A fairly simple plot, with a good dose of singing and dancing. Captain January(Guy Kibbee) has been living at his Cape Tempest, Maine,lighthouse with Shirley for 4 years, since her parents died in a boat accident nearby. Now, their happy life is threatened by two recent developments: 1)the replacement of a lenient district truant officer with a very strict one, full of herself, who wants to require Shirley to go to school and January to formally adopt Shirley or give her up.2)The upcoming obsolescence of January's job due to replacement by an automatic lighthouse light.Sara Hayden did a superb job of playing the one villain: the nasty, if thorough, truant officer, Miss Morgan. In comparison, June Lang, as the kind schoolteacher and Jane Darwell, as the widow with ambition to become Mrs. January, had easy conventional roles. June would return the next year, as Shirley's widowed mother, in "Wee Willie Winkie". Jane played a subsidiary role in 5 of Shirley's films.. Guy Kibbee(January) was borrowed from Warner, while Buddy Ebsen was borrowed from MGM.The central problem of a prospective jobless and Shirleyless January appears to have a solution in the end. Shirley's discovered relatives hire January to captain their large yacht, with Shirley aboard. In addition, Captain Nazro is hired as first mate, Ebsen as the seaman and Jane Darwell as cook.(What happened to the crew they had when they arrived?). We still seemingly have the problem of Shirley's truancy.Turning to the music: Shirley starts things off with "The Early Birds", as she is awakening. Next, Ebsen dances to "The Sailor's Hornpipe". Then, Shirley starts off with "The Codfish Bowl", with Ebsen later joining in, dancing around the wharf area with Shirley. Many people consider this the highlight of the film. Then, after Shirley dawns a fancy dress, she and Captains January and Nazro informally sing an opera from "Lucia di Lammermore". Then, Shirley has a strange daydream in which she sings the ballad "The Right Somebody for Me". A chorus takes over while she is feeding January, who is in the form of a huge baby in baby clothes. Later, she again sings this song to her favorite doll, which she claims looks rather like her deceased mother. Finally, a reprise of "The Codfish Bowl" by Shirley and the two captains, while aboard the yacht.

This was the first Shirley Temple movie I remember watching as a kid during the early '80s when I-along with my siblings and parents-visited some family friends in Gulfport, Mississippi. I remember liking her singing and dancing and feeling for her when she had to leave her beloved father figure of the title character. That title character was warmly played by Guy Kibbee and most of the best scenes are between him and Ms. Temple. Also loved Buddy Ebsen-especially when he's dancing with Shirley-and Slim Summerville. There were also plenty of laughs like the scenes of Shirley and Jerry Tucker-who had quite a year in 1936 as he was not only a member of Our Gang performing with the likes of Spanky, Alfalfa, and Darla, but also appearing with Bing Crosby in Anything Goes and Clark Gable in San Francisco-who plays an arrogant nephew of the truant officer who's not very nice to Captain January. So on that note, this movie is very much recommended.

Here's another "cute" Shirley Temple movie with interesting characters and a decent share of good song-and-dance numbers. The story is similar to a few other Temple films in which a nasty person takes Shirley away from the good people but the good guys prevail in the end. It was a tried-and-true formula in the Temple movies.Here, the "villain" is truant officer (Sara Haden) who wants to take Shirley away from good guy "Captain January" (Guy Kibbe). Kibbe and Slim Summerville are fun to watch as peers and friends who squabble all the time. Haden is effective in her role because you just want to slap that woman!Shirley and Buddy Ebsen team up for a very entertaining song-and-dance routine to "The Codfish Ball," the best song in the movie.The film gets a bit uncomfortable when Shirley gets taken away but ends in the normal tearfully-happy Shirley, as always, back with her loved ones and the people who really care about her. Those include the "widow" played by Jane Darwell and the school teacher, acted by June Lang.All in all, it's the normal Temple movie that provides good feelings, something we viewers always need.

Actually, Captain January is one of my favorite Temple flix because of the music. For many years, it was out of circulation, not shown on the tube, and not available on video. I finally got to tape it on AMC several years ago, and it's still fum to watch. The score is especially warm and interesting. It's supposed to be written by Louis Silvers, but it was fine writing by whomever the arranger/ orchestrator was. Not my FAVORITE Temple flick, 'cause she did several that are better than this in terms of substance. The main attractions are the music, her dance episodes with a young Buddy Ebsen ( was there ever such a thing?), and the mushy relationship with the Cap'n. And the whole family can get in on the act !!