Our Little Girl | |
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Directed by | John S. Robertson |
Written by | Stephen Morehouse Avery (adaptation) Arthur J. Beckhard (screenplay) Florence Leighton Pflazgraf Allen Rivkin |
Produced by | Edward Butcher |
Starring | Shirley Temple Rosemary Ames Joel McCrea |
Cinematography | John F. Seitz |
Music by | R.H. Bassett Peter Brunelli |
Distributed by | Fox Film Corporation |
Release date |
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Running time | 65 min |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Our Little Girl is a 1935 American drama, in which Shirley Temple and Joel McCrea play the leading roles. The film was the final work of the veteran director, John S. Robertson.
The protagonist, Molly Middleton (Temple), is the daughter of a physician, Donald Middleton (McCrea), and his neglected wife, Elsa (Rosemary Ames), who becomes attracted to her husband's best friend, Rolfe Brent (Lyle Talbot).
Our Little Girl is largely overshadowed not only by its predecessors, Bright Eyes and The Little Colonel , but also its immediate successors, Curly Top and The Littlest Rebel — all major hits for Temple that launched her international stardom. Unlike her other films of this period, it included no dancing and only one song. She played a character neither partially nor completely orphaned, as she had, or would, in nearly all of her other films. Our Little Girl was the penultimate film by Temple during her time at Fox in which she did not play an orphan. The last such film would be The Blue Bird : in her next thirteen movies, she would play the part of an orphan.
The doctor Don Middleton (Joel McCrea) is so immersed in his work that he neglects his wife, Elsa (Rosemary Ames), who begins spending more time with her husband's best friend. The two develop an intimate attraction. Don and Elsa decide to divorce, ignorant of the effect on their daughter Molly (Shirley Temple). When Elsa decides to remarry, Molly runs away from home.
The original name of Our Little Girl was supposed to be Heaven's Gate, but was changed prior to its release out of fear people would confuse the title with the name of a cemetery. Temple, in her memoirs, wrote that she had a huge crush on McCrea but quickly avoided further flirtation after two notable delays caused by her. While playing a grassy field, two of her false teeth fell out and were not located, resulting in production being called off for the day. In another incident, there was a long delay from the setting up of the cameras. Unable to hold it in any further, she wet herself. Thoroughly embarrassed, it took much coaxing from her mother in the dressing room to convince her to go back out, resulting in further delays. [1]
The following is an overview of 1935 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths. The cinema releases of 1935 were highly representative of the early Golden Age period of Hollywood. This period was punctuated by performances from Clark Gable, Shirley Temple, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and the first teaming of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. A significant number of productions also originated in the UK film industry.
Joel Albert McCrea was an American actor whose career spanned a wide variety of genres over almost five decades, including comedy, drama, romance, thrillers, adventures, and Westerns, for which he became best known.
Bonita Gloria Granville Wrather was an American actress and producer.
Molly Lamont was a South African-British film actress.
Rosemary Shirley DeCamp was an American radio, film, and television actress.
The Littlest Rebel is a 1935 American musical drama film directed by David Butler. The screenplay by Edwin J. Burke was adapted from a play of the same name by Edward Peple.
The Virginian is a 1946 American Western film directed by Stuart Gilmore and starring Joel McCrea, Brian Donlevy, Sonny Tufts, and Barbara Britton. Based on the 1902 Owen Wister novel of the same name, the film was adapted from the popular 1904 theatrical play Wister had collaborated on with playwright Kirke La Shelle. The Virginian is about an eastern school teacher who comes to Medicine Bow in Wyoming and encounters life on the frontier. The film is a remake of the 1929 movie with Gary Cooper and Walter Huston. There have been several versions of the story, beginning with a 1914 film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and including a 1960s television series that bore little relation to the book other than the title. The film was originally distributed by Paramount Pictures, and is currently owned by EMKA.
John Farrell MacDonald was an American character actor and director. He played supporting roles and occasional leads. He appeared in over 325 films over a four-decade career from 1911 to 1951, and directed forty-four silent films from 1912 to 1917.
That Hagen Girl is a 1947 American drama film directed by Peter Godfrey. The screenplay by Charles Hoffman was based on the novel by Edith Kneipple Roberts. The film focuses on small-town teenaged girl Mary Hagen, whom gossips believe is the illegitimate daughter of former resident and lawyer Tom Bates. Lois Maxwell received a Golden Globe award for her performance.
Marcia Mae Jones was an American film and television actress whose prolific career spanned 57 years.
The Richest Girl in the World is a 1934 American romantic comedy film directed by William A. Seiter and starring Miriam Hopkins, Joel McCrea and Fay Wray. Norman Krasna was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Story. It was remade in 1944 as Bride by Mistake with Laraine Day and Alan Marshal.
Rosemary Ames was an American film actress who had a brief career in the early 1930s.
Stowaway is a 1936 American musical drama film directed by William A. Seiter. The screenplay by William M. Conselman, Nat Perrin, and Arthur Sheekman is based on a story by Samuel G. Engel. The film is about a young orphan called "Ching Ching" who meets wealthy playboy Tommy Randall in Shanghai and then accidentally stows away on the ocean liner he is travelling on. The film was hugely successful, and is available on videocassette and DVD.
Girls About Town is a 1931 American pre-Code romantic comedy film directed by George Cukor and starring Kay Francis and Joel McCrea.
Rockabye is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film starring Constance Bennett, Joel McCrea, and Paul Lukas. The final version was directed by George Cukor after studio executives decided that the original film as directed by George Fitzmaurice was unreleasable. The screenplay by Jane Murfin is based on an unpublished play written by Lucia Bronder, based on her original short story.
Mandalay is a 1934 American pre Code drama film directed by Michael Curtiz and written by Austin Parker and Charles Kenyon based on a story by Paul Hervey Fox. The film stars Kay Francis, Ricardo Cortez, Warner Oland and Lyle Talbot, and features Ruth Donnelly and Reginald Owen.
Poor Little Rich Girl, advertised as The Poor Little Rich Girl, is a 1936 American musical film directed by Irving Cummings and starring Shirley Temple, Alice Faye and Jack Haley. The screenplay by Sam Hellman, Gladys Lehman, and Harry Tugend was based on stories by Eleanor Gates and Ralph Spence, and the 1917 Mary Pickford vehicle of the same name. The film focuses on a child (Temple) neglected by her rich and busy father. She meets two vaudeville performers and becomes a radio singing star. The film received a lukewarm critical reception from The New York Times.
The Petty Girl (1950), known in the UK as Girl of the Year, is a musical romantic comedy Technicolor film starring Robert Cummings and Joan Caulfield. Cummings portrays painter George Petty who falls for Victoria Braymore (Caulfield), the youngest professor at Braymore College who eventually becomes "The Petty Girl".
Susannah of the Mounties is a 1939 American Western film directed by William A. Seiter and starring Shirley Temple, Randolph Scott, and Margaret Lockwood. Based on the 1936 novel Susannah of the Mounties by Muriel Denison, the film is about an orphaned survivor of an Indian attack in the Canadian West who is taken in by a Mountie and his girlfriend. Following additional Indian attacks, the Mountie is saved from the stake by the young girl's intervention with the Indian chief.
Gunsight Ridge is a 1957 American Western film directed by Francis D. Lyon and written by Talbot Jennings and Elisabeth Jennings. The film stars Joel McCrea, Mark Stevens, Joan Weldon, Addison Richards, Darlene Fields and Carolyn Craig. The film was released in September 1957, by United Artists.