Shirley Temple: Little Darling Collection (1 Viewer)

[Tony Bensley]

[color=rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:16px;]Here's my suggested captions[/color] for the following Screenshots:

[font="Arial;font-size:15px"]"Our Motto: Striving To Maintain VHS Quality In Today's DVD/BluRay World!"[/font]

"Hey Folks! Welcome To The Wonderful World Of 1970's State Of The Art Technology!"

Jack: Can you dig this razor sharp 240 lines of video resolution? Alice: It just can't get any better than this!
Shirley: No comment!

"This was the best you could do? Seriously?"


WOW! What a load of crap, that is! POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL deserves a far better DVD release than this!

CHEERS!

Tony

 

[Tony Bensley]

THE LITTLE COLONEL: The Final Sequence

A Screenshot Comparison

From The Colorized Version:

From The (Mostly!) Black & White Version:

Any Thoughts?

CHEERS!

Tony

 

[classicmovieguy]

I think that the DVD transfer of "Poor Little Rich Girl" was a direct recycle of the 90's video master. Same deal with most of the others which were released in the UK & Australia at the same time ("Our Little Girl", "Dimples", "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm", "Heidi", "Captain January","Curly Top" and "Bright Eyes"). Each had that rather ropey look about them.

 

[Doug Bull]

Looks as if they all came from the same video vaults that Fox Archives get all their materials from.
They just brush off the 1990's video cobwebs. Cheap and nasty.

Doug.

 

[Tony Bensley]

Looks as if they all came from the same video vaults that Fox Archives get all their materials from.
They just brush off the 1990's video cobwebs. Cheap and nasty.

Doug.

Hi Doug!

Legend Films, founded in 2001 did the colorization for THE LITTLE COLONEL, which to me, looks average at best. However, in my opinion, Legend did do a superb job with Colorizing their Christmas 2006 release of Laurel & Hardy's BABES IN TOYLAND, and I'm not Pro-Colorization by any stretch!

From what I've picked up in scanning through these Films, the Colorized Versions don't look to be any great shakes, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if at least some of these do indeed derive from the prints that were used for the 1990's VHS releases.

However, in regards to the original Black & White/Technicolor versions, just based on the addition of THE LITTLE COLONEL'S final Technicolor Scene for the DVD release tells me that for these, Fox didn't simply reuse the 1990's video cobwebs, so to speak. Otherwise, we wouldn't even have the final scene that has sparked much debate as to whether the last scene in the (Mostly!) Black & White version Technicolor or a Colorized restoration (It's Technicolor!), as it wasn't on the 1990's VHS release at all!

Of course, the Color on your POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL DVD looks like a Dog's Dinner! That a Black & White version wasn't also included is a crime against humanity, but as you have stated, it is better than nothing.

CHEERS!

Tony

 

[moviepas]

Poor Little Rich Girl was one I had or might still have on 16mm. I have The Little Princess on the Lumivision LD set. When the boxsets came out with colorised versions included, they did not include the colorised version of Stand Up And Cheer, the only one I saw on TV here many years before colorised. Someone gave me the Australian PAL edition of Cpt January and I thought it was worse and a poor print in general to the US one in the sets.

There had been a colorised VHS running around in Australia of Miss Annie Rooney(1942) but it has disappeared from the city library now. I don't have a copy of that tape. I have never seen a DVD of it. This was an Edward Small film, the same Small who, a few years later, presented Witness for the Prosecution which I got on Blu Ray this week.They guy who gave Shirley her first grown-up kiss in Annie is still with us but ailing as Jane Powell's current and long-term husband(Dickie Moore).

WAC are yet to release Kathleen on DVD.

Now I'll Tell & Change of Heart really have no place in the sets, except for completion, because she is only seen in a tiny role and called Shirley in one of them. The Paramounts might have been available for license but Universal issued a double of those.

I originally only saw bits & pieces of The Bluebird in the early 1970s when one Saturday afternoon I was in the Sears store in Lincoln Park/Mi when it was on a channel on a wall of TVs. It looked very purpleish in that TV screening. At the time they had banks of Sunday noon movies of Shirley, Andy Hardy or Charlie Chan & Mr Moto, the Bowery Boys/Eastside Kids. We got them like this in Australia too. I had heard that The Bluebird was pulled from the initial screenings and re-edited(meaning shortened) but I have not seen anything to that effect since. I have never seen the remake Fox produced outside USA.

