Shirley Temple movies: 13 greatest films ranked from worst to best

As President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “It is a splendid thing that for just fifteen cents, an American can go to a movie and look at the smiling face of a baby and forget his troubles.”

Few Hollywood stars were ever as big –or little — as Shirley Temple. This dimpled darling with her bouncy corkscrew curls and delightful tap-dance routines brought cheer and spread sunshine to moviegoers during the darkest days of the Great Depression. She was the No. 1 box-office draw from 1935 to 1938 and was the first child star to be presented with a special Juvenile Academy Award for her big-screen contributions during 1934. She even had her own line of licensed merchandise including look-alike dolls, dishes and clothing. Before 1935 ended, her income from licensed goods would be more than $100,000 – doubling what she made from her movies.

A born charmer, Temple’s pint-sized characters regularly melted the hearts of the most callous of curmudgeons and the loneliest of bachelor millionaires as well as serving as a precocious Cupid for romantic couples. Encouraged by her mother to sing, act and dance at an early age, Temple made her movie debut at the age of three in 1932 after being cast in a series of “Baby Burlesks” shorts before her big break in the feature-length “Stand Up and Cheer!” As she grew up, Temple acquired more nuance in her acting. But as adolescence beckoned, her popularity declined. She did 14 films from the age of 14 to 21. The best of her later output were “Kiss and Tell,” “The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer” and “Fort Apache.” She retired from films in 1950 at the age of 22. As an adult, she chose a career in diplomacy as the U.S. ambassador to Ghana and to Czechoslovakia and served as the U.S. Chief of Protocol.

Baby-boomer kids would not only enjoy a grown-up Temple as the host of an NBC anthology series of fairy-tale adaptations called “Shirley Temple’s Storybook” that ran from 1958 to 1961. They also were able to watch her films on television as they often were shown on weekend afternoons. The first film to ever make me cry was “Heidi,” with Jean Hersholt as a crusty grandfather who adored his Swiss miss of an orphaned grandchild. When I got to do a 90-minute phone interview with her for USA TODAY when she was a recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor, she told me her favorite film of hers was also “Heidi” with “Wee Willie Winkie” second.

Let’s salute Temple, who died in 2014 at the age of 85, ranking 13 movies from her youth, from worst to best, including “The Little Colonel,” “Captain January” and “The Little Princess.”

13. “Stand Up and Cheer!” (1934)

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Director: Hamilton MacFadden. Writers: Lew Brown, Ralph Spence. Starring: Warner Baxter, Madge Evans, James Dunn, Nigel Bruce, Steppin Fetchit.

The president decides that the Great Depression was a result of a loss of optimism caused by greedy financiers and bankers. He appoints a secretary (Baxter) for the Department of Amusement who recruits an army of entertainers who are sent out around the country. Among them is Temple and Dunn, whose song and dance number together, “Baby Take a Bow,” is considered by many as the highlight of the movie. In a review that ran in “The New Yorker” suggested that Temple “just about steals the show and leaves the customers hungry for more of her.” The polka dot dress she wore in movie was used for the dolls mass-produced in her image. She would appear in 10 movies by the end of the year, including four starring roles in full-length films.
12. “Little Miss Marker” (1934)

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Director: Alexander Hall. Writers: William R. Lipman, Sam Hellman, Gladys Lehrman. Starring: Adolphe Menjou, Dorothy Dell, Charles Bickford.

Based on a Damon Runyon story, Temple plays Little Marthy “Marky” Jane, whose father uses her for collateral while making a bet at a gangster-run gambling operation. When he loses his bet, her dad commits suicide and she is left in the hands of criminals. She is sent to live with bachelor bookie Sorrowful Jones (Adolphe Menjou), who is not overjoyed by the prospect. But they soon develop a father-daughter rapport while a gangster moll Bangles (Dell) becomes a surrogate mother who falls for Sorrowful while reading stories to Marky and teaching her to pray. The film is more melodramatic than humorous, but it is fun to hear Temple rudely say, “I don’t want no mush” and “I used to be a sissy.”
11. “Baby Take a Bow” (1934)

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Director: Harry Lachman. Writers: John V.A. Weaver, William Conselman, Henry Johnson. Starring: James Dunn, Claire Trevor, Alan Dinehart.

