JohnHowardReid Copyright 16 October 1936 by 20th Century Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Roxy: 9 October 1936. 7,108 feet. 79 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Bowery street waif becomes Broadway star, despite opposition - "You know how I hate the theatre and all it stands for. If you leave this house you may never expect to come back to it."COMMENT: A compendium of every cliché known to Victorian melodrama, but I liked it. At least one of the worst sequences of unbridled sentiment is missing from the current TV version and one cannot but applaud its removal. The film is somewhat light on songs and one could have wished for at least another production number to cap or offset the agreeable minstrel-type finale. Casting is well-nigh perfect (Mr Fetchit's part is not nearly as obnoxious as usual) and the script provides meaty parts for Frank Morgan and Helen Westley. Direction and photography are pretty ordinary, however, and the sets and costumes have to contend against their current presentation in an indifferent TV print. Still, the sound has been re-recorded and it comes across to-day with a fidelity and clarity (thanks to peerless original recording) that must make Douglas Shearer and M-G-M squirm with envy.OTHER VIEWS: 2018 prints are still missing 5 or 6 minutes (including all of Herman Bing and Arthur Aylesworth) but all the songs have now been pleasingly restored, thus giving the melodramatic story a balance which greatly improves the entertainment value of the whole. In fact the skill of such support players as Frank Morgan and Helen Westley helps carry the story. Berton Churchill has a characteristic part too and if the hero and his heroine are a bit wet (Astrid Allwyn makes an agreeably tempting siren but her part is tiny) their parts are small enough to make little difference. John Carradine plays a confidence man with his usual affable rascality, while Stepin Fetchit is mildly amusing as Morgan's servant ("Pour? Pour what?").

arete5000 Minstrel Shows, Stepin Fetchit, Blackface........kind of makes you long for the good old days when the colored knew their place. Negroes far and wide will once more call for their mammies when they take a gander at this 79 minute romp in the antebellum South. Shirley Temple couldn't have poisoned the well more if she came out and tap danced in a Klan hood. Once more playing the adorable waif (cast with the kind-hearted but sketchy grandfatherly type), Dimples shuffles her way into your big ol' racist heart with a big helping of maudlin sentimentality. Zanuck proved that with a commodity like Temple, no script was too hokey. Spike Lee could learn a thing or two about directing from this one. Who says the Hollywood musical is dead?

