Young People ** (1940, Shirley Temple, Jack Oakie, Charlotte Greenwood, Arleen Whelan, George Montgomery, Kathleen Howard) – Classic Movie Review 12,195

After Allan Dwan’s 1940 musical drama film Young People, Shirley Temple was pensioned off by 20th Century Fox and retired at the age of 12!

Director Allan Dwan’s 1940 musical drama film Young People stars Shirley Temple as Wendy Ballantine, the all-singing, all-dancing adopted daughter of showfolk Jack Oakie and Charlotte Greenwood, who want to give her a normal schooling. So they decide to retire from show business, leave Broadway and head for a farm in New England. Naturally, it all ends up with the family putting on a show.

Young People is forgettable fluff with the star on mild form, and the movie is padded out with highlight extracts from her previous appearances. But Oakie and Greenwood raise the temperature a bit, and there is always the good ensemble support cast to watch out for, and Dwan’s professionalism to admire.

It is Temple’s swansong under her 20th Century Fox contract. She was pensioned off and retired at the age of 12!

Also in the cast are Arleen Whelan, George Montgomery, Kathleen Howard, Mae Marsh, Minor Watson, Frank Swann, Frank Sully, Sarah Edwards, Irving Bacon, Charles Halton, Arthur Aylesworth, Olin Howlin, Billy Wayne, Harry Tyler, Shirley Mills, Bobby Anderson, Billy Benedict, Mary Gordon, Syd Saylor, Darryl Hickman, Dell Henderson, Harry Seymour, Ted North, Fern Emmett, and Charles Tannen.

Writers: Edwin Blum (screen play), Don Ettlinger (screen play) and Hilary Lynn (contributor to treatment).

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,195

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