Released from Sing Sing, Eddie Ellison weds his fiancée (Trevor) and they eventually have a daughter, Shirley (Temple). Eddie gets entangled with a stolen pearl necklace, which ends up in the hands of Shirley, who thinks it is a late birthday present. Somehow, the purloined pearls are concealed in a carpet sweeper. Eventually, Shirley finds the necklace in a garbage can, and she is held hostage by a thief who shoots her father. But Eddie manages to corner the bad guy and Shirley is eligible for a $5,000 reward. Temple and Dunn, who was a potent musical duo previously, perform the song “On Account-a I Love You.” The plot is forgettable, but little Shirley is quite entertaining in her upstaging of the adults.
10. “Bright Eyes” (1934)

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Director: David Butler. Writers: William Conselman, Henry Johnson. Starring: James Dunn, Lois Wilson, Dorothy Christy, Theodore von Eltz, Jane Withers.

Five-year-old Shirley and her mother (Wilson), who works as a housekeeper, reside in the home of the well-off and snobby Smythe family. The girl just lost her pilot father in a plane crash. She hangs out with her bachelor godfather and pilot, Loop (Dunn), and his dog, Rags (played by Terry, a Cairn terrier who would play “The Wizard of Oz’s” Toto) at the airport. She spends Christmas morning with pilots who taxi her around the runways while she sings a Temple classic, “On the Good Ship Lollipop.” Her mom dies in a traffic accident. When the mean Smythes learn of their maid’s demise, they plot to send Shirley to an orphanage. But the girl finds a supporter in old Uncle Ned, who uses a wheelchair. After she and Loop survive a harrowing flight during a storm, they form a makeshift family with Uncle Ned and Loop’s fiancée. Standout is an 8-year-old Withers as sweet little Shirley’s cruel juvenile nemesis.
9. “Curly Top” (1935)

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Director: Irving Cummings. Writers: Patterson McNutt, Arthur J. Beckhard. Starring: John Boles, Rochelle Hudson, Arthur Treacher, Jane Darwell, Esther Dale.

Temple is once again parent-less as she lives at a not-especially cheery orphanage where her older sister (Hudson) works on the premises. Her Elizabeth is a bit of a rascal, pulling such pranks as sneaking her pet horse Spunky into the children’s bedroom. When she dares to impersonate the head trustee, she is sent away to a public institution. Another trustee, Edward Morgan (Boles), takes a shine to the child and adopts her – but hides the fact by inventing a benefactor. Of course, he soon falls for Elizabeth’s sister. The siblings move to his Southampton beach where they are tended to by a kindly aunt (Dale) and a stuffy butler (Treacher, in his first of four Temple films). The romance angle, which becomes needlessly entangled, is less compelling than the paternal tie between Boles and Temple. There are five musical numbers, with the highlight being one of the little star’s signature tunes, “Animal Crackers in My Soup.”
8. “The Littlest Rebel” (1935)

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Director: David Butler. Writers: Edwin J. Burke, Harry Tugend. Starring: John Boles, Jack Holt, Karen Morley, Bill Robinson, Willie Best, Bessie Lyle.

Temple’s other tale of the South starts just when the Civil War breaks as her Virgie celebrates her sixth birthday on her family’s plantation. Her father is recruited as a Scout for the Confederate Army and he sometimes briefly visits his family behind enemy lines. Union Colonel Morrison (Holt) arrives at the homestead looking for Virgie’s dad. Her rambunctious response is to use her slingshot and hit him with a pebble while singing “Dixie.” The Yankees begin to loot the house and but Morrison puts a stop to it. With battles breaking out nearby, their house burns to the ground and Virgie and her mother (Morley) take shelter in a slave cabin. Morrison helps Virgie father to escape, but they are both sentenced to death. An appeal is made to President Lincoln and he grants the man a pardon. Virgie shows her joy by singing “Polly Wolly Doodle” for the soldiers, her father and Morrison. The depictions of the black characters have drawn harsh criticism for being outlandishly stereotypical by modern standards but watching Robinson and Temple dance together is always pure cinematic magic.
7. “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” (1938)

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Director: Allan Dwan. Writers: Don Ettlinger, Karl Tunberg, Ben Markson, William Conselman. Starring: Randolph Scott, Gloria Stuart, Bill Robinson, William Demerest, Helen Westley.

