Bright Eyes is a film that probably made Shirley Temple go to that height of her career by performing her iconic song "The Good Ship Lollipop" And like the song, the plot, the acting and just Shirley---are so sweet you just may get diabetes watching the film.Not to say that this type of diabetes is not enjoyable. It just fits into Shirley's character. "Shirley" (yes, that is her character's name) is an adorable Lil moppet whose attractive mother works as a maid for a snotty family named Smith (Please! pronounce it as Smythe!) I think I heard the person who wrote the screen play based this story while growing up, the Scottish maid in his home had a sweet little daughter about Shirley's age. Shirley's deceased father who was a pilot, died in a crash. But not to worry---His father's friends, especially best friend "Loop" treat Shirley as their own daughter by showering her with attention and presents. Sweet, unspoiled Shirley is surrounded by other love--The Smith's family invalid uncle who is charmed by the little girl as well as the servants and Loop's ex-girlfriend.You know the sugar-now here is the spice. The Smith's daughter, Joy played beautifully by Jane Withers is a Super Brat! But such a brat that you'll love the performance that she unintentionally steals some scenes from Temple. It was said that Jane Withers got the part of Joy because she could make the noise of a machine gun.Then,tragedy strikes! Shirley's Mom is killed in an accident. And during the joyful season of Christmas as well....Now, poor Shirley is an orphan. What will become of Shirley? Who will adopt her? So, if you need a little sugar, Sail abroad the Good Ship Lollipop and prepare to tug at your heart strings.

My review title contains a quote from Shirley, in response to pilot Loop questioning if she's OK. As the only passengers in Loop's small plane caught in a violent thunderstorm, Loop eventually decided they that he and stowaway Shirley must do a parachute jump with just his one chute(why?). They did so, with a hard landing in an open area on a mountain. Unfortunately, the violent wind then pulled the still-attached parachute toward a very high cliff, dragging them along, until Loop finally gets the harness free just before they are to be pulled over the cliff... Before this incident, Loop had taken little Shirley, with aspirations of becoming a pilot, high up in his plane, supposedly close to heaven, telling her that her mother was so lonely for her crash-killed father that she decided to join him in heaven. "You mean she cracked up, too" Shirley responded: one of the tear-jerking moments in the film....In another scene inside a plane, on the ground, she sings her classic "On the Good Ship Lollipop". The plot reflects Shirley's real life ambition to become a pilot. But at that time, she wasn't allowed in a flying plane, for insurance reasons.It's my contention that Shirley's core films represented, in large part, a talkie female equivalent of the silent Little Tramp. Like Chaplin's Tramp, she was in some ways child -like and in some ways adult-like, cast as being an isolated entity, usually in an unstable, marginal, family relationship, through no fault of her own. Unlike most families with children of the time, she was always cast as an only child and, in most films, interacted mostly or exclusively with adults: very different from the case in the contemporary "Our Gang" series. But, in contrast to the stereotypical spoiled bratty only child represented in the extreme by Jane Wither's character(Joy) in the present film, she was characterized as most valuing loving associations with adults who were unattached with other adults, seemingly lonely, but who found in her a kindred spirit, which brought to the surface a loving, caring, person.In this film, Shirley identifies with old Uncle Ned, and he with her, despite he being generally grouchy, demanding, and wheelchair-bound. , because they are both forced to live in this household as outsiders of the nuclear family(Smythes), not loved by any of its members(especially Joy). Ultimately, this relationship appears to work out for the benefit of both. But , there is the important complicating factor of flier Loop(James Dunn), who is her best friend, godfather, and surrogate father, having been the best friend of her deceased father. He also insists that he can take care of Shirley, with the sudden death her mother on Christmas day. Thus, we have a court battle between Uncle Ned and Loop over which, if either, will become Shirley's legal guardian. Shirley is very lucky that the judge decides to make her desire paramount in his decision. In choosing Loop, plus his estranged girlfriend, plus Uncle Ned, she, along with the judge, apparently solve the problem, by declaring that the 3 live together with Shirley, leaving the arrogant, mean, greedy Smythes holding the bag(cut out of Uncle Ned's inheritance. It's wonder they hadn't poisoned him by now!). Unfortunately, given the animosity recently shown between Loop and Uncle Ned, and between Loop and his estranged girlfriend, this arrangement realistically looks awfully forced, perhaps likely to fragment soon. But, it might work, given Shirley's glue.Jane Withers, as the Smythe's seemingly psychopathic daughter, ironically named Joy, gives a riveting portrayal, for the times, of a spoiled brat of a well-to-do family. Clearly, Joy enjoys cruelty and negativity, as evidenced by the bossy treatment of much smaller Shirley, her dismemberment of her former doll, which Shirley found in the trash, a penchant for imagining she is killing people with a machine gun(her requested Christmas present), her constant spanking of her dolls, and her purposeful irritating of Uncle Ned. True, these behaviors aren't that unusual in this culture for boys, but not girls. she immediately throws away or breaks her Christmas gifts, claiming she only wanted a wheelchair like Uncle Ned's(presumably so others would treat her with more kindness, and as a very unexpected novelty)...At one point, Shirley turns the tables on Joy, when the later tries to wreck Shirley's baby carriage, with a vigorous side collision with her own carriage. But, Shirley pulls her carriage out of the line of fire at the last moment, causing Joy's carriage to smash into a stone wall, sending her and her carriage sprawling. This has to be the most satisfying moment in the film!. Of course, Joy claimed that Shirley(much smaller) pushed her down. The second most satisfying moment is the ending.Reportedly, screenwriter and director David Butler got the idea for Shirley and her mother living in the home of their employer from his own experience as a child. This was the first of 4 Shirley-starring films that Butler directed. In a directing career that spanned more than 40 years, It's not surprising to learn that he directed TV's "Leave it to Beaver". While at Warner, he also directed some of Bob Hope's classic comedies, and some of Doris Day's early musicals.This was the last of 3 films featuring Shirley, in which James Dunn played her surrogate or actual father. While lacking the physical charisma of some of her later male leads, obviously he had great rapport with Shirley, with modest musical and comedic talent(check out "Baby Take a Bow"). Unfortunately, with the merger of Fox and Twentieth Century in 1935, he was reassigned, and a few years later developed a chronic drinking problem.

