Shirley Temple in Dimples

Starring:Shirley Temple, Frank Morgan, Robert Kent, Helen Westley, Astrid Allwyn, Delma Byron, Berton Churchill, Paul Stanton (II), Julius Tannen, John Carradine, Billy McClain, Jack Clifford, Betty Jean Hainey, Arthur Aylesworth, Leonard Kibrick, Walter Weidler, George Weidler, Jesse Scott, Thurman Black, Charles Tannen
Director: William A. Seiter
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

The pathologically adorable Shirley Temple provides a neat escape hatch from modern movies' irony and cynicism in Dimples, a 1936 classic about a down-and-out 6-year-old busker sharing a squalid Bowery flat with her scoundrel of a grandfather, the Professor. When Dimples and her posse of ragamuffin performers score a gig at a rich old lady's party, the thieving Professor pulls the plug on everyone's good time by five-fingering the guests' furs. Dimples is nabbed but negotiates her freedom from fat-cat hostess Caroline with nothing more than her cuteness. Indeed, the lonely widow is so smitten by Dimples that soon she's offering the money-grubbing but goodhearted Professor five grand for the girl. No amount of money, of course, could buy the precocious Dimples from her grandpa, whom she considers "a gentleman and a scholar," but when he winds up in a heap of trouble for letting $800 slip through his fingers--money that was supposed to go toward costumes for a play in which Dimples stars--his only hope is to cash in on Caroline's desire for Dimples. The great Bill Robinson directs all Temple's dance numbers, none of which dashes nostalgic viewers' notions that a dose of sugar and spice and everything nice needn't be nothing special. Even those overly susceptible to sneering will succumb to this film's sweetness. The black and white film is also available in a colorized version. --Tammy La Gorce

Description

Ever cheerful, little dimples sings for money in the bowery while her thieving grandfather pickpockets the crowd she attracts. When a society lady adopts her, Dimples is discovered by the woman's nephew who needs someone to play Little Eva in his upcoming production of "Uncle Tom's Cabin".

Customer Reviews:

Underrated Temple Classic Looks Amazing in Living Color !.......2006-07-08

As one of several films Shirley Temple made for Fox Studios in 1936,"Dimples" is also an underrated favorite of mine and it shows why.Temple plays Dimples,a young street corner singer whose beloved grandfather (played by Frank Morgan of "Wizard Of Oz" Fame) is a pick-pocket thief a la Oliver Twist's Artful Dodger.Meanwhile a stage production of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is being performed with Dimples in a supporting role.The film ends with an exciting and memorable musical number with Temple and Stepin Fetchit around blackfaced actors which was directed by Bill Robinson.Director William A.Seiter (Laurel & Hardy's "Sons Of The Desert") does a great job with the well-done cast and storyline which may or may not appeal to today's political incorrect audiences but it's a fun and enjoyable film to watch with memorable songs and sequences.Recommended !

ABOUT THE DVD:
First released in a lousy DVD version in 2002 along with "Heidi" and "Bright Eyes",this brand-new restored DVD from Fox and Legend Films as part of the Volume Three Shirley Temple Collection of her classic films.The 2002 release was yet another poorly made DVD that had both an unrestored black & white version and a muddy colorized version from the late '80's.Here with the new release,Fox and Legend do the job right this time with both a restored black & white version of the film with very little speckles of dust and dirt.Also present is a brand-new digitally colorized version of the film,this time with more realistic colors and tones than it did for the original colorized version.Legend always has done very superb and very very good jobs with the colorization process of their films to DVD and also for giving us the restored B&W versions as well and also with the very seldom extras that come with it (hence the four-star rating).The extras include,as I've stated in some previous reviews for the Temple DVD's,the same unrestored trailers for both "Heidi" and "Little Miss Broadway" that've appeared on pretty much every Fox/Legend Shirley Temple release so far and also a nice little Fox Movietone clip of Shirley on the beach which runs only a very short 41-seconds.
Purists will definitely stick to the original black & white version,but this film has definitely gotten the best to its critics over the years and having both restored versions on the disc makes this an another nice purchase to classic family film fans or film buffs all over.Well recommended DVD !

Excellent! A must have film for true Shirley Temple Fan's........2006-01-09

A very charming film about a girl who is the only one to truly see the true goodness of her Grandfather heart.

pure vintage Temple fluff.......2005-04-11

DIMPLES is pure vintage Shirley Temple, a fluffy musical confection about a little girl who busks on the streets while her grandfather 'The Professor' (Frank Morgan) picks the pockets of the audience.

Dimples gets taken in by the kindly - and rich - Mrs Caroline Drew (Helen Westley) before landing the plum role of Little Eva in a musical production of "Uncle Tom's Cabin".

Temple gets to sing "Hey! What Did the Bluejay Say?" among other numbers. Co-starring Robert Kent, Delma Byron, John Carradine, Astrid Allwyn and Stepin Fetchit. This is a colourised version of the original black and white film.

Still cute, but mediocre movie........2003-07-03

I couldn't watch this one all the way through, and we returned the rental.

Research Needed on Cover Material.......2002-10-03

While this is not one of the best of Temple's efforts, the film held your interest and had excellent acting by Frank Morgan and Helen Westley. However, the material on the dvd cover indicated "See the Famous Staircase Dance with Bill Robinson". Unfortunately, that is not in this film. Bill Robinson is not in this film, although he directed some of the dance sequences. I think the people producing these products need to check their research BEFORE they develop the cover materials. While I knew Bojangles was not in this film, there could be others misled by this material.

Average customer rating:

Underrated Temple Classic Looks Amazing in Living Color !
Excellent! A must have film for true Shirley Temple Fan's.
pure vintage Temple fluff
Still cute, but mediocre movie.
Research Needed on Cover Material

Shirley Temple in Dimples
Starring: Shirley Temple , Frank Morgan , Robert Kent , Helen Westley , and Astrid Allwyn
Director: William A. Seiter
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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