The Shirley Temple Storybook was screened on Sundays when it was new and I saw a number. Quite surprised in recent years to see it was made in color and got what came out.

Another early TV series we saw in that period or earlier on a Sunday evening was Lowell Thomas' High Adventure. Never seen that one since. Victory at Sea was another Sunday evening screening but I got those and in Blu Ray!!!!! That for a fraction of the cost I had paid for the DVD set. Shirley was not in any of those, of course.

 

[Tony Bensley]

Poor Little Rich Girl was one I had or might still have on 16mm. I have The Little Princess on the Lumivision LD set.


Now I'll Tell & Change of Heart really have no place in the sets, except for completion, because she is only seen in a tiny role and called Shirley in one of them. The Paramounts might have been available for license but Universal issued a double of those.

Shirley is listed a ways down on the imdb Cast Listing for both Films; even further down still for the earlier Fox Film CAROLINA. She also appeared in a few Features for other Film Studios dating back to 1932.

The issue at hand is whether one wants every 20th Century Fox Film that Shirley was in, regardless of lack of Screen Time/Credit, or is content seeing her in only her Starring/Co-Starring roles!

Of course, this doesn't explain how, or why a quality Region 1 DVD of POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL still hasn't been issued!


CHEERS!

Tony

 

[classicmovieguy]

I used to have a copy - in my considerable VHS collection (long gone) - of that Australian "Miss Annie Rooney" tape. Sweet little film.

 

[Tony Bensley]

On a positive note, THE LITTLE PRINCESS looks great! That many Brick & Mortar Stores often still carry crappy Public Domain versions of this Title, rather than the far superior 20th Century Fox Entertainment Release (Especially when they carry other Shirley Temple 20th Century Fox DVD Releases!), is a great source of irritation to me!

For those still looking to buy THE LITTLE PRINCESS, do yourself a favor and buy the 20th Century Fox DVD, whether it be a standalone, or as part of one of the Shirley Temple 20th Century Fox Collections. Accept NO Substitutes!

Below are some Digiview/20th Century Fox DVD Screenshot Comparisons for THE LITTLE PRINCESS:


From Digiview DVD:

From 20th Century Fox Entertainment DVD:

A bit like going from Kansas to Oz, isn't it?

CHEERS!

Tony

 

[classicmovieguy]

Yes the original Fox print of "Little Princess" is a revelation.

One of my personal favourite Shirley films, mostly for its adorable comedy, is "Rebecca of Sunnybook Farm". Early in the film, Jack Haley asks Shirley, "Do you have adenoids?", and Shirley's response - "No... but I can get some if you want them!".

 

[Nick*Z]

Temple's legacy is one of the most badly maligned on home video; a crass debasement of the little dynamo that saved Fox from bankruptcy more than once and actually put the studio in the black. Why Fox continues to repackage and re-sell 1980's colorized transfers when they could and SHOULD so easily go back to surviving B&W elements for a remastering effort remains a complete mystery and a tragedy for Shirley Temple fans.

Temple's passing may remind Fox what a gold mine they continue to have on home video, thus beginning the sincere process of restoring and remastering these movies in a manner befitting Temple's contributions to world cinema. It was FDR, after all, who astutely coined during the darkest days of the Great Depression, "So long as there's Shirley Temple, the country's okay!" Will we see Fox do justice to Temple's legacy on Blu-ray. Hmmmm. Well, it's a promise unfulfilled. But Fox has been doing some good solid work in hi-def of late.

Best advice to Temple fans: write in your votes for some digital restorations that these movies so obviously and BADLY need. Be sincere and positive in your feedback and work your magic on the powers that be, as only writing in, in numbers, can do. Studios want to see the money first. 10 letters to Fox will do nothing. 10,000 might raise a curious eyebrow or two in the front offices. Sometimes that's all it takes. Sometimes more. Be diligent and pray. It's the best advice I can give.

