Our Little Girl

OUR LITTLE GIRL struggles valiantly to understand why her loving parents can no longer love each other.

Little Shirley Temple, Hollywood's greatest star at the time, enlivens what might without her have been just another soap opera. With smiles & tears, she beguiles the audience into completely identifying with her joys & tribulations. Even in a minor picture such as this, her abundant charm & talent still bare testimony to her utterly unassailable niche in American film history.

As her parents - and it's rare for Shirley to have both throughout an entire film - Rosemary Ames & Joel McCrea both nicely underplay their roles, providing strong assistance to Shirley but without overshadowing her, as is proper. McCrea's medical researches & Miss Ames' horseback riding are mere contrivances used to move the plot along - they are never allowed to eclipse the Tiny Tot.

Lyle Talbot & Erin O'Brien-Moore deftly play the significant others in the lives of Shirley's parents; thankfully, each is presented gently, leaving the story without any unnecessary abrasion. Wonderful character actor J. Farrell MacDonald sparks the end of the film with his sympathetic portrayal of a wise, friendly tramp.

Back in the 1930s, divorce wasn't nearly as common as it is today. In fact, it wasn't common at all! So, even though a lot of Shirley Temple movies feature her as an orphan or motherless and needing care and comfort, Our Little Girl tackles the terrible subject of divorce. Her parents, Joel McCrea and Rosemary Ames, are having a lot of problems, and their happy home is being threatened on three fronts: Joel is tempted by his secretary, Erin O'Brien-Moore; Rosemary is tempted by an old friend, Lyle Talbot; and they both feel stale and unseen. So, while Shirley treasures their family picnics, she doesn't know that those rituals are about to be taken away.

Although this one isn't really as dark as Shirley's movies can sometimes be, because it doesn't involve death, it does have a dark cloud hanging over it. From a child's perspective, this probably won't be anyone's favorite. There are no "animal crackers" or jump rope tap dancing. But from an adult's point of view, it's a very thoughtful movie. The parents aren't just parents, they are people. They have feelings and frustrations, and even though they have the greatest little girl in the entire world in their family, it sometimes isn't enough. When Lyle treats Rosemary like a woman, it's really refreshing for her. She has to weigh the importance of her own life versus giving up everything for her child. Of course, making the decision to become a parent means that you agree to come second for the rest of your life. But sometimes in movies, and in life, parents forget about that bargain. What will Rosemary and Joel decide? Will Shirley come first, or will she do something terrible and extremely dangerous, like run away from home? You'll have to watch Our Little Girl to find out.

Haul out the bathtowels on this one. No parents like Joel McCrea and Rosemary Ames are getting divorced as long as they have an offspring like Shirley Temple to keep them together.

Our Little Girl finds America's favorite moppet the daughter of the aforementioned couple. Joel is a research doctor who takes a small country practice to both support his wife and his daughter. But he gets so involved in his experiments he's leaving his wife alone to the attention of his playboy neighbor Lyle Talbot. And he's looking like someone his nurse Erin O'Brien-Moore just might be able to catch on the rebound.

The film had a great deal more potential than what we got. It could have been a serious look at divorce through a child's eyes. I think that's what they were trying for at Fox, but the problem was that Shirley's audiences expected things to go a certain way in her films. So Fox gave them the typical Shirley and then some. It was the 'and then some' that doomed this film to a weepy soggy mess.

Unusual for its time, "Our Little Girl" is about the disintegration of a marriage as seen through the eyes of a little girl. Dad's a busy and preoccupied doctor and medical researcher who is oblivious to his family and his adoring nurse. Mom's bored and lonely at home and Dad won't hear of her coming back to work in the office. Rolfe, a rich horsey neighbor, takes her riding and you know the rest. What's interesting, however, is how the breakup of the marriage impacts the life of the little girl. She is baffled and disoriented and she blames herself for destroying her parents' happiness. She can't warm up to Rolfe who tries unsuccessfully to buy her friendship. Ultimately, she runs away from home. Things are whitewashed by an implausible feel-good happy ending but up to that point the treatment of the catastrophic effects of divorce on a small child is done very well. Shirley, of course, is adorable as always.

While I enjoy the old Shirley Temple films, I am occasionally shocked at how depressing and scary many of the plots were. In one, she is separated from her father and is pursued by a creepy guy who keeps offering to take her out and buy her candy, in MANY she's an orphan and in this one she's in the middle of two parents who are divorcing! Family-friendly, perhaps, but definitely films with a dark side.

In this film, it begins with the Middleton family being happy as can be. Their daughter, Molly (Temple) is adored and everything seems just peachy. However, over time you notice that Dr. Middleton (Joel McCrea) is often so wrapped up in his work that he neglects his sweet wife, Elsa (Rosemary Ames). It's obvious to everyone but him that his wife is lonely and needs him. Eventually, she sets her eyes on the Doc's best friend, Rolfe Brent (Lyle Talbot) and soon she and Brent are in love...and she's seeking a divorce! Molly naturally is effected by all this and eventually runs away! Will these dopey parents give up their selfish ways and make a family for Molly once again? What do you think?!

Like so many of Shirley's films, this one is an obvious object lesson on good parenting and the importance of family. So, despite being a tiny bit traumatic, it does all end well and emphasizes good old fashioned values. It is a bit of a departure, though, as in this one Shirley does NOT sing and the film has a much more compact plot than usual...hence its very short running time compared to her other full-length films. Well worth seeing and sweet.