Bright Eyes (1934)

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Shirley Blake (Shirley Temple) lost her pilot father in a crash. She likes to hang out at the airport with her godfather Loop Merritt and all of their friends. Her mother Mary is a live-in maid working for the Smythes. Mrs. Smythe disapproves of her flyboy friends and plans to fire her after Christmas. The family hates cranky uncle Ned Smith but Mr. Smythe hopes to get the inheritance. The only person Ned likes is Shirley whom he calls Bright Eyes. Mary is killed by a car and Ned wants to adopt Shirley. This sets up a legal battle for the little girl between the Smythes and Loop.This has the super cute and spunky Shirley Temple who delivers the song On the Good Ship Lollipop. She's a million watts light bulb. The rest of them are perfectly fine although the other girl Joy is awkwardly bratty. In the end, the battle is between two people who both love Shirley and there is limited drama in the lack of danger. That may be why a dangerous situation had to be manufactured.

Five-year-old Glendale, California tyke Shirley Temple (as Shirley Blake) hitch-hikes to the airport to visit her godfather pilot James Dunn (as James "Loop" Merritt). Not many kids could do that today. While she's away, we meet the curly top's family. She lives with mother Lois Wilson (as Mary Blake), who works as the maid for a wealthy family headed by another former "silent film" star, Theodor von Eltz (as J. Wellington Smythe). His snooty wife Dorothy Christy (as Anita) decides to fire mother Wilson for receiving too many telephone calls. However, their obnoxious but deep-down softie uncle Charles Sellon (as Ned Smith) likes Ms. Temple. He calls her "Bright Eyes". The illustrious cast includes servants Jane Darwell and Brandon Hurst. But the most memorable member of the household is Ms. Temple's antithesis – the classic spoiled brat character played by Jane Withers (as Joy Smythe). She decapitates dolls and terrorizes wheelchair-bound uncle Sellon from her tricycle..."Bright Eyes" was a very successful early vehicle for Temple. The cartoon-like film captures all of her adorableness. Temple sings "On the Good Ship Lollipop" with the girlish innocence (some say sexuality) of a bygone era. Her amateurish vocals balance the perfect doll-like looks. The film has all the subtext depression-weary audiences loved – most importantly, undeserving and insufferable rich characters are put in their place by the angelic, suffering poor. Temple won an "Academy Award" for her cumulative work in 1934; this film has been mentioned as the one most responsible for bringing her the juvenile acting award, but contemporary reviews and research give the honor to "Little Miss Marker" (1934). In the earlier film, "The New York Times" rated Temple's performance higher than co-star Adolphe Menjou. Until the end of the decade, Temple would play variations of her "Bright Eyes" character, ringing up box office cash registers like no other child star, before or since.****** Bright Eyes (12/20/34) David Butler ~ Shirley Temple, James Dunn, Jane Withers, Charles Sellon

Author/Director David Butler put together a script that showcases SHIRLEY TEMPLE as a lovable little girl who gets caught up in a nasty custody battle when her mother dies and her aviator god-father (JAMES DUNN)wants to adopt her. Scenes between Temple and Dunn are so natural that you'll have a hard time not getting a lump in your throat in the scene where he assures her that her mother (who has just died) is in heaven with the angels. Yes, it does get a little sticky at times.But wait!! Before things become to saccharine and predictable, little JANE WITHERS, America's most lovable brat, shows up as a nasty rich girl who delights in tormenting everyone around her, especially Shirley. It's a great role for Jane and she makes the most of it, whether imitating a machine-gunner or threatening to make mincemeat of Shirley's dolls.And believe me, she's a welcome presence in a Shirley Temple vehicle that does tend to get all dewy-eyed over the adorable princess. Watch the scene on the plane where the aviators all watch Temple as she sings "On the Good Ship Lollipop", strolling down the aisle and enjoying all the male attention. You can almost sense something darker than is supposed to meet the eye with the way they all leer at her. But she is, quite simply, at her most fetching in that casually charming little number.Shirley's first film tailored just for her, and it opened at Radio City Music Hall in 1934 to cheer Depression-era audiences with its innocent star at her most disarming. Easy to see why she would become the nation's number one box-office star four years in a row.

Rare is the scene in a Shirley Temple film where Curly Top is reduced to a mere spectator while another actor grabs the spotlight and runs screaming with it, but Bright Eyes has them in bunches! See Shirley gasp as human pit bull Jane Withers dismembers a doll before her very eyes! Tremble with fear as Shirley flees from her possessed playmate when their Santa Claus discussion takes a nasty turn! And if you think young Joy is a terror now, imagine how bad she'd be without psychoanalysis. In the movie's far too numerous non-Jane scenes, Shirley reverts to her old role as top banana with predictably charming results. No Shirley Temple film can really get rolling until her parents have been killed, so Mother is done in about half-way through, while Dad offs it before the opening credits, freeing our young pixie for another delightful custody battle. (By the way, do you suppose kids of the 1930's took a secret satisfaction in watching Shirley's parents get systematically rubbed out in every one of her movies? After all, her new parents were always a step up from the old ones; richer, prettier and usually much more fun. Life as an orphan might not have looked so bad to a depression-era tot after seeing a Shirley Temple picture.)In conclusion, this movie is highly recommended for Shirley's fans and foes alike. Watch it for Shirley's smile or Jane's scowl, and stay tuned till the end. You won't want to miss the most satisfying closing shot in the history of cinema.