 

[Tony Bensley]

Temple's legacy is one of the most badly maligned on home video; a crass debasement of the little dynamo that saved Fox from bankruptcy more than once and actually put the studio in the black. Why Fox continues to repackage and re-sell 1980's colorized transfers when they could and SHOULD so easily go back to surviving B&W elements for a remastering effort remains a complete mystery and a tragedy for Shirley Temple fans.

To be honest, any Re-colorizing of these Films holds no priority for me, as I much prefer viewing them in their original state, anyway!

Nick*Z, on 22 Mar 2014 - 7:55 PM, said:
Temple's passing may remind Fox what a gold mine they continue to have on home video, thus beginning the sincere process of restoring and remastering these movies in a manner befitting Temple's contributions to world cinema. It was FDR, after all, who astutely coined during the darkest days of the Great Depression, "So long as there's Shirley Temple, the country's okay!" Will we see Fox do justice to Temple's legacy on Blu-ray. Hmmmm. Well, it's a promise unfulfilled. But Fox has been doing some good solid work in hi-def of late.

Hopefully, this will at some point, include their Shirley Temple Film Library!

Nick*Z, on 22 Mar 2014 - 7:55 PM, said:
Best advice to Temple fans: write in your votes for some digital restorations that these movies so obviously and BADLY need. Be sincere and positive in your feedback and work your magic on the powers that be, as only writing in, in numbers, can do. Studios want to see the money first. 10 letters to Fox will do nothing. 10,000 might raise a curious eyebrow or two in the front offices. Sometimes that's all it takes. Sometimes more. Be diligent and pray. It's the best advice I can give.

A proper Region 1 DVD issue of POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL would be a great place to start! A restored Black & White Print would be ideal!

CHEERS!

Tony

 

[classicmovieguy]

My fave Shirley films - and the ones I'd most enjoy seeing on Blu-ray - are:

Stowaway
Poor Little Rich Girl
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
The Little Princess
The Blue Bird

 

[Brian McP]

Speaking of the Shirley Temple Storybook series, mentioned earlier, I can't help but wonder (with great regret) what "Laurel and Hardy's Fabulous Fables" would have been like if fate hadn't stepped in.

In 1955 it was planned that Stan and Oliver would make a series of one hour color specials, based on famous fairy tales, told from a Laurel and Hardy standpoint -- similar to one of their most famous movies "Babes in Toyland". Stan had written a number of scenarios and production was ready to commence when Stan suffered a stroke -- in the meantime, Oliver was told to go on a drastic diet and ate nothing but beatroot (a solution from a quack doctor in the truest sense) -- the huge weight loss made him thinner than Stan. Soon after Oliver suffered a heavy, debilitating stroke from which he never recovered.

I don't know who was behind the scene's on Shirley's show, but am certain they may have been inspired by what the L&H production team had planned to go into production 4-5 years earlier. The production values and staging on these shows are beautiful (for 1961) and would have been quite an experience for kids seeing them at the time (even in black and white)

 

[classicmovieguy]

I wish Legend Films would expand upon its initial range of volumes in the "Shirley Temple's Storybook" collection. Amongst the missing episodes are

"Rapunzel" starring Carol Lynley and Agnes Moorehead

"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" starring Shirley Temple with Jules Munshin

 

[LouA]

I've always wondered why they decided to releases only the Shirley Temple starred episodes. Surely there's a demand for the entire series .

 

[classicmovieguy]

Presumably because they were the only episodes owned by the Shirley Temple Black Estate. NBC still holds the masters for the rest of the series.

 

[Charles Smith]

I've been wanting to see that "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" for years. The "Rapunzel" looks great, too.

Release these classics, and my money is yours.

 

[Matt Hough]

I was very young watching these programs in their original broadcasts (in B&W, of course), but I can tell you they were magical for a preadolescent. I was very upset when I found out the show was being taken off the air.

 

[Tony Bensley]

Presumably because they were the only episodes owned by the Shirley Temple Black Estate. NBC still holds the masters for the rest of the series.

So why hasn't NBC issued these? I should think that now would be a really good time for them to do so! If NBC Universal doesn't want to issue the Shirley Temple Storybook Series themselves, perhaps they could arrange a sub-licensing deal with Mill Creek Entertainment, as they did for the 40 Episode Howdy Doody DVD Set a few years back.

CHEERS!

Tony