Yes, another cute orphan but slightly more sophisticated. Temple’s Rebecca is a musical wunderkind whose opportunistic stepfather Harry Kipper (Demerest) acts as her guardian. She auditions for a radio role as Little Miss America, but leaves thinking she failed. Her stepdad then sends her to a farm to live with her Aunt Miranda (Westley). Turns out, radio ad exec Tony Kent (Randolph) lives next door and he asks permission to put her on his show. When her aunt turns up her nose at showbiz types, Kent secretly puts Rebecca on the air from his house. Kipper catches on and takes the child away to New York City to perform for Kent’s competitor. Rebecca pretends to have laryngitis to get out of the clutches of her greedy stepfather. The film concludes with Temple and farm hand Robinson dressed as toy soldiers as they dance on stairs.
6. “Stowaway” (1936)

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Director: William A. Seiter. Writers: William Conselman, Nat Perrin, Arthur Sheekman. Starring: Robert Young, Alice Faye, Helen Westley, Arthur Treacher.

Temple is yet again an orphan, one known as Ching-Ching who lives in Sanchow, China. When dangerous bandits prove a threat, she is sent to Shanghai where she loses her chaperone. She is all alone with her dog when she meets Tommy Randall (Young), a wealthy playboy traveling the globe on an ocean liner and she decides to become a stowaway. She is discovered by Tommy and Susan Parker (Faye), who is engaged to another, but soon takes up with gadabout Young. They wed and adopt Ching-Ching. Temple had to impersonate Ginger Rogers (with a Fred Astaire doll strapped to her toes), Eddie Cantor and Al Jolson singing “Mammy.” For her efforts, her mother made a deal so she could keep the film’s dog, a miniature Chinese Pekinese. Songs include “Goodnight, My Love” and “You Gotta S-M-I-L-E to be H-A-Double-P-Y.”
5. “The Little Colonel” (1935)

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Director: David Butler. Writer: William Conselman. Starring: Shirley Temple, Lionel Barrymore, Evelyn Venable, John Lodge, Bill Robinson, Hattie McDaniel.

After the Civil War, a southern belle (Venable) dares to wed a Yankee (Lodge) and her cranky codger colonel father (Barrymore) angrily rejects his daughter. The couple moves west and has a baby girl who they name Lloyd Sherman after her granddad. She is made an honorary Army colonel. Mom and child return to the South while dad prospects for gold. Little Lloyd learns about how her grandfather disowned her mother from a housekeeper (MacDonald) and when the two Lloyds finally meet, she pelts him with mud. As usual in a Temple film, matters get worse when her parents are held hostage by a railroad company who wants to grab the deed to their property. It’s the big and little colonel to the rescue. The true highlight of the movie is Temple’s staircase tap dance opposite Robinson aka Mr. Bojangles, the first interracial dance pairing in a movie. When I interviewed her, she told me, “He was a classy guy. I hate that song ‘Mr. Bojangles.’ It drives me up the wall because it isn’t about him at all. He was never a bum in jail.”
4. “Wee Willie Winkie” (1937)

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Director: John Ford. Writers: Julien Josephson, Ernest Pascal. Starring: Victor McLaglen, C. Aubrey Smith, Cesar Romero.

