REBECCA OF SUNNYBROOK FARM (1938)

I suspect the well was running dry for Shirley Temple vehicles by this time--this was her 18th starring role in four years. Temple is fine, as are most of the other actors, but the plot is rather threadbare. Temple plays an 8-year-old in the custody of her stepfather, a washed-up vaudevillian (William Demerest). He makes her audition for a radio contest search for Little Miss America and she wins the title, but Demerest, thinking that she lost, leaves the station and, giving up on Temple's potential as a meal ticket, takes her out to her Aunt Miranda's place in the country and leaves her with the stern old lady (Helen Westley). As it happens, the radio executive responsible for the contest (Randolph Scott) has a country place right next to Westley's. It also happens that Westley has a lovely young niece (Gloria Stuart) living with her who soon grows smitten with Scott. Furthermore, Scott's assistant (Jack Haley), who auditioned Temple, just happens to hear the little girl singing one day, puts two and two together, and the next thing you know, everyone's in cahoots plotting to get Temple to sing for the radio show behind the back of the disapproving aunt. Then, after the aunt rather suddenly thaws and lets Temple sing, Demerest comes around with a court order letting him take custody of Temple. How on earth will it all work out? The actors are all fine, especially Westley. Phyllis Brooks plays a singer who becomes a rival for Stuart; Franklin Pangborn has a funny bit as an "emergency organist" at the radio station who faints when he finally gets a chance to fill in on the air; Bill Robinson has a thankless role as a house servant who ends up dancing on stage with Temple in the underdone finale. In a bizarre self-referential twist, Temple, who is supposed to be a complete unknown, sings a medley of songs that she supposedly introduced to the radio public--of course, it's a medley of Temple hits such as "Good Ship Lollipop" and "Animal Crackers in My Soup." Best line: Haley, flirting with Brooks: "Couldn't you go for a guy like me?"; Brooks: "Yeah, with an axe!" [FMC]