20th Century Fox, 1936
Starring Shirley Temple, Guy Kibbee, Slim Summerville, and Sara Haden
Directed by David Butler
Music by Lew Pollack; Lyrics by Sidney B. Mitchell and Jack Yellen
Captain January came out at the height of Temple's popularity, when she was the biggest star of any age in the world. Most of her movies were escapist melodramas with music, often based after children's books or set in some exotic location like India or Northern Canada. This adaptation of a children's book set at a little town by the sea gives us a little of both, along with two of the cute cheer-up ditties that are still associated with her movies. How does the story of a lighthouse keeper (Kibbee) who fights with a stuffy truant officer (Haden) to raise a foundling (Temple) look today? Let's head to the lighthouse as Star (Temple) begins her day and find out...
The Story: Star loves living at the lighthouse with Captain January (Kibbee), whom she calls "Cap." The 8-year-old girl is the darling of all the sailors at the wharf, including Paul Roberts (Buddy Ebsen), who teaches her to sing and dance. Truant officer Agatha Morgan (Haden) catches their routine with teacher Mary Marshall (June Lang) and demands to know why the child isn't in school.
Morgan finally convinces January to let Star take a test to see if she's good enough to enter school. To the relief of January and his friend Captain Nazro (Summerville), she passes with flying colors. All is not well, however. Not only does Morgan not appreciate being made a fool of, but the lighthouse is being automated. When Nazro writes Star's only living relatives, January has to deal with not only the loss of his duty as lighthouse keeper, but his beloved daughter, too.
The Song and Dance: One of Temple's most charming vehicles gives her a chance to show off all her talents, including two nice routines with lanky Ebsen. Summerville and Kibbee also have a lot of fun as the two "frenemies" who spend as much time fighting each other as they do helping keep and eye on Star. Love the sequence with Star taking the actual test, proving to Morgan and her equally stuffy know-it-all nephew (Jerry Tucker) that a good imagination is just as important as book knowledge.
Favorite Number: We open with "Early Bird," Temple's ditty that explains her daily routine and how much she enjoys it. The cheerful fantasy "At the Codfish Ball" is the hit here, and Ebsen and Temple have a lot of fun with their jaunty little tap routine to it early-on as the sailors hoot and holler and sing along. Temple, Kibbee, and Summerville have a lot of fun tossing nonsense words into the "Sextet" aria from the opera Lucia di Lammermoor after Star turns up in her mother's old dress.
What I Don't Like: Like most of Temple's films, this one piles on the melodrama towards the end, when Kibbee loses his job and runs before he can lose Star, too. It follows the clichés of her films - Temple is an orphan raised by loving but eccentric guardians who is nearly taken away by a stern authority figure - to a T. I'm just glad they didn't go with the original scripted ending, where January actually dies in the end. The finale is maudlin enough as it is.
The ballad "The Right Somebody to Love" is cute when Temple performs it solo to her doll after she's taken from her "Cap," but the earlier version with her singing it as she takes care of Kibbee dressed as a giant baby in a bib and a huge high chair is more than a little creepy and weird.
The Big Finale: One of Temple's better full musicals, with decent songs and some good performances. Check it out with your favorite little sailor or beachcomber.
Home Media: As a public domain title, this is easily found in all formats. Look for the 20th Century Fox disc that comes in black and white or color.
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