The Little Princess (1939)

Director:

Walter Lang

Writers:

Ethel Hill (screenplay) and
Walter Ferris (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

17 March 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Family | Musical

Plot:

A little girl is left by her father in an exclusive seminary for girls, due to her father having to go to Africa with the army.

Plot Keywords:

Servant | Boarding School | School | Queen Victoria | Birthday Party

Cast

Shirley Temple	...	Sara Crewe
Richard Greene	...	Geoffrey Hamilton
Anita Louise	...	Rose
Ian Hunter	...	Captain Crewe
Cesar Romero	...	Ram Dass
Arthur Treacher	...	Bertie Minchin
Mary Nash	...	Amanda Minchin
Sybil Jason	...	Becky
Miles Mander	...	Lord Wickham
Marcia Mae Jones	...	Lavinia
Beryl Mercer	...	Queen Victoria
Deidre Gale	...	Jessie
Ira Stevens	...	Ermengarde
E.E. Clive	...	Mr. Barrows
Eily Malyon	...	Cook

Runtime:

93 min (TCM print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Hindi

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Canada:G (Ontario) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Chile:TE | Finland:S | Netherlands:AL | Peru:PT | USA:Approved (PCA #4712)

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The full name of the book this movie is based on is "A Little Princess, Being the Whole Story of Sara Crewe Here Told For the First Time" by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Sara Crewe: Why are they sending so many soldiers, daddy, if it's only going to be a little war?
Captain Reginald Crewe: To make those stubborn Boers take us seriously this time, my darling. When they realize Her Majesty intends to put a stop to their nonsense, they'll quiet down.
Sara Crewe: They'd better. Anyhow, when you get there, you'll stop them. Won't you, daddy?
Captain Reginald Crewe: I'll do my best, dear.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Hollywood Legends: Elizabeth Taylor and Shirley Temple (2001) (V)

Soundtrack:

The British Grenadiers

Shirley Temple At Her Best!

"The Little Princess" is a reversal-of-fortune movie, so to speak. Sarah Crewe (Shirley Temple) is the daughter of a wealthy soldier sent off to the Boer War in 1899. Having no relatives, Sarah is placed in an exclusive girls school until her father returns. When her father is reported dead and their fortune is wiped out, the friendly headmistress becomes not-so-friendly towards Sarah, who is made to work off her father's debt to the school. Sarah is convinced that her father is alive, though, and searches the area hospital for him, eventually finding him.

This movie serves as an excellent example of several things: movies like this just aren't made any more. Unfortunately, they can't be - people would say it was too corny. In the movie, Shirley portrays a child not only with unshakable hope but patience, manners, politeness and kindness in the face of terrible adversity, with only a couple of cracks in her steadfastness. She meets Queen Victoria. Who would believe that a child under the duress that she suffers could be so gracious? Who would believe that, being a pauper, she could meet the Queen of England? Today's movie child star would have filled the air with sassiness and expletives under the same situation. But Shirley/Sarah doesn't, and that's a reason that I really like this movie - it shows someone who tries to make the best of a bad situation, and never gives up hope.

I also believe that the movie is an accurate portrayal of the life and times of the turn of the century, as it was made only 40 years after the Boer War. I think that Victorian England was captured well in this movie; after all, we do a pretty good job of displaying the 1960s on film these days.

Overall, though, it is Shirley Temple at her singing/dancing/acting best in this movie, and she does a wonderful job from start to finish.