Stowaway

Starring: Shirley Temple, Robert Young, Alice Faye, Eugene Pallette, Helen Westley
Directed by: William A. Seiter
Rating: Not rated
Genre: Musical, Adventure
1936

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: An orphan (Shirley Temple) in China befriends an American playboy (Robert Young) and the engaged woman (Alice Faye) he has fallen for.

Review:

Tim: Now, I take pride in the fact that I've seen a lot of movies. And yet, despite all my efforts to watch a wide variety of films, I've never actually gotten around to seeing a Shirley Temple movie before. That is somewhat shocking, considering Temple is perhaps the most famous child star of all time. She was the biggest box office draw for several years in a row. Her movies are famous, and yet, I never watched a single one. I am excited that this film ended that streak.

Stowaway is not regarded as one of Temple's best movies, but a good one nevertheless. It was certainly an interesting viewing experience. I was very intrigued to see what all the fuss was about Shirley Temple. I can see why audiences in the 1930s would love her. Temple overflows with squeaky-clear wholesomeness. Audiences couldn't get enough of her. She was charismatic and had real screen presence- she could sing, dance, and act. She had a glowing smile, which I'm sure people just found adorable. She was the perfect child actor.

And yet, I couldn't fully buy into her performance. I'll admit her sugary sweet goodness got a little tiresome for me. There's nothing wrong with having a precocious girl brimming with positiveness, but it just got to be a little much. It was almost hard to believe. I wish they had showed a little restraint with her character instead of letting those good vibes overtake all aspects of the film. Still, you have to respect Temple for delivering what audiences so clearly desired. I do wonder if it was a bit manipulative having the very young Temple prancing around in very grown-up outfits and generally acting like an adult.

This film felt like it was probably a bit of a misstep. I'm sure Temple's other films are better. In this movie, she is an orphan who grew up in China and befriends an American playboy and an engaged woman. The story is fine (if predictable), but there's some big flaws in this film. For one, Temple spouts off these bizarre Chinese proverbs throughout the entire movie. It's really quite strange, and gets annoying rather quickly. She came on really strong anyway, but the constant riddled proverbs proved to be too much.

While I didn't love this movie, I suppose it is mostly harmless. It mixes different genres quite well- musical, comedy, romance, and even a little drama. The story is enjoyable, although the movie telegraphs the ending pretty clearly. Speaking of the ending, it's a bit absurd. It all started to fall apart for me a bit the last 5 minutes. I guess this is a movie that certainly has strengths, but unfortunately, has some obvious flaws that really hurt it.

I'm interesting in seeing more Shirley Temple movies. She certainly has unbounded energy, but it needs to be controlled to a certain extent. It strayed into annoying territory here. It doesn't surprise me that her career dried up as she got older- her cuteness could only last so long. She loses effectiveness the older that she gets. I suppose that's why she made four movies a year while she was still young. You have to strike while the iron is hot. Anyway, this was an interesting film, but certainly not a great one.

I actually thought I would have liked this better, but Stowaway's flaws proved to be too troublesome. I just couldn't overlook them, and they prevent the film from achieving its full potential.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



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