My lovely grandmother took me to see this film when I was ten years old. I can still remember the huge theater, packed to the doors. So it was a real pleasure to find the film available on a DVD - even if that DVD was somewhat less than perfect and seems to have been duped from a worn if serviceable projection print which has an ugly jump in the middle of Shirley's delightful song, "Animal Crackers".The movie also has rather modest production values, but Rochelle Hudson also has a song and she looks absolutely terrific! On the other hand, Mr. Boles carries the air of having strolled into the wrong film by mistake! Fortunately, the rest of the players are most agreeable and it's real nice to see Esther Dale in such a large part.However, I don't like Cummings' direction. I didn't like it then and I don't like it now! This guy had a TV complex long before TV became a household necessity. He just loves (and way overdoes) close-ups! But despite the director's attempt at sabotage, I still give the movie an 8/10 rating.

"Curly Top" is an enjoyable film--as are most of Shirley Temple's films. And, while I do recommend it, the film cannot be counted among her very best even if it did feature one of her most famous songs, "Animal Crackers".The film begins with Shirley living in a stuffy orphanage. Her precocious ways are NOT appreciated by the head mistress, but the chairman of the board of directors, Edward Morgan (John Boles,) is instantly captivated with her charms (as was most of America at the time!). His wanting to adopt her was not at all surprising--but his insistence that he was acting as an agent for a rich benefactor never really made sense*. As for Shirley, she wants to be adopted but declines, as she doesn't want to be separated from her sister (Rochelle Hudson) who works doing menial work at the orphanage. When Morgan hears of this, he agrees to take both (though the sister is about 19--which makes it all a bit odd!) and takes them to his home--but still not divulging that HE was their new benefactor. Later, when Morgan falls in love with the older sister, things get complicated! Throughout most of the film, Shirley is simply adorable--perhaps too adorable. I have a VERY high tolerance for her sweetness, but here she seemed a bit less of a person and more of a performing machine. This is because she sings a few too many songs (one of which is HEAVILY scripted and choreographed) and too often she seemed to mug for the camera--definitely NOT typical of most of her vehicles. Simply put her saying "Oh my goodness" all the time eventually wore thin--though she was still, without question, quite adorable.Overall, I did like the film--even with the way they used Shirley's character. But, the film (even apart from Shirley), had too much singing (Hudson's number was very weak and Boles' voice was too thin by today's standards), the plot was thin and made little sense as well as the idea of a man taking that much interest in Shirley did, by today's standards, seem a bit creepy. But, as I said, it was good overall due to Shirley's charm.*This film is a re-working of the old novel "Daddy Long Legs" (which was also a play and Mary Pickford vehicle). While the plot worked fine around the turn of the century, by 1935 it was quite dated.

This is another solid Shirley Temple film with some wonderful, sweet scenes and lines you certainly wouldn't hear in movies today. For instance: "It's Sunday. Would you like to go to Sunday School? Ohh, I love Sunday School!"In addition to the innocence, truly nice characters, decent humor and music, what I appreciated was the lack of screen time of the villain. Many movies have some nasty person giving Shirley a hard time. To me, that's uncomfortable, but in this film the villain gets little screen time. Thus, much of the film features nothing but good, likable people.That list is headed by pretty Rochelle Hudson as "Mary Blair" and charming singer/good guy John Boles as "Edward Morgan" and, finally, good old Arthur Treacher as the butler (what else?!), "Reynolds.".To be fair, I didn't think the songs were that super, except for Shirley's "Animal Crackers In My Soup," which is a great song. If I recall, at least half the songs in this film were by the adults (two by Boles and one by Rochelle) and, frankly, I'd rather hear little Miss Temple. Boles' numbers and voice are too outdated for today. He has that Rudy Vallee-type 'early 30s voice.Do not watch this on a colorized VHS version as I did. Shirley's teeth are green and it's distracting. Stick to the black-and-white, especially now that it is available with a good DVD transfer.Overall, a nice story with lots of nice people give you a warm feeling when viewing this.

This was only my second Shirley Temple film and therefore I don't have much to compare it with, but I have to say it was pretty good and it's very obvious why little Shirley was such a hit with audiences way back in the 1930's. Full of sweetness, charm, charisma, and sometimes even a hint of darling incorrigibility, Miss Temple gets to shine brightly in this picture.Shirley stars as Elizabeth Blair (later dubbed "Curly"), a little girl residing at an orphanage with her much older sister Mary (Rochelle Hudson). It's an awfully tough place to live in, as Shirley gets into all sorts of trouble for doing things like allowing her little pony to sleep in her bed and daring to sing her popular song "Animal Crackers In My Soup" during mealtime with all her friends in the lunchroom. Enter the rich trustee of the orphanage, Edward Morgan (John Boles; I've always wondered what happened to him after FRANKENSTEIN), who instantly takes a special interest in little Elizabeth and then can't stop thinking about her; alone in his living room he plays the piano and sings (yucch) as he sees the little girl's cherubic face in the wall paintings he gazes at. He ultimately convinces his old aunt to let him adopt the child as well as her grown-up sister Mary. In their new ritzy environment, both sisters are very adoring of the handsome Edward, and Mary begins to fall in love with him. But there is another man who is also longing for Mary's hand, so it's up to Curly Top to try and bring Edward and Mary together.I can't let this review go by without mentioning at this point that it occasionally struck me as a little peculiar that Mr. Morgan seemed more interested in little Elizabeth than he was in her older sister. I'm sure it was innocent enough in its day, but it just came off as odd sometimes. Well -- enough of that. This is, after all, a Shirley Temple showcase and she gets to sing another song, "When I Grow Up," during a sequence where she stages a benefit show for all her less fortunate friends back at the orphanage, and changes costumes and dances. Watching her sing and dance her way into our hearts, it's clear that she was a highly talented performer who could completely carry a film. *** out of ****