Miss Annie Rooney

Warm kids' story that took awhile to pick up steam. Dickie Moore's Marty was way too nice. Shirley Temple was too earnest. Cringey dad. Dated teenage references. Total cultural appropriation of the jitterbug with not a single black person in sight, even in the band. Fav scene: getting ready at the house for the party---grandpop was a nice man.

As Shirley Temple gets older, she is definitely losing that charisma she had as a kid, but it's still fun to watch her grow-up, along her fellow child stars of the 30s, like Dickie Moore. Innocent family movie, with the most dangerous element being William Gargan as her father being too confident in his rubber invention, almost making his family homeless. This vehicle was almost too safe to make much of an impression, even if it did feature Temple's first romantic kiss.