Bright Eyes (1934)

An orphaned girl is taken in by a snobbish family at the insistence of their rich, crotchety uncle, even as her devoted aviator godfather fights for custody.

Director:

David Butler

Writers:

William M. Conselman (screen play) (as William Conselman), David Butler (story)

Stars:

Shirley Temple, James Dunn, Jane Darwell

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Shirley Temple	...	Shirley Blake
James Dunn	...	Loop Merritt
Jane Darwell	...	Mrs. Higgins
Judith Allen	...	Adele Martin
Lois Wilson	...	Mary Blake
Charles Sellon	...	Uncle Ned Smith
Walter Johnson	...	Thomas
Jane Withers	...	Joy Smythe
Theodore von Eltz	...	J. Wellington Smythe (as Theodor von Eltz)
Dorothy Christy	...	Anita Smythe
Brandon Hurst	...	Higgins
George Irving	...	Judge Thompson

Storyline

When a maid is accidentally hit by a car and killed, her young orphaned daughter is forced to live with the snooty couple she used to work for. A custody battle soon ensues between an aviator who adores the little girl and the couple's crotchety Uncle Ned.

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Plot Keywords:

girl in a notably short outfit | girl in very short dress or skirt | girl in mary jane shoes | 1930s | dead mother | 

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Taglines:

She's the sweetheart of the airdrome...guardian angel of the fliers who rate their lives more lightly than her love! (Print Ad- The Lodi News, ((Lodi, Calif.)) 7 January 1935)

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Family | Musical

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 December 1934 (USA)

Also Known As:

Shirley aviatrice

Filming Locations:

Glendale Grand Central Air Terminal - Grandview Avenue, Glendale, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min (FMC Library Print)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the 1970's, Jane Withers told author Marjorie Rosen that she had got the part in "Bright Eyes" as a result of an open audition. All the other girls who auditioned had been carefully coached by their parents to act sweet and nice, trying to out-Shirley Temple Shirley Temple. Withers' parents were smarter; they realized that if Fox wanted another girl Temple's age for a Temple film, it would be to play a bad girl to Temple's good girl. So they coached Withers to play bad, and she got the part.

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Goofs

When Shirley is out with Joy giving their dolls buggy rides and Joy wants to operate on Shirley's doll, Shirley says she doesn't want Mary Lou to be operated on. But the doll she actually has is not the small one she named Mary Lou, it's the larger one named Lupee given to her by the aviators.

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Quotes

Joy Smythe: What are you gonna get for Christmas? I'm gonna get a pink dollhouse with real furniture and a real piano and a tennis racket and a great big doll.
Shirley Blake: I asked Santa Claus to bring me a doll.
Joy Smythe: There ain't any Santa Claus!
Shirley Blake: There is too!
Joy Smythe: There is not! My psychoanalyst told me there ain't any Santa Claus or fairies or giants or anything like that.
Shirley Blake: I'll bet you'd feel pretty bad tomorrow morning if you woke up and you didn't have any presents.
Joy Smythe: Well, I won't. Wanna know why? 'Cause I already peeked in ...
[...]

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Alternate Versions

In 2005 a second colorized version was prepared by Legend Films, replacing the old version previously syndicated to television and released on VHS.

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Connections

Featured in Precious Images (1986)

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Soundtracks

Silent Night, Holy Night
(1818) (uncredited)
Music by Franz Xaver Gruber
Lyrics by Joseph Mohr
English lyrics Anonymous
In the score on Christmas Eve and sung in English by an offscreen chorus

User Reviews

The Beginning Of Stardom For Shirley

Even though there is very little singing and dancing, which is a big part of the appeal of Shirley Temple, it's still a solid film.

This was the first movie in which was Shirley was the big star, I believe, and you can see why she quickly won the hearts of Americans.

Although there is only one song, it's perhaps her most famous: "On the Good Ship Lollipop." The rest of the film is almost as charming as that song with many sweet, touching moments that made her films so endearing.

It also helped to have James Dunn as the male lead. Dunn was one of the more likable guys in classic Hollywood, on and off the screen. He and Shirley make a great pair.

Other interesting people to watch in this movie are the crabby old grandfather, played by Charles Sellon; the spoiled brat played by Jane Withers, who is so bad she's funny and an assortment of other characters from fliers to cooks to old girlfriends.

The only negative is the ending. It looked like they didn't know how to end this, so they rushed to finish it without much thought. Oh, well, the main thing is Shirley's charm.....and that's there in abundance.