lugonian DIMPLES (20th Century-Fox, 1936), directed by William A. Seiter, marks the third movie with a title depicting on Shirley Temple's trademark features, following BRIGHT EYES (1934) and CURLY TOP (1935). It also marked the return of the bright-eyed, curly-top, dimpled-child star to 19th Century America, having already won her own Civil War as THE LITTLEST REBEL, and taken charge in post Civil War as THE LITTLE COLONEL. While these 1935 classics featured the legendary dancer Bill Robinson, DIMPLES, which goes further back in time, New York City circa 1850, it credits him only as choreographer to Temple's dance numbers, which are in many ways, first rate.With the opening of a sign reading: "Vote for (Franklin) Pierce in 1850 so he can end the Depression by 1852," the story gets underway with the introduction of Dimples (Shirley Temple), a talented child helping her grandfather, Professor Eustace Appleby (Frank Morgan) to earn extra money by singing and dancing on the street corners of the Bowery along with other urchins of an all kids band. With her grandfather being an unemployed actor, Dimples, who looks up to him as a man of honesty, is unaware that he's a petty thief who picks pockets while she sings and dances to the crowd. The Professor arranges for the children to entertain uptown in the home of the wealthy Caroline Drew (Helen Westley) during an engagement party of her nephew, Allen (Robert Kent) and his fiancé, Betty Loring (Delma Byron). As Dimples performs, the Professor breaks away to steal some articles from Mrs. Drew. Realizing the other kids are right about her grandfather being a thief, Dimples saves him from disgrace by assuming the blame of a stolen cuckoo clock to Mrs. Drew. Because Mrs. Drew is lonely, especially after losing her nephew to the theater (with Allen wanting Dimples to play the lead in his upcoming production of "Uncle Tom's Cabin"), and his association with an Cleo Marsh (Astrid Allwyn), an actress, she decides to bring some life into her empty mansion by offering the Professor $5,000 to have Dimples live with her. While this brings some joy and happiness to the dowager, it brings sadness and emptiness to the child who wants nothing more than to be with her grandfather again.In its own little way, DIMPLES resembles POPPY (Paramount, 1936), starring W.C. Fields (reprising his Broadway role as Eustace McGargle) and Rochelle Hudson. With both stories set in the 19th century, Frank Morgan, on loan from MGM, enacts his role almost in the Fields manner. Aside from being middle-aged and addressed as "Professor," they are both father and mother to a female orphan who truly loves them, in spite of their weakness of lying and stealing. Both men make the supreme sacrifice by leaving their loved one in the care of a rich widow who can better provide for them with a brighter future. Morgan's character at one point gets taken in by some thieves (one of them played by John Carradine) in Central Park by purchasing a valuable watch that "Josephine gave to Napoleon" with the $800 entrusted to him by Allen. Discovering the watch to be worthless, he sells the "family heirloom" to Mrs. Drew for $1,000. To avoid being arrested, the Professor hides in the theater by blackening his face where he is mistaken for the real actor (Jack Clifford) playing "Uncle Tom." While Morgan does a commendable job all around, how interesting DIMPLES might have been with W.C. Fields instead of Morgan opposite Temple. While POPPY and DIMPLES mix sentiment with comedy, DIMPLES provides more musical numbers than POPPY. Songs for this production composed by Jimmy McHugh and Ted Koehler include "What Did the Bluebird Say?" "He Was a Dandy," "Picture Me Without You" (all sung by Shirley Temple); "Get on Board" "Sweet Low, Sweet Chariot" (sung by the Hall Johnson Choir during the "Uncle Tom's Cabin" play); and "Dixie-Ana" (performed by Temple and minstrels).While DIMPLES recaptures the bygone era of minstrel shows and the re-enactment of noteworthy scenes taken from Harriet Beecher Stowe's classic novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" during the theater segment with Dimples playing Little Eva, certain areas of the story suffer from slow pacing. The young romantic leads (Kent and Byron) are lifeless while the older players (Morgan and Westley) prove satisfactory. Without the presence of Temple and her ability to bring life to the story through her singing and dancing, DIMPLES might have been a total failure. Temple's singing of "Picture Me Without You" to Morgan comes across a little trite or corny, while "Dixie-Ana" is agreeable enough to rank this one of her finest dance numbers captured on film.Others members of the cast include Berton Churchill, Paul Stanton and Betty Jean Haines as "Topsy" in the "Uncle Tom's Cabin" segment. While it's been customary for resident 20th-Fox black comedian Stepin Fetchit to receive special billing in the cast, in DIMPLES his performance as Cicero, mysteriously goes without any screen credit in most prints, receives fifth billing in closing credits in others.Available on video cassette and DVD for any Temple fan to enjoy in both black and white and colorized formats, DIMPLES was presented over the years on several cable TV networks ranging from The Disney Channel (1980s-90s), American Movie Classics (1996-2000) and presently on the Fox Movie Channel. (**1/2)

Ron Oliver DIMPLES, a precocious little tot in the New York City of 1850, must decide between life with her penniless but charming rogue of a grandfather & a wealthy old lady who loves her.Shirley Temple, that pint-sized package of amazing talent & energy, delights once again. Her megawatt smile & boundless vivacity are only the outward manifestations of her unique personality & status which still keeps her - after so much time - Hollywood's greatest child star.Frank Morgan, who had honed his scene stealing techniques for decades before Shirley was born, plays her grandfather. Given good lines, he was the rare actor who could dominate the dialogue even at the mighty tyke's expense. He is constantly entertaining to watch and adds greatly to the enjoyment of the film. His classic role would come a few years later when he was to portray THE WIZARD OF OZ, over at MGM.The supporting players all give solid performances, most notably Helen Westley & Berton Churchill. John Carradine & ubiquitous child actor Leonard Kibrick both have small roles. Movie mavens will recognize Stepin Fetchit, unbilled as Morgan's servant.The romantic subplot, consisting of Robert Kent trying to choose between Astrid Allwyn & Delma Byron, is a dull affair - as is usual in most Shirley Temple films.Shirley sings `What Did The Bluebird Say,' `He Was A Dandy,' and, with The Hall Johnson Choir, `Get On Board, Little Children'. Although he does not appear in the film, the legendary Bill Robinson choreographed Shirley's tap routines; his influence is readily apparent.It has to be mentioned that there is quite a lot of racism in the film. It should also be noted that this was not an unusual situation in Hollywood films of the 1930's.