The Little Princess (1939)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Walter Lang

Writers:

Ethel Hill (screenplay) and
Walter Ferris (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

17 March 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Family | Musical

Plot:

A little girl is left by her father in an exclusive seminary for girls, due to her father having to go to Africa with the army.

Plot Keywords:

Servant | Teacher | School | Victoria | Birthday Party

Cast

Shirley Temple	...	Sara Crewe
Richard Greene	...	Geoffrey Hamilton
Anita Louise	...	Rose
Ian Hunter	...	Captain Crewe
Cesar Romero	...	Ram Dass
Arthur Treacher	...	Bertie Minchin
Mary Nash	...	Amanda Minchin
Sybil Jason	...	Becky
Miles Mander	...	Lord Wickham
Marcia Mae Jones	...	Lavinia
Beryl Mercer	...	Queen Victoria
Deidre Gale	...	Jessie
Ira Stevens	...	Ermengarde
E.E. Clive	...	Mr. Barrows
Eily Malyon	...	Mrs. O'Connell - the Cook

Runtime:

93 min (TCM print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Hindi

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Canada:G (Ontario) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Chile:TE | Finland:S | Netherlands:AL | Peru:PT | USA:Approved (PCA #4712)

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The original source of the movie was a novel called "Sara Crewe; or, What Happened at Miss Minchin's" by Frances Hodgson Burnett, and it was published in 1888. She later adapted her book for the stage calling it "A Little Princess" (in London, 1902) and "The Little Princess" (in New York, 1903). It was successful enough that her publisher, C. Scribner's Sons, requested that she expand her original novel to include scenes from the play. The result was the final novel, "A Little Princess; being the whole story of Sara Crewe," which was published in 1905, and is the secondary source for the movie.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Sara Crewe: Why are they sending so many soldiers, daddy, if it's only going to be a little war?
Captain Reginald Crewe: To make those stubborn Boers take us seriously this time, my darling. When they realize Her Majesty intends to put a stop to their nonsense, they'll quiet down.
Sara Crewe: They'd better. Anyhow, when you get there, you'll stop them. Won't you, daddy?
Captain Reginald Crewe: I'll do my best, dear.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Lost: Walkabout (#1.4)" (2004)

Soundtrack:

Rule Britannia

Little Princess- Thank Heaven for Little Girls ***1/2

Charming film in color where Shirley Temple's dad goes off to fight in the Boer War. She is left is a fancy girl's school with a headmistress who is stern.

When word is brought to the school that the father, who adored his Sarah (Temple), has been killed and the child is left penniless, poor Sarah is shut up in the attic and made to work in the kitchen. Move over Cinderella.

Sarah never gives up hope that her dad (Ian Hunter) is living and she searches feverishly for him.

When a Indian mystery man (Cesar Romero) makes her room beautiful during a ballet sequence, Sarah is suspected of stealing.

Mary Nash is the wicked headmistress and acts in the same way as Margaret Hamilton in "The Wizard of Oz." Richard Green and Anita Louise play lovers, who are discharged from the school, by Nash for loving each other.

The ending is wonderful when Sarah finds her dad with the help no less of Queen Victoria (Beryl Mercer).

Enjoyable tale for children and adults alike.