SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Derrick Gibbons An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

JohnHowardReid Absolutely delightful. Taking full advantage of a smoothly and wittily characterized script, director Bill Seiter and his talented players hit high notes of rollicking entertainment almost continually until the forced and somewhat strained ending changes the film's mood as well as its locale. Never mind, so much of what has transpired before is so attractively amusing, the Bromberg machinations don't really matter. Young as usual is most ingratiating, playing with just the right balance of rakishness, sophistication and boyish charm. Miss Temple gets a chance to practice her Chinese as well as to perform the movie's show-stopping "If You Want To S-M-I-L-E", complete with vigorous impersonations of Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, and Astaire-Rogers! Miss Faye never looked more lovely, and renders two of her most famous songs. The script has also provided meaty roles for Helen Westley, Arthur Treacher and Robert Greig. Production values are high, with superb cinematography, sets and costumes. In short, pretty close to superlative entertainment.

classicsoncall I have a fond recollection of Shirley Temple movies because when I was in grammar school during the Fifties, the classrooms would be brought to the auditorium once or twice a year to watch one of them. I think we had to pay a quarter to see them, one of the ways the school managed to generate a little income back in the day. It's impossible now to remember which ones they might have been, but as I think about it now, the movies would have already been about twenty years old even way back then! Time is a funny thing.This Shirley Temple picture is particularly delightful, with young Barbara 'Ching-Ching' Sherman (Temple) playing matchmaker for co-stars Robert Young and Alice Faye. Their relationship is jeopardized right from the start as Susan Parker (Faye) is engaged to businessman Richard Hope (Allan Lane), as playboy Tommy Randall's (Young) heart and demeanor does flip-flops in his attempt to woo Miss Parker. Ultimately it becomes a no-contest as Richard's domineering mother overshadows the relationship, and Miss Parker sorts out her feelings over the course of the story.Young Shirley's charisma as a child entertainer shines through in a variety of song numbers, particularly in her rendition of 'You Gotta S-M-I-L-E' during a Chinese talent contest. She then does an effective imitation of Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor, right before shuffling into a dance routine with a Shirley-sized mannequin. If you want to be critical, you'd have to wonder why the theater operator would have had one of those around for Ching-Ching's convenience. You know, they never did say if she won the ten yuan prize, but since there were no other performers, I guess it's a safe bet.The picture offers a humorous sequence in which Young's character walks out of a Shanghai shop with a young Chinese boy by accident instead of Shirley. The authorities are brought into the picture and both Randall and Ching-Ching spend the night in jail! Which led me to reflect on one of Ching-Ching's Chinese proverbs from her mentor Sun Lo quoted in my summary line above. If you expand the meaning of prisoners to include someone stuck in an unsuccessful marriage or relationship, you have a pretty good description of why little matchmaker Ching-Ching had to bring her Uncle Tommy and Aunt Susan together.

BrianG Shirley Temple was, deservedly, the most famous child star ever. She was a natural, endearing actress, with little of the cloying "cuteness" that afflicted so many of her contemporaries (Jane Withers, Darla Hood, e.g.), and an amazingly talented singer/dancer. Normally I don't mind her movies all that much, and a few ("Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm", for example) I even find enjoyable. However, something went wrong here.It's hard to put a finger on exactly who or what to blame. William A. Seiter was a first-rate comedy/musical director; Nat Perrin was a top comedy writer who wrote for, among others, the Marx Brothers; Robert Young and Alice Faye were solid actors who were more than capable of carrying a picture by themselves. However, absolutely nothing works in this picture. The story (for lack of a better word) is so far out it should be classified as science fiction. Shirley is a street kid nicknamed "Ching-Ching" (!) who befriends Robert Young in China; the two of them wind up on a cruise ship to Hong Kong and Singapore, where Young meets Alice Faye, who is aboard with her fiance's mother. The fiance, as played by Allan "Rocky" Lane--a future Republic Pictures cowboy star--is a wealthy banker who has a mother fixation that would shame Cliff Claven. The film is so full of embarrassing moments it's difficult to pick out just one. Shirley's spouting of witless "Chinese proverbs" at every conceivable opportunity is infuriating; there is a jaw-dropping scene at a Hong Kong version of "The Gong Show" where a Chinese singer does Bing Crosby impressions, and Shirley gets on stage and dances with a life-size (for her) doll that is attached to her shoes. To make a long and idiotic story short, Alice dumps her fiance, she and Young agree to get married so Young can adopt Shirley, then they will go to Reno to get a divorce; however, after the marriage, when they arrive in Reno, Shirley manages to persuade the presiding judge (and Young and Faye) that they actually love each other and should stay married.There. I've saved you the trouble of sitting through this. You're welcome.

buppy Shirley Temple, Robert Young, and Alice Faye star in this wonderful family film. Shirley Temple plays Barbara Stewart aka Ching-Ching, a lovable child who befriends Tommy Randall (Robert Young) in China. Both end up on a ship going to the United States. There they both meet Susan Parker (Alice Faye, in a brilliant performance). If you like Shirley Temple films and haven't seen this one you definitely should. Shirley was always great in her films and this one is no exception.