, later Miss Moneypenny in 14 James Bond films. And she won the first ever Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Actress.

There was a nice thing for Warner Bros too: the film cost $1,327,000 and earned $1,818,000 in North America and $301,000 elsewhre for a $2,119,000 global total.

Temple had been Hollywood’s number-one box-office draw as a child star from 1934 to 1938.  She later recalled that Reagan collapsed after multiple retakes of a scene rescuing Temple’s character from a suicide attempt by jumping into a river in a storm. He was admitted to Cedars of Lebanon Hospital with viral pneumonia.

The Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Actress award was first introduced at the fifth Golden Globe Awards in 1948, won by Lois Maxwell for the 1947 film That Hagen Girl. From 1976 to 1979, the award was called Best Acting Debut in a Motion Picture – Actress. From 1980 to 1983, the Golden Globe award was called New Star of the Year in a Motion Picture – Actress. The final recipient was Sandahl Bergman for the 1982 film Conan the Barbarian and the category was discontinued after the 1983 ceremony.

Prints of the film mysteriously disappeared from storage facilities and TV stations when Reagan was becoming a prominent political figure, but the film resurfaced in the 1990s on Turner Classic Movies.

The film is included in the popular 1978 book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (and How They Got That Way) by Harry Medved.

Shirley Temple and Ronald Reagan became leading Republicans, the actual leader of course in Reagan’s case. Temple was named US Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia, and also served as Chief of Protocol of the United States. Calhoun was a Republican too, and supported the Republican Party’s nominee for president Barry Goldwater in the 1964 US presidential election. Goldwater lost the general election to incumbent Democratic president Lyndon B. Johnson in a landslide.

Lois Maxwell previously appeared uncredited in A Matter of Life and Death (1946) as Actress and Spring Song (1946) as Penelope Cobb.

With her Golden Globe Award on her mantlepiece, Lois Maxwell must have thought she had got it made. But following That Hagen Girl, she had only minor roles in B films, became dissatisfied with Hollywood, and went to Italy, living in Rome from 1950 to 1955 and working in films, including an adaptation of the opera Aida (1953), appearing with an unknown Sophia Loren. After her 1957 marriage to TV executive Peter Marriott, she moved to London and appeared in TV shows.

Lois Maxwell played Miss Moneypenny in the first 14 Eon-produced James Bond films (1962–1985), and was the first actress to play the part. The role as M’s secretary guaranteed her just two days’ work at £100 a day and she wore her own clothes for the filming. Luckily Maxwell survived as Moneypenny when Roger Moore became 007 in Live and Let Die (1973). While filming her final appearance as Moneypenny in A View to a Kill (1985) producer Albert R Broccoli said they were the only cast or crew remaining from Dr No. Roger Moore recalled: ‘She was always fun and she was wonderful to be with and was absolutely perfect casting.’

Warner Bros believed in putting their contract players to work. Also in the immense cast are Dorothy Peterson, Charles Kemper, Conrad Janis, Harry Davenport, Penny Edwards, Jean Porter, Nella Walker, Winifred Harris, Moroni Olsen, Frank Conroy, Kathryn Card, Douglas Kennedy, Barbara Brown, Tom Fadden, William B Davidson, Florence Allen, Lois Austin, Donia Bussey, Gino Corrado, Rex Downing, William Edmunds, Sarah Edwards, Virginia Farmer, Jan Hamilton, Billy Henderson, Boyd Irwin, Jessica Jordan, Kathryn Kane, Fred Kelsey, Ray Klinge, Gracille LaVinder, Kyle MacDonnell, Billy Mauch, Claire Meade, Frank Meredith, Ray Montgomery, Jack Mower, Frank O’Connor, Robert Palmer, Milton Parsons, Constance Purdy, Billy Roy, Ed Russell, Jack Smart, Walter Soderling, Helen Wallace, Anthony Warde, Paul Weber, Guy Wilkerson, and Rhoda Williams.

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,578

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