The Little Princess

The Little Princess
Released Date: March 17, 1939
Director: Walter Lang
Actors: Shirley Temple, Richard Greene, Anita Louise, Ian Hunter, Cesar Romero, Arthur Treacher, Mary Nash, Sybil Jason, Miles Mander, Marcia Mae Jones, and Beryl Mercer

     Shirley Temple was a huge star in the 30s. This would mark her first Technicolor film. Mary Nash has been in a few movies with Temple, the dress she wore in Heidi was used in this movie as well. Watching this movie, you will find yourself tap dancing along, singing, laughing, smiling and crying. This is a Cinderella like story with a hopeful ending.

     Sara Crewe (Shirley Temple) is taken to a private school while her father, Captain Crewe (Ian Hunter) goes to the Boer War. Amanda Minchin (Mary Nash) is the head of the school with money on the mind, and a hard heart. Sara is a happy go lucky girl, with a wonderful imagination. She is loved by a lot of the girls. Though she ends up having one little enemy. She becomes friends with her teacher Rose (Anita Louise), and her boyfriend Geoffrey (Richard Greene), who happens to be her horse back riding teacher. When Geoffrey ends up going to the war, he promises Sara that he will find her father. The war ends around Sara's birthday, and she buys everyone a present, with borrowed money, her father's check is to come and that will take care of all of the presents she bought. Bad news strikes poor Sara's birthday, and she is in a desperate attempt to find her father in the hospital. Will he be there? Watch this adorable movie, with the one and only Shirley Temple.

Casanova Brown

Casanova Brown 
Released Date: December 26, 1944
Director: Sam Wood
Actors: Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, Frank Morgan, Anita Louise, Edmund Breon, Patricia Collinge, Jill Esmond, and Mary Treen

     In Shadow Of A Doubt and also this movie, Casanova Brown, we see again, Teresa Wright and Patricia Collinge as mother and daughter. I have always felt that they played the parts perfectly. Patricia Collinge is a great actress, but you cannot hide true feelings, and she cared for Teresa Wright like a daughter. Wright said that she loved working with Patricia as well, and it was easy to act related. They also play relatives in The Little Foxes. However in that movie, they play niece and aunt. This movie is one of Teresa Wright's first movies, and like I have said in past blogs, she made many great movies for her firsts. This one is a great movie.

     We follow Casanova (Cass) Brown (Gary Cooper) as he is about to get re-married. But during the preparations of this next wedding, he discovers that his first wife, Isabel Drury (Teresa Wright) has just had their child. Cass worries that Isabel is going to put their baby up for adoption. So instead of allowing it to happen, or just forgetting his first wife, Cass kidnaps his baby to keep Isabel from putting their child up. Isabel's parents, Mr. Drury (Edmund Breon) and Mrs. Drury (Patricia Collinge) are in search for Cass and their grandchild. But they soon discover that even though Cass and Isabel are divorced, they are still madly in love. So why did they break up? You can't fight love, so why did they try? And do they end up back together, or does Cass re-marry? Find out by watching this movie, which if you have NetFlix, you can watch this instantly.