Customer Reviews

Shirley Temple: Just Around the Corner [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Yes, her mom's dead, and she's taking care of dad. Yes, they go from riches to rags and back to riches again. And yes, everyone lives happily ever after. But don't you want a Temple film to be that way! And along the way are some really interesting turns and twists (besides the dance steps), like Shriley teaching a mama's boy to beat the other kids to the punch in a rather anti-Pygmalian side story; and some great laughs with a very young Eve Arden and a bunch of dogs in the kennel. Sound interesting? It is really quite unique and one of my favorites of the Shirley Temple collection.

Shirley Temple was the princess of the box office for 1936, 1937 and 1938. This movie was the final Shirley Temple movie of 1938. If you like Shirley Temple this movie wears well. This movie is cute and funny and there are several classic moments that made me laugh out loud.

Shirley returns home from boarding school because of an unspecified problem. After she returns home we learn that Shirley's architect father has lost his job and has moved from a penthouse apartment to the basement. Her father is now the electrician for the building in which they live. Shirley takes everything in stride and does her best to persevere.

Shirley Temple was about 10 years old when this movie was made, but she looks younger. She retains much of the charm she had as a little girl. Shirley manages to keep the action and the humor both high as we see her raise money for wealthy Samuel G. Henshaw, thinking that he is Uncle Sam. Shirley manages to cut the curls from a boy's hair, causing his mother to throw a genuine fit, simultaneously generating some of the best laughs in the movie. Shirley also manages to have a dance routine with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, the fourth and last dance routine in a movie for Shirley and Bojangles.

Shirley Temple was finishing a phenomenal run as the most popular actor of her day, and the most popular child actor in history. She would have eighteen more film roles, some of which were very good, but this movie marks the dividing line between Shirley Temple the phenomenally popular child star, and Shirley Temple the modestly popular adolescent and teen star. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and if you have enjoyed other Shirley Temple movies, you will enjoy this one too!

I purchased this DVD as my daughter is performing one of the songs from the movie. However as a family we have watched it many times and all three of my children now get great enjoyment from the movie and they all know the words to all of the songs. Very happy with the movie itself and the quality of the recording

Just around the corner is excellent in a musical way. I love this!

It is great to see Shirley Temple growing up and this is one of her last movies, as a kid. Since, I'm a big fan, I needed this for my collection. What is great about Shirley Temple movies is that you can show them to any classroom of kids and rest assured, no parents are going to complain about the violence nor the language.

Here's a so-so Shirley Temple entry with a catchy song that plays throughout the film. The movie features a bunch of nice characters. The "bad guys" in here - a snotty woman, her butler and a crabby "Uncle Sam" - aren't overly mean and don't have huge roles in here so the atmosphere, for the most part, is very genial.

In addition to the main song ("This Is A Happy Little Ditty," a very catchy song), there is a good production number near the end of the film. Both of those numbers feature Shirley and Bill Robinson. Those two were always fun to watch dance and sing together.

There are two negatives in here: some of the spoken lines are a little stupid and poorly delivered, mostly by the male rich kid "Milton Ramsby" (Bennie Bartlett) who looked like he was reading his lines and the female adult lead, "Lola Ramsby," played by Amanda Duff, was weak. I can see why Duff never had much of a screen career.

I would like to have heard a few more songs, too, but it's still a charming film: not her best, but not the worst, either.

Even the most talented child stars have to grow up one day. In JUST AROUND THE CORNER, you can sense the "beginning of the end" of Temple's child star career. This was Temple's final movie of 1938; the following year she'd struggle to maintain her popularity at the box office as she tried to make the difficult transition from child star to juvenile performer.

In JUST AROUND THE CORNER, Temple plays out a variation of the same story she had done so many times before. When her father (Charles Farrell) loses all his money, little Penny Hale (Temple) is pulled out of her exclusive boarding school and reunites with him in their ritzy Manhattan apartment building - where they have been forced to move from the penthouse to the basement. Instead of complaining, Penny takes positive charge of the situation and befriends an old man she believes to be "Uncle Sam".

JUST AROUND THE CORNER is the usual sparkling musical comedy which Temple did so well. The Manhattan apartment building is full of great performers (Bert Lahr as the valet, Joan Davis as the dog-walker, and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson as the doorman!), and Temple gets to do a fun musical number with them called "This is a Happy Little Ditty".

Fans of Temple will really enjoy this high-spirited musical comedy, despite it's somewhat predictable nature, JUST AROUND THE CORNER is one to enjoy.

The DVD includes both B&W and computer-colourised versions of the film; the coloured version is quite good with accurate colouring and solid shadow detailing. (Single-sided, dual-layer disc).