In her later Fox films, Shirley was often cast in stories set in various foreign lands. In "The Stowaway", she was lost in China. In "Wee Willie Winkie", she was in British India. In "Heidi", in Switzerland, and in "Susannah of the Mounties", in Canada. Here, she is the daughter of a British army officer, recently arrived in London from India, immediately sent to fight in the Boer War. It almost seems to begin as a sequel to "Wee Willie Winkie", with British soldiers again marching by, accompanied by bagpipe music. Cesar Romero is back, again as a turbaned East Indian. His character, with the strange name of Rarn Dass, mysteriously pops into her life periodically, as the servant of crusty old Lord Wickham, whose residence happens to be next to that of the exclusive girl's school where Shirley(as Sarah) is deposited while her father is in South Africa.The ingredients of the screenplay pretty much follow the standard formula for most of Shirley's Fox films. As usual, she's cast as an only child, a virtual orphan for much of the film. As usual, she lacks a living mother, but has or develops an unusually close romantic relationship with her father or a father substitute. As in most of her films, she has no significant interaction with boys of her own age, or occasionally a mostly negative interaction with one. As often, she becomes friendly with a young unmarried woman(Rose, in this case), who becomes her mother substitute, and with a young man(Geoffrey, in this case)this woman is developing a romantic relationship with. As usual, there is a grouchy elderly person or two she has to answer to for much of the film. Reprising her antagonistic role in "Heidi", stern -looking and acting Mary Nash plays the headmistress of the school: Amanda. Eily May plays the equally grouchy cook. Actually, I don't find either of these women as unreasonably mean as most children do. They are simply dealing with the problems relating to Sarah in a pragmatic way, for the times. Much worse is Lavinia: the tallest girl in the school, who had been Amanda's favorite before Sarah arrived, and delighted in taunting Sarah with demands, after she was demoted to chargirl. Sarah finally gets her revenge when she dumps a bucket of fireplace ashes on her. Marcia Jones, who played Lavinia, had played a girl with a friendly relationship with Shirley, in the previous "Heidi". Her acting was quite good. As usual, there is a happy ending of sorts. In this case, her presence seems to help her father regain a bit of awareness, after a head wound, in a very teary scene. We aren't allowed to discover how much mental capacity he actually regains, with time.When Sarah arrives at the school, she is soon sarcastically dubbed 'the princess', by the other girls, because her wealthy father seems to treat her as such, and expects others to do likewise. At first, headmistress Amanda reluctantly tries to do so, given her father's clout and wealth. However, when news arrives of her father's apparent death and his funds stop arriving, Sarah's status quickly drops to that of her chargirl friend Becky. It's interesting that, even while she was being treating like a princess by Amanda, she found big-eyed Becky the one girl she felt comfortable confiding in. Rose: her main teacher, becomes her mother-like friend. Geoffrey, her riding instructor and Rose's boyfriend, is also friendly, but soon departs for the Boer War. This leaves Bertie(Arthur Treacher): Amanda's hen-pecked brother, and the mysterious Rarn, as her main male friends. Tall, thin, mop-headed Treacher and Shirley make an odd-looking, if amusing, song and dance couple, in an informal eccentric romp to "Knocked 'em in the Old Kent Road". Later , they do a repeat performance for the benefit of the hospital patients, while Sarah is looking for her father. Treacher is also a delight when he finally gets the nerve to tell off sister Amanda.The inclusion of Queen Victoria, as approving Sarah's seemingly hopeless search for her father among the wounded recent arrivals, is yet another aspect of the general British flag-waving tone of the film. released shortly before hostilities began with a the Nazis. I have to wonder if the screenwriters could foresee what would soon happen. Beryl Mercer makes quite a convincing Victoria, the film ending with Shirley and others saluting her as she leaves the hospital, reminiscent of the ending of "Wee Willie Winkie".The dream fantasy sequence serves to reinstate Sarah, in her mind, as a princess, during a time when she is depressed about her life. She actually functions like a queen, rather than a princess, sitting on a throne, deciding cases brought before her. Later, she sees herself as part of a dance troupe. When she awakes, she finds her formerly drab bedroom filled with pretty objects and clothes, having no idea how they got there. Of course, Amanda quite reasonably assumes she must have stolen them, and goes to the police...In the middle of the film, we have another high, followed by a low, when news arrives that the Boers have been defeated, followed by a lavish birthday party for Sarah, followed by news that her father is probably dead, thus her demotion to chargirl and her move from the best room in the school to the attic. Overall, an entertaining, if occasionally overly corny, S.T. film, in which great pains were taken to recreate an authentic 1899 London. The most expensive of S.T's Fox films to make, and the only one shot in color. Of course, with colorized versions of most of her Fox films now available, this is no longer an important distinction.

