Eloise is a little girl who lives at the ultra-fancified Plaza Hotel in New York City. She is certainly an unusual and intelligent girl living in a most unusual home. However, she essentially is allowed to set her own rules and the paid help seem to be there to pamper to her every whim. Despite this, most of the neighbors think she's simply amazing. She's seen by most to be precocious and fun, though I could EASILY see folks watching this and think she's just plain obnoxious. For example, Eloise is allowed to have a passkey to the other apartments and she uses it to leave 'gifts' for the tenants. Cute? Maybe...but maybe not! To me, watching Eloise felt like visiting a friend's home and their 7 year-old INSISTING on entertaining everyone...whether they want entertaining or not!
The plot involves Eloise's mother trying to hide from the child that she and Eloise's father are divorcing . Also, because they are a rich and successful couple, newspaper photographers are hiding everywhere...trying to get a photo of this kid. As for Eloise, you can only assume she'd LOVE the attention of reporters and photographers!
The little girl who played Eloise, Evelyn Rudie, was obviously a very smart little girl. You should read her IMDB biography to learn more about this. But being talented alone isn't everything. After all, she STILL was seven when she made this film and at times her delivery is a bit...well, like an obnoxious little girl (such as talking over others' lines). Folks back in 1856 thought Evelyn (Eloise) was amazing and she received a lot of publicity...but today I cannot imagine her eliciting anything other than dislike. This is a great example of times changing...what's cute in 1956 isn't so cute decades later.
By the way, although I disliked "Eloise", I was amazed at the fine supporting cast...and many of them played themselves, such as Monty Woolley, Ethel Barrymore, and Louis Jourdan.