Based on a Rudyard Kipling’s story, the action takes place during the British presence in 19th-century India. Sgt. MacDuff (McLaglen) leads a poor widow and her young daughter, Priscilla to a remote military outpost to live with her child’s grumpy paternal grandfather, a colonel. The girl wins over one and all including the soldiers her granddad and even captured rebel chief Khoda Khan (Romero)– but especially MacDuff. Unfortunately, the sergeant is wounded while on patrol and Priscilla sings “Auld Lang Syne” to him while he expires in the hospital. Khan holds Priscilla hostage before her grandfather comes to rescue her. Because the rebel is impressed by his courage and has feelings for the child, he calls for a stop to the gunfire. Ford was not a fan of child stars but he made an exception given the film’s large budget and top-notch cast. Temple finally won him over with her acting during the death scene of Sgt. Macduff. He would become the godfather of her oldest daughter. The tomboy in Temple was pleased with being in a macho action film and considered it her favorite next to “Heidi.”
3. “Captain January” (1936)

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Director: David Butler. Writers: Sam Hellman, Gladys Lehman, Harry Tugend. Starring: Guy Kibbee, Slim Summerville, Buddy Ebsen, Jane Darwell.

Helen “Star” Mason was rescued from the sea as a baby by Captain January (Kibbee). They live in a Maine lighthouse that he oversees. A truant office catches wind of the fact that Star isn’t attending school and that the captain never legally adopted her. The old man is in danger of losing his job when the lighthouse lamp is upgraded to an automatic one. In the nick of time, a pal of January hunts down Star’s Boston relatives. As luck would have it, the girl’s wealthy aunt and uncle buy her a yacht and hire January as the helmsman and his friend (Buddy Ebsen) as crew with January’s lady friend (Darwell) as cook. Others might not rank this Temple outing quite as high, but I adore ruddy-cheeked Kibbe and enjoyed seeing Ebsen, Jed Clampett from “The Beverly Hillbillies,” show off his dancing and singing skills with Temple as they don nautical wear to the jaunty tune “The Codfish Ball.” The story is sentimental beyond belief, more fable than anything else, but the young me loved it.
2. “The Little Princess” (1939)

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Director: Walter Lang. Writers: Ethel Hill, Walter Ferris. Starring: Richard Greene, Anita Louise, Ian Hunter, Arthur Treacher, Cesar Romero, Marcia Mae Jones.

Captain Crewe must go off to fight in the Second Boer War, so he leaves his beloved daughter, Sara, and her pony at Miss Minchin’s School for Girls, providing all the money he has to secure her a well-appointed private room. But when news arrives that her father has died and his estate has been confiscated, Miss Minchin forces Sara to be a servant at the school. The plucky girl forms a friendship with Ram Dass (Romero) who lives nearby and is treated well by Miss Minchin’s brother. Sara suspects that her father might not be dead and sneaks off to a veterans hospital to look for him. She is bullied by a a spoiled rich girl and she dumps ashes on her in retaliation. Miss Minchin puts Sara in the attic as punishment. The girl escapes and runs off to the hospital with the school’s mistress in pursuit. Sara stumbles upon Queen Victoria, who is paying a visit to the wounded soldier. She allows the child to search for her dad and, of course, he is alive. Sara and her feeble father stand as the queen departs. A sweet fairy-tale but not artificially so, with lavish sets, Technicolor and a marvelous dream sequence.
1. “Heidi” (1937)

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Director: Allan Dwan. Writers: Julien Josephson, Walter Ferris. Starring: Jean Hersholt, Arthur Treach, Mary Nash, Mady Christians, Marcia Mae Jones, Sidney Blackmer.

For me, this tale based on the popular book by Johanna Spyri is the emotional pinnacle of Temple’s early career. As Adelheid – Heidi for short – she’s an 8-year-old Swiss orphan who is given over to her gruffly bitter mountain hermit grandfather (Hersholt) by her aunt. She soon earns his love and he hers, but their happiness ends when her greedy aunt steals her back and sells Heidi as a cheerful companion for Klara (Jones), a sheltered and unhappy disabled girl from a wealthy family who uses a wheelchair. While missing her grandfather, a homesick Heidi makes the best out of her situation, lifting Klara’s spirits and encouraging her to try to walk without assistance. Klara’s grateful father agrees to allow Heidi to reunite with her grandpa, but his daughter’s scheming governess tries to keep her and the grandfather separated as they desperately call out for each other on a snowy street. Drama overshadows musical numbers, although there is a fantasy sequence where Heidi pretends to be in Holland and does a clog dance to “In My Little Wooden Shoes.”