The Littlest Rebel

The Littlest Rebel
The Littlest Rebel
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	David Butler
Screenplay by	Edwin J. Burke; Harry Tugend
Based on	The Littlest Rebel; 1909 play; by Edward Peple
Produced by	Darryl Zanuck (producer); Buddy G. DeSylva (associate producer)
Starring	John Boles; Jack Holt; Karen Morley; Bill Robinson; Shirley Temple
Cinematography	John F. Seitz
Edited by	Irene Morra
Music by	Cyril Mockridge
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	December 19, 1935;
Running time	70 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$1,431,000 (U.S. and Canada rentals)

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.

Cast

Shirley Temple as Virgie Cary
John Boles as Herbert Cary
Jack Holt as Colonel Morrison
Karen Morley as Mrs. Cary
Guinn Williams as Sergeant Dudley
Frank McGlynn Sr. as President Abraham Lincoln
Bill Robinson as Uncle Billy
Willie Best as James Henry
Bessie Lyle as Mammy Rosabelle
Hannah Washington as Sally Ann
Karl Hackett as John Hay (uncredited)
Jack Mower as Yankee Lt. Hart (uncredited)

Production

The slingshot scene was written into the movie by screenwriter Edwin Burke after he learned of Temple's natural ability to use the slingshot. She was perfectly on target and needed only one take for the scene. Temple made international headlines when in the context of trying to keep noisy doves on the prison set (which the director explained did not belong in war) she asked "Why doesn't someone make Mussolini stop?" Someone overheard her comment and it made it into the newspapers, angering Mussolini.^[2]

Critical reception

Upon release

Writing for The Spectator in 1936, Graham Greene gave the film a mildly poor review, explaining that he had "expected there [would be] the usual sentimental exploitation of childhood", but that he "had not expected [Temple's] tremendous energy" which he criticized as "a little too enervating".^[3]

Modern criticism

Bill Gibron, of the Online Film Critics Society, wrote: "The racism present in The Littlest Rebel, The Little Colonel and Dimples is enough to warrant a clear critical caveat." However, Gibron, echoing most film critics who continue to see value in Temple's work despite the racism that is present in some of it, also wrote: "Thankfully, the talent at the center of these troubling takes is still worthwhile for some, anyway."^[4]

Adaptations

The Littlest Rebel was dramatized as an hour-long radio play on the October 14, 1940, broadcast of Lux Radio Theatre, with Shirley Temple and Claude Rains.^[5]

References

Footnotes

^ Cohn, Lawrence (October 15, 1990). "All Time Film Rental Champs". Variety. p. M-170. ISSN 0042-2738.
^ Shirley Temple Black, Child Star: An Autobiography (New York: McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, 1988), 122-123.
^ Greene, Graham (24 May 1936). "The Robber Symphony/The Littlest Rebel/The Emperor's Candlesticks". The Spectator. (reprinted in: Taylor, John Russell, ed. (1980). The Pleasure Dome. Oxford University Press. pp. 77–78. ISBN 0192812866.)
^ "Little Girl Lost". PopMatters.com. 2006-05-19. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
^ "Radio Theater Tonight Presents Shirley Temple". Toledo Blade (Ohio). 1940-10-14. p. 4 (Peach Section). Retrieved 2020-11-22.

Works cited

Edwards, Anne (1988), Shirley Temple: American Princess, New York: William Morrow and Company
Windeler, Robert (1992) [1978], The Films of Shirley Temple, New York: A Citadel Press Book/Carol Publishing Group, ISBN 0-8065-0725-X

Bibliography

Basinger, Jeanine (1993), A Woman's View: How Hollywood Spoke to Women, 1930-1960, Middleton: Wesleyan University Press, pp. 262ff The author expounds upon father figures in Temple films.
Thomson, Rosemarie Garland, ed. (1996), Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body, New York: New York University Press, pp. 185–203, ISBN 0-8147-8217-5 In the essay, "Cuteness and Commodity Aesthetics: Tom Thumb and Shirley Temple", author Lori Merish examines the cult of cuteness in America.