Wee Willie Winkie **** (1937, Shirley Temple, Victor McLaglen, C Aubrey Smith, June Lang) – Classic Movie Review 9282

Rudyard Kipling’s story about a little boy in 19th-century India is adapted as a vehicle for Shirley Temple in director John Ford’s 1937 adventure Wee Willie Winkie.

Kipling wrote about Percival Williams, but Temple plays young little Priscilla Williams, who goes to live in a British outpost barracks in northern India with her widowed mother (June Lang) and her grumpy grand-pappy Colonel Williams (C Aubrey Smith) and soon is charming the pants off grandpa and the kilt off rough-diamond Sergeant MacDuff (Victor McLaglen), who even allows her to drill the men.

After Khoda Khan (Cesar Romero), leader of the rebel Indian faction, is captured, Priscilla charms him too by returning a talisman he has dropped. Khan escapes from the post, and Priscilla and servant Mohammet Dihn (Willie Fung), an Indian spy, take off for his stronghold. Snatched by Khoda Khan’s rebels, Priscilla finally persuades everyone into peace.

This soppy fantasy adventure is a little winner thanks to Ford’s professionalism, the lavish 20th Century Fox production, the good-hearted adult performances by the guaranteed character actors and of course Temple’s winsomeness.

It runs 100 minutes but there is also a 77-minute cut print.

Also in the cast are June Lang, Michael Whalen, Douglas Scott, Willie Fung, Constance Collier, Gavin Muir, Brandon Hurst, Lionel Pape, Clyde Cook, Bunny Beatty [Lauri Beatty], Mary Forbes, Cyril McLaglen, Pat Somerset, Hector V Sarno and Lionel Braham.

Wee Willie Winkie is directed by John Ford, runs 100 minutes, is made and released by 20th Century Fox, is written by Ernest Pascal and Julien Josephson, based on Rudyard Kipling’s story, is shot in black and white by Arthur Miller, is produced by Darryl F Zanuck and Gene Markey, is scored by Alfred Newman and is designed by William S Darling.

It was shot at the Iverson Ranch, 1 Iverson Lane, Chatsworth, Los Angeles.

It was shot black and white sepiatone with blue tinted sequences.

Cinema’s most iconic child star Shirley Temple (1928 – 2014) died at 85 on 10 February 2014. Her mother Gertrude Temple did her hair in pin curls with exactly 56 curls for each movie. Shirley Jones and Shirley MacLaine were both named after her. She is further immortalised on the cover of The Beatles’ album Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

As a grown-up, at the end of her career – at 20! – Temple plays Philadelphia Thursday in Ford’s Fort Apache (1948).

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9282

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