Stowaway (1936)

A young girl lost in Shanghai is taken in by an American playboy and his girlfriend.

Director:

William A. Seiter

Writers:

William M. Conselman (screen play) (as William Counselman), Arthur Sheekman (screen play)

Stars:

Shirley Temple, Robert Young, Alice Faye

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Shirley Temple	...	Ching-Ching aka Barbara Stewart
Robert Young	...	Tommy Randall
Alice Faye	...	Susan Parker
Eugene Pallette	...	The Colonel
Helen Westley	...	Mrs. Hope
Arthur Treacher	...	Atkins
Allan Lane	...	Richard Hope
J. Edward Bromberg	...	Judge J.D. Booth
Astrid Allwyn	...	Kay Swift
Robert Greig	...	Captain
Jayne Regan	...	Dora Day
Julius Tannen	...	First Mate Jenkins
Willie Fung	...	Chang
Philip Ahn	...	Sun Lo
Paul McVey	...	Second Mate

Storyline

Ching-Ching gets lost in Shanghai and is befriended by American playboy Tommy Randall. She falls asleep in his car which winds up on a ship headed for America. Susan Parker, also on the ship, marries Randall to give Chin-Ching a family.

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Plot Keywords:

girl | melodrama | 

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Taglines:

She Sings and Speaks Chinese!

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Genres:

Adventure | Family | Musical

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Mandarin

Release Date:

25 December 1936 (USA)

Also Known As:

Stowaway

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

New York dateline, November 17, 1938: Composers Galore Say Tune in "Stowaway" was Pirated [Headline]. Plagiarism suits and claims plagued 20th Century-Fox this week, with all parts of the world represented, apparently, in the allegations that the Mack Gordon-Harry Revel tune "Good Night, My Love," which was used in the 1936 Shirley Temple picture "Stowaway" had been pirated wholly or in part. In Argentina, a musical trial was held in a Buenos Aires theater with the audience, admitted on free passes, acting as a jury. Two reels of the picture were exhibited and the song of the claimant, Juan Calabria, and the Gordon-Revel piece were played. The audience found for the plaintiff. Twentieth Century-Fox's legal department, taking the position that the audience-jury was "packed," is moving for a dismissal. Charles McCord, a New York tune smith, is suing for $60,000 damages from 20th Century-Fox, alleging that Gordon and Revel lifted music from a song he wrote as the basis for "Good Night, My Love." Claims have also been received from Europe also. So maybe it isn't surprising that Edwin P. Kilroe, copyright expert of the company's legal staff, said yesterday that he was waiting to hear from the heirs of Verdi and Brahams. Gordon and Revel were to arrive in New York this week from the coast.

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Goofs

It appears as though Alice Faye after finishing a game of shuffleboard with her fiancé, Mr. Hope, changed from wearing a pair of shorts to a sun-dress of sorts. In one scene she is seen leaving the ship's shuffleboard area in shorts and then entering an interior cabin in the sun-dress. After playing shuffleboard, Alice Faye buttons on a wrap-around skirt.

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Quotes

Tommy Randall: Do you think your mother would mind if you joined us in a soup bone?
Barbara Stewart aka Ching-Ching: I haven't got any mother.
Tommy Randall: Well, then, your father, or family?
Barbara Stewart aka Ching-Ching: I haven't any family. I haven't even got Chang.
Tommy Randall: Who's Chang?
Barbara Stewart aka Ching-Ching: He brought me here from Sanchow, and then he ran away with my money.

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Connections

Featured in A Hollywood Christmas (1996)

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Soundtracks

One Never Knows, Does One?
(1936)
Music by Harry Revel
Lyrics by Mack Gordon
Copyright 1936 by Robbins Music Corp.
Performed by Alice Faye

User Reviews

Little Shirley Struts Her Stuff

Fleeing from bandit-ridden China, a cute & incredibly precocious little orphan accidentally becomes a STOWAWAY on a luxury liner. Once aboard, she proceeds to charm (nearly) everyone in sight, while working to bring about the marriage of two lonely Americans.

Shirley Temple switches on her megawatt smile & captures the viewers' hearts once more in this pleasant, crowd pleasing movie. Amply displaying the charm which made her Hollywood's box office queen for years, Shirley gets to sing, dance, and even speak quite a bit of Chinese.

Robert Young & Alice Faye appear as the romantic leads, and they do a good job, but ultimately they are just so much grist for Shirley's mill. Little Miss Temple always found her stiffest acting competition coming from the character performers and this film features some fine examples: Helen Westley as a dreadful mother-in-law in-waiting; wonderful Arthur Treacher as Young's comic butler; Eugene Palette, boisterous as a perpetually inebriated American; Philip Ahn as a faithful friend of Shirley's family; Willie Fung as the negligent boatman who spirits her to Shanghai; J. Edward Bromberg as a no-nonsense judge; and Robert Greig as the kindly ship captain.

20th Century Fox obviously pumped a good deal of money into this film and the production values show it. The scenes in China are particularly well done, although the use of rear projection during Shirley's walk near the Shanghai waterfront is all too obvious.

Shirley sings 'Goodnight My Love,' 'That's What I Want For Christmas' & 'You've Gotta S-M-I-L-E To Be H-A-double P-Y'. During the performance of this latter song Shirley mimics Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor & Ginger Rogers. Originally, she also impersonated Mae West but that segment was considered too hot and excised.