Curly Top

I hate kids in films... with a vengeance! Yet, there is something about the young Shirley Temple that cuts to the quick. She has a charm about her that really makes me smile. This film is a sort of "Oliver Twist" meets "Annie" derivative with the star as the genial youngster "Elizabeth" in the Lakeside Orphanage where she is discovered by millionaire John Boles ("Morgan") who decides that he is going to adopt her, elder sister "Mary" (Rochelle Hudson) her pony and her duck. Temple's ability to charm doesn't stop at the audience. Pretty soon she has his aunt, his butler, his chef and just about everyone else eating out of her hands as she befriends wherever she goes. It's a feel good film, as ably demonstrated by her couple of cheery numbers - "Animal Crackers in my Soup" and "When I Grow Up" and although the editing sometimes gives away her cues, for much of the time she is a natural in front of the camera and has a chemistry with Boles here - as we can clearly see from their affectionate tactility - that I quite enjoyed for 75 minutes.