BRIGHT EYES (Fox, 1934), directed by David Butler, stars child actress Shirley Temple in the last of her many 1934 movie releases, and the first to be categorized as a formula "Shirley Temple film," though her earlier LITTLE MISS MARKER over at Paramount comes close to that format. Whether playing an orphan or a child with a living parent, in BRIGHT EYES, Shirley has a mother whose aviator father "cracked up" some time ago. She is loved and admired by everyone except her mother's employers. This also marks a rare case in which Shirley is pitted against another little girl, a complete opposite to her angelic character, as well as the introduction to Temple's signature song, "On the Good Ship Lollipop" by Richard Whiting and Sidney Clare, singing it to the fellow aviators on an airplane as it taxis on the runway, and her catch phrase of "Oh, my goodness!"The story, set during the Christmas season in California, revolves around Shirley Blake (Shirley Temple), a charming 5-year-old living in a mansion with her widowed mother, Mary (Lois Wilson), employed as a maid for the snobbish and selfish Smythe family: Anita (Dorothy Christy), J. Wellington (Theodore Von Eltz) and their unruly daughter, Joy (Jane Withers). Also under their wing is the cranky Uncle Ned Smith (Charles Sellon), a wheel-chair bound old man, and Mr. and Mrs. Higgins (Brandon Hurst and Jane Darwell), a middle-aged couple working as butler and cook, who all have a soft spot for little Shirley. One of Shirley's greatest pleasures is heading over to the American Airlines Airport where she spends time with her godfather, James "Loop" Merrill (James Dunn), a pilot whose best friend was Shirley's deceased father. When Shirley's mother is struck by a passing vehicle on her way to attend her a Christmas party at the airport, the child, now an orphan, becomes a charity case for the Smyths, who in reality take her in and her dog, Rags, too, only to please their Uncle Ned. Because Loop is a bachelor, he's unable to take in Shirley. He even refuses the help of Adele Martin (Judith Allen), a society girl staying with her cousin Anita's home for Christmas, because he refuses to forgive her for jilting him at the altar years ago. When it's learned that Uncle Ned intends on adopting "Bright Eyes," this not only finds the Smythe family in fear of losing their inheritance after he dies, but Loop to risk his life flying his airplane in uncertain weather to obtain enough money for an attorney to fight for the custody of Shirley against the old man in court.BRIGHT EYES is one of the few Temple movies where she's nearly overshadowed by her co-stars, namely Charles Sellon and Jane Withers. Sellon's performance predates that of Lionel Barrymore years before cranky old men in wheelchairs became fashionable. Aside from coming down the stairs in his wheelchair, Sellon's Uncle Ned has some truly funny lines as well as a great moral message about selfishness and love. Withers, in the first important screen role, plays a spoiled brat to perfection. She not only has tantrums, rips apart dolls, and wanting to play train wreck with Shirley, but is the only little girl in history to want a wheelchair as a Christmas present. Fortunately her unlikable performance didn't put an end to her career. In fact, it started a whole new cycle of Jane Withers movies. While Temple remains the most famous child star in history, Withers, whose career at 20th-Fox lasted longer than Temple's, is virtually forgotten, and due to her only association with Temple, BRIGHT EYES would become the only Withers film from the 1930s in circulation today.Great moments of BRIGHT EYES include Shirley's mother telling her a Christmas story with chorus singing "Silent Night" in the background, and a tender loving scene where Dunn's character, in a choked-up manner, having to tell Shirley that her mother has gone to Heaven. Shirley's response, "You mean, my mother cracked up, too?" This alone is classic Temple, with Dunn constantly asking her throughout the story, "How much do you love me?" He even gives her his "magic ring" to send to him whenever she's in trouble. All this sounds corny in print, but actually plays better on the screen.Formerly available on video cassette and currently on DVD either in black and white and colorized process, BRIGHT EYES has played on numerous cable TV stations throughout the years: The Disney Channel (1980s), American Movie Classics (1996-2001), Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: September 6, 1998) and even The Fox Movie Channel. In spite of its age, BRIGHT EYES is sure to delight adults, children and optometrists alike. Be sure not to miss the good ship lollipop. (***1/2)

Even though there is very little singing and dancing, which is a big part of the appeal of Shirley Temple, it's still a solid film.This was the first movie in which was Shirley was the big star, I believe, and you can see why she quickly won the hearts of Americans.Although there is only one song, it's perhaps her most famous: "On the Good Ship Lollipop." The rest of the film is almost as charming as that song with many sweet, touching moments that made her films so endearing.It also helped to have James Dunn as the male lead. Dunn was one of the more likable guys in classic Hollywood, on and off the screen. He and Shirley make a great pair. Other interesting people to watch in this movie are the crabby old grandfather, played by Charles Sellon; the spoiled brat played by Jane Withers, who is so bad she's funny and an assortment of other characters from fliers to cooks to old girlfriends.The only negative is the ending. It looked like they didn't know how to end this, so they rushed to finish it without much thought. Oh, well, the main thing is Shirley's charm.....and that's there in abundance.