Baby Take a Bow (1934)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Just what I expected

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Released in mid '34, just after the Hays film censor code went into full effect. As usual during her Fox years, Shirley was cast as younger than her actual age(presumably 5, rather than 6). This is one of her earliest feature-length films, in which she is given top billing. Actually nearly all her films were on the short side of feature length, this one a mere 76 min.. She seems noticeably younger than in "Bright Eyes", released at the end of that year, being treated more like a young child than a little girl with grown up ambitions. Of course, it was released in B&W, although I watched the colorized version. The screenplay is based on the '27 play and '28 silent film titled "Square Crooks", which lacked Shirley's character. This title may seem self-contradictory, but the point is that 2 men(Eddie Ellison and Larry Scott), who spent time in prison for some undisclosed crimes are trying to go straight after their release. We know that, in real life, this is often difficult, partly due to employer's prejudice against ex-cons. In this film, these two have some things going for them as well as against them. Ellison earns a recommendation from the prison superintendent, and has a beautiful girl(Claire Trevor, as Kay) waiting to marry him upon his release. They spend a romantic honeymoon at Niagara Falls, and make plans for the future. However, Eddie and Scott have two important nemeses in the context of the plot. Cigar-chomping detective Welch(played by 'heavy' Alan Dinehart) has a fixation on trying to catch or frame Eddie relating to some crime, so that he can send him back to prison. His motto is "Once a crook, always a crook". He tries to make it impossible for Eddie to land or keep a job, by revealing to the employer his ex-con status. The same goes for Scott. Although not much emphasized, one scene early in the film suggests that Welch is particularly keen to make normal life for Eddie impossible because he has long lusted for his wife Kay, beginning with his involvement in Eddie's conviction. But, Kay hates Welch....Their second nemesis is 'Trigger' Stone(Ralf Harolde), an acquaintance of Eddie, who was sent to Sing Sing the same day that Eddie was released. In contrast to Eddie and Scott, who got out early for good behavior, Trigger brags about what mischief he will do when he gets out. When he gets out, just before Shirley's birthday, he heads back to NYC, steals a valuable necklace from the employer of Eddie and Scott (the Carsons), then looks for Eddie and Scott to help him 'dispose' of the necklace. But they refuse.Before Trigger's release, we've spent some time getting acquainted with Shirley: the adorable young daughter of Eddie and Kay, seeing the love between her and her parents and between her parents. Welch now tells Carson about the ex-con status of Eddie and Scott, and that he suspects them of stealing the necklace. Carson fires them, in response. Nonetheless, a big birthday party for Shirley goes ahead. She puts on a demonstration of some of the dancing skills she has learned. She sings the catchy "On Account'a I Love You" , with Eddie participating in the singing and dancing later in the act. At the end, 'baby takes a bow'. Next morning, Trigger again comes looking for Eddie and Scott, but spies a familiar detective on the street, causing him to sneak the necklace to Shirley, as a 'birthday present', then disappears. Shirley slips it into Eddie's jacket pocket, and tries to play hide and seek with the preoccupied Eddie. Just then, Welch shows up looking for the necklace. Of course, Eddie and Scott are sure he won't find it there, until Eddie checks his jacket pocket. It's then hidden in the coffee pot, and they sweat it out when Welch wants a cup of coffee. Shirley latter pulls it out of the coffee pot, and gives it to Eddie when Welch is searching another room. It's now hidden in the carpet sweeper, which is borrowed by a neighbor, who then empties the contents into the outside trash can. All, including Welch, have quite a time trying to find the necklace in the retrieved sweeper. Fortuitously, Shirley later finds it in the trash. Trigger comes looking for the necklace, but is knocked unconscious by Eddie and tied up, before Eddie runs for the police. Shirley then encounters Trigger, who convincers her to cut his ropes. He takes the necklace from her and grabs her as a shield against capture. In the following chase, wounded Eddie finally knocks Trigger out with a head blow from behind. Detectives arrive, and Shirley pulls the necklace out of Trigger's pocket. Welch arrives and claims that Eddie and Scott had the necklace all the time. But, the detectives don't buy that, and announce that Shirley will get the reward for recovering the necklace. The still arguing Welch is backed up until he falls through a skylight onto the Ellison's bed, causing the pillows to burst their feathers, which cover him, for a happy ending.Despite all the contrived coincidences. this was a fun film. Shirley is cute, cuddly, and, for once, in a stable family relationship from start to finish. Obviously, she had great rapport with James Dunn, as again shown in "Bright Eyes", as well as with Claire Trevor, as her mother. Alan Dinehart was as much fun, as the butt of verbal and physical humor, as he was sinister. ..It's true that Dunn and Ray Walker, as Scott, seem far too nice to have been crooks, in contrast to Trigger's sinister demeanor.

That's what practically everybody is wondering here. Ex-con James Dunn has been sacked from his job as a chauffeur because of a jewel heist at his employer's. But the real thief makes sure that his daughter (Shirley Temple) ends up with them so the police won't catch him with the stolen goods. With obnoxious detective Alan Dinehart on Dunn's trail, this threatens Dunn's freedom. But with "Little Miss Fix It" (Temple) on hand, its only a matter of time before everything is resolved. Having sung the song "Baby, Take a Bow!" in the same year's "Stand Up and Cheer!" (a homage to surviving the depression), Temple rose to top billing with this film. Dunn and his frequent co-star Claire Trevor play her loving parents and are just as good. This film gets a little agitating when Dinehart is on screen; He invades Dunn's house without a search warrant, and they simply let him go about his business. But these types of movies aren't always about reality; After all, this wasn't made at Warner Brothers where gangster films were a lot grittier and New York kids spoke with a tougher edge than Shirley can muster. Dunn and Temple perform a cute little number (a must in one of Shirley's films) that is the highlight of the film.