For a more faithful adaptation, look for the 1986/7 version. However, if you are the kind of person who tries to judge movie adaptations on their own merits and likes their movies to be beautiful and with emotional impact, the 1995 Alfonso Cuaron film and this will have you satisfied. The costumes and sets are very elegant, and the gorgeous Technicolour and cinematography help. The music is both sensitive and catchy, and the choreography is suitably nifty. The script is mostly engaging, the film is beautifully directed by Walter Lang(who I remember best for the 1956 musical The King and I) and while darker in tone(I did miss some of the fascinating imagination aspects from the book admittedly) the story is still charming, with a fun song and dance interlude with Shirley Temple and Arthur Treacher and the ending is very moving. I have not seen enough of Shirley Temple's films to judge whether The Little Princess is among her best or worst, but while a couple of the more emotional moments were a little forced her adorable appearance and charm makes for a delightful Sara overall. Sybil Jason is a sweet Becky also, although I find the chemistry between Becky and Sara more believable in Cuaron's film and in the book. Mary Nash's Miss Minchin is suitably nasty, while a young Cesar Romero is handsome and quietly composed as Ram Das, Ian Hunter in what he has is a loving father figure and as Bertie Arthur Treacher(whose scenes with Temple are among the best of the film) has an easy-going charm. Beryl Mercer is appropriately dignified in her cameo as Queen Victoria. All in all, a lovely film. 8/10 Bethany Cox

As a kid in parochial school in the late Fifties, an occasional treat called for assembling all eight grades in the auditorium for an afternoon of movies, and I recall Shirley Temple showing up more than once. I don't know if "The Little Princess" might have been one of them, but in any case, she was always a favorite. Shirley may not have had all of the cuteness factor here that was on display in her earlier roles, but there's no denying her talent and presence; when she's on screen, no one else matters. The story here turns somewhat morose when Sara Crewe (Temple) learns her father (Ian Hunter) dies in the Boer War. That's a tough thing to put a kid through, young viewers that is, not the actress. Relating too much to the possibility of a parent's dying isn't exactly the most cheerful subject, so first time viewers of the film are left on the hook for a while until a more successful resolution is arrived at. Along with Shirley, I was also rooting for her compatriot Sybil Jason as the poor, young chambermaid who took a liking to Sara and had the feeling returned in good measure. Interestingly, the Little Princess part of the story was brought into sharper focus when Shirley's character met Queen Victoria (Beryl Mercer), allowing the viewer to consider two different kinds of royalty.

I grew up watching Shirley Temple and whenever I watch one of her movies today, I start out thinking "this is so corny," then by the end of the movie I'm searching for a box of tissues.In 1938, Darryl Zanuck said that this was the greatest picture he was ever associated with, and his words have stood the test of time. This movie has everything, told children's style. Even the wicked witch, Miss Minchin lets her guard down and joins in the fun and games with the children when she hears that the soldiers have been relieved at Mafeking.This is definitely Shirley Temple's best movie, but it is also probably Arthur Treacher's best movie, too. The expressions on his face during the "Fantasy Sequence" ending as he watches Richard Greene and Anita Louise kiss are worth the price of the movie alone.The only question is why doesn't Hollywood make movies this corny today?