Discuss Wee Willie Winkie
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Good something-different Shirley Temple film
posted by genplant29STAFFMOD on September 29, 2019 at 12:46 AM
This good Shirley Temple vehicle is quite unlike any of her other films: To large extent, it's an adventure-military story clearly intended to appeal to male moviegoers.
This was Shirley Temple's personal favourite of her movies. According to her:
Of all my films I rate Wee Willie Winkie the best, but for all the wrong reasons. It was best because of its manual of arms, the noisy marching around in military garb with brass buttons, my kilts bouncing. It was best because of daredevil stunts with snipers and stampeding horses. It was also best because I finally seemed to earn the professional respect of someone so blood-and-thunder macho as [director John] Ford.
I enjoy and appreciate this movie - which is the only Temple film in my personal collection. It's a top-notch production and well-told story, highly appealing and endearing for the relationship little Priscilla (dubbed "Private Winkie") forms with tough and gruff - but soft of heart - Sgt. MacDuff. Who can help but love the part where he shows her his baby picture?
Utterly charming film, but with also some grit to it.
Please check out the following list of titles and celebrities I've created TMDb threads for: https://www.themoviedb.org/list/118052
Reply by bratface
on September 29, 2019 at 2:17 AM
I love almost all of her films. We both had the same birthday (April 23). As a child I thought that was the coolest thing. I do prefer her earlier films though. I think the cut-off was 'Young People', it was a shame she had to grow up. I have most of her films stashed on my YouTube streaming channel. I watch them periodically.
Reply by genplant29
on September 29, 2019 at 2:34 AM
That's neat about sharing a birth month and day with Shirley.
She was consistently wonderful, for sure, and had limitless talents, from acting, singing, dance, the ability to have perfect dramatic and comedic timing, and also superb memorizing skills (she's said to not only always have had all her own lines memorized, but also everyone else's).
As you said, such a shame that her growing up meant also the end of her acting career. She could have remained in the business, had she wanted to, but I guess knew that doing so would mean she couldn't devote the amount of attention she wanted to be able to to her children/family.
Btw, very regrettably, neither of the archived IMDb message boards sites salvaged any of the old Shirley Temple board threads from prior to the closing of the IMDb boards. That's such a shame, as it means all the years of people posting about her there are now gone. Even the threads of people memorializing her when she died five years ago are lost to posterity.
Reply by bratface
on September 29, 2019 at 2:47 AM
That's weird that her board's past posts have vanished.
Reply by genplant29
on September 29, 2019 at 2:55 AM
It's tragic. I remember her board being filled with people's special memories, childhood recollections, etc.