gkeith_1
Spoilers. Observations. Opinions. More dancing needed by Shirley. There was not enough. She was subject of her birthday party, just like in Little Princess. There was a similar scene like look at me, I'm a spoiled brat here, too. The black and white ruined it for me. The long criminal scenes made it even worse. The mother was nice. James Dunn as the father, I always enjoy seeing with Shirley. Too many thigh and crotch shots of Shirley, including skin tight undies. It reminded me of a toddler Shirley in her child prostitute scene in one of her earlier films -- satiric parody maybe like Polly Tix in Washington. Ugh. You talk about juvenile exploitation. This moppet made big bucks for 20th in the Great Depression? At the end of the 1930s, her short and full career was about finished. I am a degreed historian, film critic, movie reviewer, theatrical researcher, actress, singer, dancer and stage makeup artist.
bkoganbing
Baby Take A Bow is based on a Broadway play called Square Crooks and ran a respectable 150 performances in 1926 and also was a silent film in 1928. But noting in the credits of both the Broadway cast and the silent film I noted all the names save for an equivalent of Shirley Temple.Fox films showed some good judgment in grafting Shirley Temple's child character into this version. A couple of guys played by James Dunn and Ray Walker are trying to go straight and are succeeding. Both are employed by a wealthy family as chauffeurs. Dunn and Walker are married to Claire Trevor and Dorothy Libaire respectively. But Dunn and Trevor have that little bundle from heaven named Shirley Temple.Both these guys face a pair of menaces. A recently released con played by Ralf Harolde who tries to get them back in the life. And Alan Dinehart who is a private detective who would like to become a real cop, but they won't have him. His role model in law enforcement is Inspector Javert and he hounds Dunn and Walker especially after a jewel heist is pulled on their employer.Of course it's Shirley who in her innocent way gets Dunn and Walker out of a potential jackpot. Dunn and Trevor both have trouble keeping up with her.Fans of the eternal moppet will be pleased.
MartinHafer
When I got this film from Netflix, it said that this film was Shirley's first starring full-length film. However, I noticed that "Stand Up and Cheer!" and "Stand Up and Cheer" (among others) came out a month earlier. In fact, about a half dozen Temple films all came out about that time. Perhaps they meant the first full-length film where she received top-billing--which is the case with "Baby Take a Bow".The film begins with Eddie (James Dunn) getting out of prison and marrying his girlfriend, Kay (Claire Trevor). He then gets a job working as a chauffeur and several years pass. Now they STILL are amazingly happy and have the world's most perfect child, Shirley (Shirley Temple). But, into their idyllic world comes a serious problem--there is a jewel robbery and when their employer finds out that Eddie and his friend, Larry, both had been to prison, they are fired. A dogged cop, Welch, is convinced one or both of these men did it and he spends the rest of the film trying to return them to Sing Sing. Are they innocent? And, if so, who did it and how will they prove it? And, more importantly, will little Shirley's heart be broken?! The film has a couple minor problems--though neither harms the film significantly. Welch is a bit one-dimensional and annoying--perhaps too annoying. Also, there is a song near the beginning that Shirley and James Dunn sing--and it's so sickeningly sweet that diabetics in the audience are encouraged to stop the film to check their blood sugar! However, the film uses a young Shirley well. She is awfully young and so she is given a part that is mostly comic relief--and so the plot itself does not rest on her small shoulders--a good decision in hindsight. And, despite the schmaltz, the film is enjoyable and fun.
JoeKarlosi
This was my first attempt at watching a Shirley Temple movie, though this film was made before she really hit it big and therefore her screen time isn't as much as it would quickly become. The story instead centers on a likable ex-convict Eddie Ellison (James Dunn) who has harmless fun playing practical jokes on his friends and comes out of jail to marry a loyal woman (Claire Trevor). Six years later, the couple have young Shirley as their daughter and Eddie tries to hold a job. But a bitter and nasty private investigator (Alan Dinehart) is determined to do whatever it takes to ruin Ellison and send him back to the slammer again and tries to nail him for a theft he wasn't involved in. Here is where daddy's little girl helps her father out by trying to foil the real crook.It's easy to sense the potential which shines off Shirley Temple during her scenes with Dunn and Trevor, and the precocious little charmer does delight with some mild dancing and her cutesy antics, but this film is reportedly not one of her best. It's lightweight stuff, though probably a feature that wouldn't be remembered at all today if not for the participation of Miss Temple. ** out of ****
AD
