Shirley Temple: Little Darling Collection (1 Viewer)

Does anyone know if the quality of the "Shirley Temple: Little Darling" set from 'As Seen on TV' is comparable in quality to the Fox releases? It sure is a great deal!
http://www.shirleytempletv.com/
Thanks!
Andy

I did some research and discovered that indeed they are identical to the Fox releases.
$50 for 18 films? Sold! I ordered my copy this afternoon!

Hi Andrew!

I find it surprising that so little has been posted on the Home Theater Forum regarding this collection. My Canadian Amazon Preorder for this (They're finally issuing it tomorrow, more than 4 years after Amazon U.S!) is in the "preparing for shipment stage," so I'll hopefully be receiving this in the next week or so!

My only minor concern is that the packaging seems a bit thin for an 18 DVD set. Assuming the inserts are thin shells that hold two discs in each, I don't anticipate any problems. At least Disc Rattle shouldn't be an issue, given this collection's relatively compact state.

I trust that the SHIRLEY TEMPLE: LITTLE DARLING COLLECTION has brought you much joy over these past 2 years plus, and I greatly look forward to viewing these, especially the few that I haven't yet seen (IE. YOUNG PEOPLE.). It's too bad that Shirley has now passed on! May she rest in peace!

CHEERS!

Tony

****************************UPDATE****************************

I discovered on a dvdtalk Forum thread that cardboard sleeves are used in the packaging. So long as they aren't ridiculously tight, I don't have a problem with that.

I purchased this set at Costco a couple of years ago.
Like you, I bought it (and the Charlie Chan and Marilyn collections) to save space. The packaging is the same as the Forever Marilyn collection.
The cardboard sleeves were in fact too tight and scratched a few discs. Others were a bit too loose. FWIW, the Wee Willie Winky disc was a flipper.

My SHIRLEY TEMPLE: LITTLE DARLING COLLECTION set was shipped by Canadian Amazon this afternoon. As I live only a few hours drive north of their Mississauga Depot, I should probably receive this in the next day or two. I plan to report on the physical state of the packaging and it's contents in due course.

On a somewhat related note, I also ordered Shirley Temple's THE FRANCHISE COLLECTION 2 Movie DVD, which was released by Universal, from an Amazon Marketplace Seller as the price was quite low, and this particular Seller also has a really high Satisfaction Rating. This includes Shirley's two Paramount Features LITTLE MISS MARKER and NOW AND FOREVER; plus the very first 'Baby Burlesk' Short, a One Reeler from 1932, titled THE RUNT PAGE.

CHEERS!

Tony

My SHIRLEY TEMPLE: LITTLE DARLING COLLECTION did arrive today, as expected.

I can see how some people ended up having issues relating to the type of packaging used. This consists of three sets of gate-fold sleeves, that each hold 6 discs in slots, as opposed to the book style, in which each DVD would have its own individual sleeve. A couple of the discs in my set had come loose from their individual slots. A quick inspection of all 18 DVDs didn't reveal any major scratches or scuffs, though the Double Sided WEE WILLIE WINKIE had a few marks on the visible side.

Speaking of WEE WILLIE WINKIE, it seems a bit odd that they would issue this one double sided*, considering that all of 20th Century Fox Entertainment's other Shirley Temple DVDs that feature two versions of the same Title were released in a Single sided dual layer format!

Though I'm not in the habit of doing so, I may need to repackage this set, as some of the DVDs are a bit difficult to remove (Especially the slightly thicker double sided WEE WILLIE WINKIE disc, ARGH!). While I could probably live with this myself, I fear that attempted removal of these would frustrate my lovely Wife to no end!

CHEERS!

Tony

* I suppose a case could be made that at 100 minutes, WEE WILLIE WINKIE is the longest Film in the collection, which could have caused a decision to make this disc double-sided (Which does provide more space.), rather than dual layer. However, I have seen dual layer DVDs that contain more than of 3 and a half hours of content, for which the video quality didn't appear to suffer from excessive video bit-rate compression.

Still no POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL!!

ajabrams said:

Still no POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL!!

Click to expand...

The fact that this has not been issued in any format since VHS is one of the greatest oversights in Fox's treatment of it's catalog. Hopefully, they will remedy that soon.

And yet it's been out on DVD in Australia and the UK for years.

classicmovieguy said:

And yet it's been out on DVD in Australia and the UK for years.

Click to expand...

Reminds me, I should watch mine sometime. Still in shrink wrap.

Tony Bensley said:

My SHIRLEY TEMPLE: LITTLE DARLING COLLECTION did arrive today, as expected.

I can see how some people ended up having issues relating to the type of packaging used. This consists of three sets of gate-fold sleeves, that each hold 6 discs in slots, as opposed to the book style, in which each DVD would have its own individual sleeve. A couple of the discs in my set had come loose from their individual slots. A quick inspection of all 18 DVDs didn't reveal any major scratches or scuffs, though the Double Sided WEE WILLIE WINKIE had a few marks on the visible side.

Speaking of WEE WILLIE WINKIE, it seems a bit odd that they would issue this one double sided*, considering that all of 20th Century Fox Entertainment's other Shirley Temple DVDs that feature two versions of the same Title were released in a Single sided dual layer format!

Though I'm not in the habit of doing so, I may need to repackage this set, as some of the DVDs are a bit difficult to remove (Especially the slightly thicker double sided WEE WILLIE WINKIE disc, ARGH!). While I could probably live with this myself, I fear that attempted removal of these would frustrate my lovely Wife to no end!

CHEERS!