BABY TAKE A BOW (Fox, 1934), directed by Harry Lachman, with its backstage musical sounding title, is actually one taken from a production number introduced by James Dunn and Shirley Temple in STAND UP AND CHEER (1934). While it could have been a sort of sequel with Dunn and Temple reprising their original roles as Jimmy and Shirley Dugan, father and daughter song and dance team, in a story to what's become of them after making it big on Broadway, with the little girl taking all the bows while her father rests in the background, it's actually a dramatic story with some doses of humor thrown in, about reformed crooks going straight (filmed before as "Square Crooks" (Fox, 1928) starring Robert Armstrong, Dorothy Dwan and John Mack Brown). For Shirley Temple's first starring role at Fox, much of the plot revolves around future Academy Award winners James Dunn (Supporting actor for A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (1945) and Claire Trevor (supporting actress for KEY LARGO (1948), with Temple, as their petite daughter, around for moral support.The ten minute prologue introduces Kay (Claire Trevor) at the train station heading for Ossining to meet with the man she's going to marry. Eddie Ellison (James Dunn), a former crook, having served time in Sing Sing Prison, is being paroled four months early for good behavior. Welch (Alan Dinehart), the special investigator who caused Eddie's conviction to get Kay for himself, has followed Kay to the prison. Upon their meeting, Kay makes plans for she and Eddie to marry and honeymoon at Niagara Falls. As Flannigan (James Flavin) arrives with Larry Scott (Ray Walker) to serve a five year stretch, Scott, who takes an immediate liking towards both Kay and Eddie, and dislike towards Welch, does Eddie a good turn by socking Welch. Six years later, Eddie is seen working as a chauffeur for the wealthy Joseph Carson (Richard Tucker). He succeeds getting Cason to hire his friend, Larry, now out on parole with plans of marrying Jane (Dorothy Libaire), though both keep their prison history a secret. Also released from Sing Sing is "Trigger" Stone (Ralf Harolde), who, unlike Eddie and Larry, has no intentions of reforming. Eddie and Kay, blessed with a daughter, Shirley (Shirley Temple), make preparations for her upcoming birthday party to take place on the rooftop of their tenement apartment building. Trigger, who has stolen a pearl heckles from the Carson home, gives it to Shirley, thinking it as her birthday present. Due to the robbery and the discovery of Eddie and Scott's prison records through Welch, Carson is forced to have dismiss them from his employ. Learning that Trigger is the culprit, Eddie and Larry have a hard time proving their innocence, especially with the heckles in their possession and Welch hot on their tail.Not quite the formula Shirley Temple production, BABY TAKE A BOW, does offer her, in ballet dress, a song and dance number accompanied by James Dunn singing "On Account of I Love You" (by Buddy Green and Sammy Stept). A good song underscored during its opening and closing credits, but something that simply didn't catch on as did Temple's other hit songs of 1934, "Baby Take a Bow" and "On the Good Ship Lollipop." Temple and Dunn registered so well together that they were reunited for the last time in their best collaboration, BRIGHT EYES (1934). Others in the cast include Olive Tell (Mrs. Carson); Samuel S. Hinds (The Warden); Mary Gordon (Mrs. O'Brien); and Guy Usher (McLane, Captain of Detectives).1934 was a busy year for Shirley Temple, having more film releases than any other year. As for BABY TAKE A BOW, it has become unfamiliar and least known to modern audiences due to its unavailability, having never become part of the "Shirley Temple Theater/ Playhouse" on commercial television during the 1960s and 70s. Not until the mid to late 1980s has BABY TAKE A BOW surfaced, becoming a welcome addition to the Shirley Temple/20th Fox movies placed on cassette by Playhouse Video and distribution on cable television (Disney Channel (early 1990s), American Movie Classics (1996-2001), Fox Movie Channel) and later on DVD either in colorized or original black and white formats. Regardless of BABY TAKE A BOW's reputation as being one of Temple's lesser efforts, due to plot focusing more on adults (especially the annoying Dinehart) than to her character, along with some gun battles not used in her latter films, overall, a welcome addition plus a look back into the early career of the biggest, littlest star, Shirley Temple. Baby, take a bow! (***)

**Some Possible Spoliers**It was 12pm in the afternoon, and the announcer happened to indicate that a film with Shirley Temple was to come up next. My mother told me to tape the film since she thought that any film with Shirley Temple is a sure winner.I was reluctant, but once the film started going i was rather intrigued. The story is rather good, and the actors are not so bad. Yet the adult actors tend to be a little too rigid in some moments of the film.Shirley has to be without a doubt, the person who steals the show in this movie. Being cute and full of charm, she has the potential to just blow other actors right off the screen.Although sometimes you wish she hadn't done things, like cut Mr Stone loose, she still remains as the best actress on screen. The last scene of the film on the rooftop was a reassuring one. There was some pretty good acting by Claire Trevor (Kay) which made the scene believeable. And the ending was rather sweet and happy (predictable).I really enjoyed watching this film, and the scene with the coffee pot and the beads always gets me nervous. Anyone who likes old fashioned comedy, you'll be in for a treat. Shirley's charm surely makes this film worth watching.Rating: 8/10