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.