Heidi as a book was a childhood favourite and still is a timeless classic. This version with Shirley Temple was also a favourite as a child and is still a delight, whether you've read the book or not. It is true that it is not the truest to the book, with some darker elements that didn't feel shoe-horned and far from traumatising, but that really doesn't matter, you can still love the book and also love the film. There could have been more of the relationship between Heidi and her grandfather(but it is still really touching) and the musical number In Our Little Wooden Shoes while catchy, well-staged and cute didn't add a whole lot to the story, in fact really it was irrelevant. Everything else is fine, and I found it superior to the 1993 Noley Thornton version(which was still good), it doesn't feel over-dramatic even with the added darker parts, the characters are far more truthfully and sympathetically written with much more of a character journey with the grandfather and there's more heart. Heidi is a lovely film to look at, being crisply and lovingly filmed, scenery that makes you wish you were right there and the costumes give a genuine sense of time and place(they look good too, yes even Heidi's poor clothes). The music is whimsical and sparkling, the dialogue has a very good balance of funny and meaningful and the story essentially has every bit the charm, heart-warming sentiment and emotion that the book has, the ending is well and truly sweet and not tacky. The sled chase, any scene with Fraulein Rottenmeier and the monkey are standout scenes. Heidi is briskly directed with enough time for the story to resonate and for the actors to really go for it. Jean Hersholt plays grumpy and heartfelt beautifully, while reclusive there is a real sense that he cares for Heidi and she for him. Mary Nash is the very meaning of beastly- living aptly up to her character's name- and absolutely relishes it, while Arthur Treacher is hilarious as the butler Andrews and Marcia Mae Jones is an affecting Klara. But it's Shirley Temple's film, she's adorable and while she manages to be charming and have wonderful comic timing she is equally good at displaying an emotional side, her acting in the scene in the police station(another memorable scene) is just heart-breaking. While she is the main attraction of the film, the other characters and actors are just as believable to not make Heidi too much of a Shirley Temple show. All in all, delightful and a Shirley Temple classic, one of her best possibly. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Shirley Temple's version of Heidi, is another film I enjoy watching every Christmas season, and little children will find it delightful too. This is really one of Temple's best film's, added with her special charming touches. The underrated child actress, Marcia Mae Jones is also very lovely with her performance as Klara, the invalid girl who Heidi helps to walk. Jean Hersholt is marvellous as the grandfather, who is surly towards Heidi at first, but soon turns to love the precious child. The comical Arthur Treacher adds some humorous touches to this story. Mary Nash, Sidney Blackmer, and child actor Delmar Watson, all portray their characters perfectly, making this a very entertaining and heart-warming adaption of the classic child's story.Well worth a look during the Christmas holidays.

The tale of "Heidi" is such a groaner that it manages to defeat any little, bright-eyed young actress who stars in it, yet they keep trying. Here, it's Shirley Temple's turn at the waterworks playing a spunky young orphan living with her kindly grandpa in a Swiss village, kidnapped by a scheming relative and taken off to live with a rich, unpleasant brood in Germany. Was there ever a more contemptible or manipulative kids' story than this? Treacly hokum is mixed with melodramatic hysteria, with enough story contrivances to fill up several pictures. Kids seem to get caught up in it; adults may go a little batty. *1/2 from ****

One of Temple's biggest hits for 20th Century Fox, this version of Johanna Spyri's much-filmed children's classic might provide suitable entertainment for young children but will prove far too saccharine-sweet for any adult whose critical facilities aren't compromised by watching the film through rose-coloured spectacles…The little moppet plays the eponymous heroine, a spunky little madam with an infectious grin and an abundance of curls, who is foisted upon her grumpy Santa-look-alike Grandpa (Jean Hersholt) by her wicked Aunt Dete (Mady Christians) who has found work in Frankfurt. Of course, it's not long before Heidi has melted grumpy old Grandpa's heart, which is the cue for the wicked Aunt to snatch Heidi back and whisk her to Frankfurt to be companion to Klara (Marcia Mae Jones) the crippled daughter of her employer… Nine-year-old Temple is cute as a button in this one, and has enough screen presence to carry even mediocre material. The story is decent enough, and the production values are good, but the heavy doses of sentimentality injected into the plot at regular intervals really get too much to stomach after a while and are wholly unnecessary. If you can overcome that however, the story does offer a fair measure of suspense as it reaches its inevitably happy ending, and any film with not one but two wicked witches has to be awarded points for originality. Arthur Treacher is also worth catching as an outwardly stiff butler who is really a big softie on the inside. It was a role he would repeat with Temple in the inferior The Little Princess a couple years later.Watch the black-and-white version if you get the chance, because the colourised version is an absolute horror (when are they anything else?). Everybody's lips and tongue are the same colour as their skin