Shirley Temple in Dimples

UPC: 024543029700

Studio: 20th Century Fox

MPAA Rating: PG   Contains:[Child Classic]

Summary: This lavish Shirley Temple starrer is set in New York, sometime in the 1850s. While lovable pickpocket "Professor" Eustace Appleby works the crowd, his talented granddaughter Dimples (Temple) dances for pennies. Dimples demands that Appleby stop his thieving ways, but every time he tries to follow the straight and narrow, he comes out the loser (most memorably when he's hoodwinked by a dapper con man played by John Carradine). While Dimples entertains at the home of society matron Mrs. Caroline Drew (Helen Westley), Appleby pilfers several valuable objects. This time he's caught with the goods, but Dimples gallantly takes the blame. Touched by this, Mrs. Drew adopts the little girl, enabling her to find success on the legitimate stage. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Category: Drama

Features: ccFull frame (Aspect ration 1.33:1) Audio: English Stereo, English Mono
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Black & white/color viewing options

Shirley Temple in Dimples

Format: DVD

Release Date: 01/29/2002

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Pre-1954 Standard

Audio: 1 USA & territories, Canada, 2 PCM stereo

Runtime: 78 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Main Titles
2. Hey! What Did the Blue Jay Say?
3. The Professor's Pupils
4. He Was a Dandy and She Was a Belle
5. The Little Suspect
6. Living With a Thief
7. Back to the Drews'
8. The Truth About Allen
9. Mrs. Drew's Offer
10. Picture Me Without You
11. A Part for Dimples
12. Get on Board
13. 800 Dollars
14. Napoleon's Watch
15. Broken Promises
16. A New Home
17. The Watch's New Owner
18. Opening Night
19. The Professor's Problem
20. Going to Jail
21. Dimples' Big Scene
22. A Change of Heart
23. Dixie-Anna
24. End Titles

Craig Butler

Dimples could be considered a somewhat atypical Shirley Temple vehicle, although not because of anything involving the story, screenplay or direction. It's atypical because another performer actually gives Temple a run for her money, which rarely happened in her young career. The performer in question is veteran Frank Morgan, taking the clich?d reprobate grandpa character he's been given and taking the tired dialogue that goes along with it and fashioning a portrait that is enormously engaging and that quite captures the audience's sympathy. Morgan doesn't steal the picture from Temple, mind you; Dimples is still the little tyke's show all the way, and she doesn't give any less than her customary 110% from first frame to last. But Morgan does manage to make a very striking presence, and to give Temple someone strong to play off of, which in turn makes her own performance come across more vividly. The script is the usual melodramatic nonsense that exists to allow Temple to sing, dance and jerk a few tears, and she does it all quite well, even if the sentimentality is laid on especially thick in this story. Modern viewers should beware that Dimples features not only poor Stepin Fetchit's torturous turn but also a blackface segment. The choreography, by Bill "Bojangles" Robinson is quite good, and executed quite well by Temple. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Robert Murphy  Actor 
Nunnally Johnson  Producer 
Nat Perrin  Screenwriter 
William Seiter  Director 
Arthur Sheekman  Screenwriter 
Louis Silvers  Composer (Music Score) 
Darryl F. Zanuck  Producer 
Shirley Temple  Actor 
Frank Morgan  Actor 
Helen Westley  Actor 
Robert Kent  Actor 
Delma Byron  Actor 
Astrid Allwyn  Actor 
Stepin Fetchit  Actor 
Berton Churchill  Actor 
Paul Stanton  Actor 
Julius Tannen  Actor 
John Carradine  Actor 
Herman Bing  Actor 
Billy McClain  Actor 
The Hall Johnson Choir  Actor 
Jack Clifford  Actor 
Betty Jean Hainey  Actor 
Arthur Aylesworth  Actor 
Greta Meyer  Actor 
Leonard Kibrick  Actor 
Jesse Scott  Actor 

Country: USA