Screen Fans Await “The Littlest Rebel”

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 71, 25 March 1936, Page 11

Screen Fans Await “The Littlest Rebel”

SHIRLEY TEMPLE STARS AS LITTLE DIXIE BELLE (State: Screening Saturday Week.) When „ little girl and her happiness are involved, the Blue and Gray are all friends —and no foes — as Shirley Temple’s "The Littlest Rebel,’’ proves. The picture, adapted from that immortal play of the Civil War, is under the Fox banner. As the tiniest Confederate in Virginia, the dimpled darling of the screen plays her first big dramatic role in "The Littlest Rebel. John Boles and Karen Morley are her parents. Separated by the War, they are rejoined just before Miss Morley succumbs to tho rigors. Boles, though he fears apprehension as a spy, undertakes to deliver tho child to her aunt in Richmond. He is trapped by a Yankee officer, Jack Holt. But Holt surrenders to Shirley’s charms, and tries to help them through the line. When their plot fails, both Holt and Boles are in hot water. How the little girl use 3 her charms on the President of the Union to save her daddy and her dearest friend, is revealed in the tender and dramatic climax. , The songs . Shirley sings during the

picture include'"Polly Wolly Doodle, 7 ' especially composed by B. G. DeSylva and Sidney Clare, and "If All Thy Endearing Young Charms." Bill Robinson ,the coloured genius of tap dancing, is again Shirley’s inseparable companion in this picture. Between them they manage some deft and charming exhibitions of footwork. Prominent in the supporting cast arc Guinn Williams as a Yankee soldier, Willie Best as a faithful retainer, and Frank McGlynn, nationally famous for his Abraham Lincoln characterisations David Butler directed "Tho- Littlest Rebel," under the supervision of Asso-ciate-Producer B. G. DeSylva.