Susannah of the Mounties (1939)

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

I managed to catch this movie on Movies! channel. For a 1939 movie the cinematography and sound are very good.It if course stars 10-yr-old Shirley Temple who already was very experienced in movie roles. She is little Susannah Sheldon, called Sue for short. As the movie opens we see that she is the lone survivor of an Indian attack on her family's wagon. Set in the NW Territory the main male star is Randolph Scott as Canadian Mountie, Inspector Angus Montague, usually just called Monty for short. He comes upon the burned and destroyed wagon and brings little Sue to safety. The core of the story is strained relations between the white man and the Indians, during the time when cross-country railways were being built, threatening the native lands. After a meeting the local tribal chief agrees to leave collateral as a sign of his sincerity, and that collateral is his son, first-time actor Martin Good Rider, about 14, as Little Chief. After a very rocky start he and little Sue become good friends in the fort.Sue is so taken with her rescuer, Monty, that she begins to imagine herself as his long-term companion. When pretty Margaret Lockwood as Vicky Standing shows up, and Monty starts to show interest in her, little Sue begins to show signs of jealousy.In the end an incident threatens to drive the parties apart but little Sue brings forth some information that saves the day. Young Shirley Temple was indeed a fine actress and she deserves all the attention she received over the years.

Shirley was racist in downtalking to Little Chief, and about how Native Americans had to learn to behave, er Indians. I realize that that was the patois of the day. It is no longer correct to talk down to people of other backgrounds.Scott had just saved her life, and she had the nerve to berate the older gentleman, Scott's friend, for making her clothes because she said sewing was for women. He made her a beautiful outfit.Scott was good looking, and very gentle with Shirley and the others. He seemed to be very patient with everyone.I am giving this movie as high as an eight, because I usually like Shirley movies. This one I am rating lower just because of the racism and some of the dialogue. In some other Shirley movies, she is always very nice to the African American characters.Shirley, RIP. I still love you, anyway. I loved The Little Princess and even The Blue Bird.Eight out of ten.Annie Middle of Ohio

Well, "all good things come to an end," or "nothing lasts forever." One of those clichés can pertain to this film which, sadly,signaled the end of Shirley Temple's career as the cute kid America and the world fell in love with during the 1930s. Her films that were so successful during this decade that she was number one at the box office for several years. This movie did not do well at the box office and certainly is not a memorable film.One reason it wasn't appealing was that Shirley only sang one quick number (a waltz). That's it - one song! There was no dancing, nothing up-tempo to perk up the audience.....zilch!The story is a Canadian Mounted Police/railroad one with good and bad Indians thrown in. The two main bad men, a railroad guy and an Indian, don't have big roles so most of the people in the film are good guys. Randolph Scott and Margaret Lockwood are appealing leads.I just found the story too bland, too flat....just nothing to get excited about or warrant giving a second look. Most people who saw it at the theater seemed to agree. Her "era" had come to an end.

Shirley's box-office appeal was on the wane by the time Fox put her in SUSANNAH OF THE MOUNTIES and obviously they were aware of this when they decided not to shoot this one in technicolor. Not sure, but I recall seeing a sepia tone version of this at a kiddie matinée revival years ago. However, all TV showings are in standard B&W.Once again, Shirley starts the story as an orphan when Indians kill her parents and she's rescued by none other than Randolph Scott, a handsome mountie who, with his sweetheart (Margaret Lockwood), takes Shirley under his wing. What happens next is a predictable yarn that doesn't require much from any of the participants, especially Shirley, who neither sings nor dances, except for a brief (and charming) moment when she teaches a dance step to the mountie. And naturally, when the plot calls for her to rescue Scott (captured by nasty Indians), she becomes the little diplomat who saves the day.Shirley and Scott worked together before in REBECCA OF SUNNYBROOK FARM and it's nice to see them paired again.But the story is strictly formula for the "little orphan girl" theme that writers always came up with for Temple, and the feeble attempts at comedy relief are so obvious as to be unfunny. The script is a tedious thing and thankfully the weak romantic angle between Scott and Lockwood is kept to a minimum to let Temple have the spotlight.At eleven or so, and just a bit chubby, she still has the dimpled charm that made her famous but has no opportunity to shine the way she did in her earlier films. Victor Jory shows some menace as an Indian, but none of the skirmishes seem very authentic. The humorous moments are no more than sad attempts at humor at the expense of native American Indians.Summing up: One of Shirley's weaker vehicles, enjoyable only for die-hard Temple fans. Fortunately for Shirley, she still had THE LITTLE PRINCESS in release that same year.