Tony

* I suppose a case could be made that at 100 minutes, WEE WILLIE WINKIE is the longest Film in the collection, which could have caused a decision to make this disc double-sided (Which does provide more space.), rather than dual layer. However, I have seen dual layer DVDs that contain more than of 3 and a half hours of content, for which the video quality didn't appear to suffer from excessive video bit-rate compression.

Click to expand...

Tony ,
I really dislike this style of packaging , so I opted to start buying the original 3 movie box sets - The Shirley Temple Collection . I just got set #3 which seems to be either out of print or in short supply. Much better packaging on these collections although they do take up a lot of space on the shelves. This could have been easily rectified by issuing this newer box set in thin line cases like you suggested.

LouA said:

Tony ,
I really dislike this style of packaging , so I opted to start buying the original 3 movie box sets - The Shirley Temple Collection . I just got set #3 which seems to be either out of print or in short supply. Much better packaging on these collections although they do take up a lot of space on the shelves. This could have been easily rectified by issuing this newer box set in thin line cases like you suggested.

Click to expand...

Hi Lou!

As nice as the packaging looks for the collection that you're purchasing, their simply way too expensive on Canadian Amazon, whereas I was able to purchase THE LITTLE DARLING COLLECTION for around $35, including our excessive %13 combined taxes! I've already backed all of these up as a precaution!

CHEERS!

********Message to MODs: Please kindly disregard any report you might receive on Lou's above post. I accidentally clicked on this as my page shifted at the wrong time! Thanks in advance!********

ajabrams said:

Still no POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL!!

Click to expand...

Hi ajabrams!
This and three other Shirley Temple 20th Century Fox Features didn't make it onto her 3 Volume, 18 Movie Collection. The other Fox Titles are CHANGE OF HEART (Available on DVD through Amazon), NOW, I'LL TELL (On DVD, but not currently available on Amazon.) and OUR LITTLE GIRL, which is available only as a PAL Region 2 DVD.
LITTLE MISS MARKER and NOW AND FOREVER are Paramount Features. Thus, they couldn't be included on any 20th Century Fox Collections.
[font="Tahoma;font-size:10.5pt"]Of course POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL is by far, the most conspicuous in its absence from Region 1. Why there isn't a DVD of this Title available in North America is indeed, a mystery![/font]

[font="Tahoma;font-size:10.5pt"]CHEERS![/font]
[font="Tahoma;font-size:10.5pt"]Tony[/font]

Perhaps the quintessential number from "Poor Little Rich Girl"...

Completely delightful even with the dreadful colorization!

Unless I'm mistaken, there doesn't appear to be ANY Black & White version of POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL on Home Video! The Australian DVD that's listed on eBay only mentions the Colorized Version.

20th Century Fox really needs to make this right, and give Shirley Temple's POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL a proper Region 1 release in its original Black & White version! Perhaps this could be issued with her other three Starring/Co-starring Fox features that aren't in the LITTLE DARLING COLLECTION.

By the way, thank you very much classicmovieguy for sharing the lovely (Despite the awful looking colorization!) Shirley Temple clip!

CHEERS!

Tony

I haven't really sat down and viewed these as yet. However, just by scanning through the discs, I've made a few observations:

- While the quality of the Prints are generally good, there is definitely some variance amongst these.
- The Colorization in my opinion, is for the most part disappointing, and really adds nothing to this set. Without knowing the details, they look like they are probably the Colorized efforts which previously appeared on the 1990's VHS issues, that were simply digitally re-scanned for DVD. I for one, would just as soon not have had these included. The original Black & White/Technicolor prints suit me just fine!
- Still on the subject of Colorization; I do recall having read a review on Amazon, in which a reviewer complained about THE LITTLE COLONEL'S final Technicolor sequence having been substituted by Re-colorization. Having quickly* checked both the Colorized and (Mostly) Black & White versions, the hues within the "Technicolor" sequence did look the same to me on both. If memory serves me correctly, the reviewer's argument was that if the original Technicolor elements for THE LITTLE COLONEL'S last scene weren't available, it should have been kept in Black & White, instead. I'm inclined to agree on this point.
- Throughout the DVD's, I noticed that many included a trailer for HEIDI. While I love this Film, and is arguably Shirley's best, even considering that these DVDs were originally released individually, I consider this to be massive overkill!
- On the subject of trailers, the one for Shirley Temple's final 20th Century Fox Feature, YOUNG PEOPLE boasts of what can be best described as major video wiggle!

That's all for now!

CHEERS!

Tony

* The emphasis is on quickly! Upon further, more careful checking, I can assure everyone that the Black & White 20th Century Fox DVD version does indeed, use the real Technicolor Print for the final sequence. The initial tip off is that in the Black & White version, the Flowers fade into Technicolor from Black & White, which of course, does not occur on the colorized version. The difference in saturation is also much more obvious on our 32" Flatscreen TV than on my 15.6" Laptop, upon which I based my initial (Incorrect!) observation.

I think the old colourised versions were included because most kids don't "get" B&W and would probably turn their nose up at watching a film where there was no colour. This was Fox's reason for releasing Shirley's films in colour in the 90's on VHS - and it succeeded in introducing a new generation to her remarkable films. At least Fox was thoughtful in retaining optional B&W versions on the DVDs.

This was Fox's marketing campaign for 'The Shirley Temple Collection' on VHS in the mid 90's.

While it's great to have "Poor Little Rich Girl" available here in Australia as an official Fox release, it's also most disappointing to have it in this awfully ugly, colorised, extremely soft, Artifact filled DVD.

Still I guess it's better than nothing. Well, maybe...






Will we ever see a decent quality release?

Doug.

******MESSAGE TO MODS: PLEASE KINDLY DELETE POST!******