{"id":29161,"date":"2012-12-27T22:15:20","date_gmt":"2012-12-28T05:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=29161"},"modified":"2021-01-06T10:25:09","modified_gmt":"2021-01-06T17:25:09","slug":"littlest-rebel-the-1935","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=29161","title":{"rendered":"Littlest Rebel, The (1935)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Uncle Billy can do anything! He can sing and dance and climb trees, and do everything in the world &#8212; I know he can bring Daddy back!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Littlest-Rebel-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Littlest-Rebel-Poster-195x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"195\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-29163\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Littlest-Rebel-Poster-195x300.jpg 195w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Littlest-Rebel-Poster-83x128.jpg 83w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Littlest-Rebel-Poster.jpg 277w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 195px) 100vw, 195px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nWhen a Confederate officer (John Boles) sneaks back to his plantation to visit his daughter (Shirley Temple) and dying wife (Karen Morley), he&#8217;s arrested by a Yankee colonel (John Holt), who &#8212; thanks to Temple&#8217;s charm &#8212; takes pity on him and helps him try to escape.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Civil War<\/li>\n<li>Fugitives<\/li>\n<li>Historical Drama<\/li>\n<li>Karen Morley Films<\/li>\n<li>Plantations<\/li>\n<li>Shirley Temple Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary accurately notes that Depression-era child star Shirley Temple is &#8220;in peak form as a charming little Southern girl&#8221; in this &#8220;enjoyable film&#8221; (directed by David Butler), &#8220;with the very self-assured, likable Temple displaying amazing acting and dancing talents&#8221;. He points out that &#8220;her cheerful tap routines with [Bill &#8216;Bojangles&#8217;] Robinson&#8221; &#8212; a.k.a. &#8220;Uncle Billy&#8221; &#8212; are &#8220;classics&#8221;, and that Temple&#8217;s &#8220;love and respect for her black &#8216;uncle&#8217; are touching&#8221;. He acknowledges, however, that it would be &#8220;hard to accept&#8221; that the slaves on Temple&#8217;s plantation &#8220;seem so happy&#8221; if &#8220;Boles and Morley weren&#8217;t so nice&#8221;; indeed, modern viewers will likely be greatly disturbed by the film&#8217;s decidedly patronizing attitude towards slavery, one which portrays loyal Robinson as an endless source of avuncular kindness rather than someone who might be interested in escaping to his freedom. Regardless, <em>The Littlest Rebel<\/em> remains a classic Temple vehicle, not least because of the undeniable chemistry she and Robinson possess together; it thus earns my vote as the movie film fanatics should consider watching if they want to get a taste of what Temple&#8217;s phenomenal fame was all about. Watch for the &#8220;delightful&#8221; (if utterly unrealistic) &#8220;scene in which Temple asks President Lincoln (Frank McGlynn, Sr., in a fine bit)&#8221; for a special favor. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Shirley Temple as Virgie<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Littlest-Rebel-Temple.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Littlest-Rebel-Temple.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-29165\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Littlest-Rebel-Temple.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Littlest-Rebel-Temple-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Littlest-Rebel-Temple-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Temple and Robinson&#8217;s magnificent dancing sequences<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Littlest-Rebel-Temple-Robinson1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Littlest-Rebel-Temple-Robinson1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-29164\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Littlest-Rebel-Temple-Robinson1.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Littlest-Rebel-Temple-Robinson1-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Littlest-Rebel-Temple-Robinson1-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Littlest-Rebel-Temple-Robinson2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Littlest-Rebel-Temple-Robinson2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-29162\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Littlest-Rebel-Temple-Robinson2.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Littlest-Rebel-Temple-Robinson2-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Littlest-Rebel-Temple-Robinson2-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as a representative Temple flick, and to see Robinson at his dancing finest.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Representative Film<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0026641\/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1935\/12\/20\/archives\/the-screen-shirley-temple-and-bill-robinson-in-the-littlest-rebel.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thespinningimage.co.uk\/cultfilms\/displaycultfilm.asp?reviewid=7376&#038;aff=13\">Spinning Image Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/81612\/the-littlest-rebel#articles-reviews?articleId=133213\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/the-littlest-rebel-1\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Uncle Billy can do anything! He can sing and dance and climb trees, and do everything in the world &#8212; I know he can bring Daddy back!&#8221; Synopsis: When a Confederate officer (John Boles) sneaks back to his plantation to visit his daughter (Shirley Temple) and dying wife (Karen Morley), he&#8217;s arrested by a Yankee colonel (John Holt), who &#8212; thanks to Temple&#8217;s charm &#8212; takes pity on him and helps him try to escape. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=29161\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29161"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61937,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29161\/revisions\/61937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}