Fox continues to release their catalog of Shirley Temple films with Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. Reuniting Temple with director Alan Dwan who last worked together on 1937's Heidi, this 1938 vehicle again uses a popular book for inspiration. This time though, the only thing they really take from it is the title.

Rebecca (Shirley Temple) is a bubbling orphan who is living with her step-father Harry (William Demarest). Always one step ahead of debt collectors, Harry manages the talented Rebecca and takes her to numerous auditions. When he takes her to a cereal company who is looking for 'Little Miss America' for the radio show they sponsor, she knocks the sponsor's socks off. Through a misunderstanding though, they think that she didn't make it.

Down to his last dollar, Harry takes Rebecca to live with her Aunt Miranda (Helen Westley) on Sunnybrook farm. As luck would have it, the producer of the radio show Tony (Randolph Scott) has a vacation home right next door to Sunnybrook. When he hears Rebecca sing, he recognizes her talent and wants to put her on the radio. Unfortunately Aunt Miranda hates show business people, and won't allow her on the radio.

One way or another Tony manages to get Rebecca on the show, and she's a great hit. Her step-father Harry hears her though, and comes to take her away from the farm and Aunt she's come to love.

This was a nice vehicle from Shirley. Though it bears no resemblance to the novel it was based on, this was a lot of fun. Shirley is as bubbly as ever and has a huge amount of screen presence. The highlight of the film is when she sings a medley of songs that she made famous in other films and the closing number where she dances with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.

If you are looking for a family friendly film, you can't go wrong with this feature.

This DVD contains both the original black and white version of the film and a color version on a single sided disc. I find it hard to believe that studios are still spending the money to colorize movies, wasn't it decided that this was a rotten idea nearly two decades ago? In any case you can chose to have artificial colors overlaid on top of the film, if you so desire.

Audio:

This DVD has the original mono English soundtrack as well as a stereo mix. Both of these tracks sounded very good for a film from the 30's. There isn't a lot of range, and the songs could have used a bit more on both ends, but the dialog was clear and there wasn't any audible hiss or hum at normal levels.

There is also a Spanish mono mix. I spot checked this track, and there is a very high level of hiss in the background that is really distracting. This track also sounds very muddled too and should be avoided.

Video:

This DVD includes the original black and white movie, as well as a colorized version. I screened the B&W version, and spot checked the colorized film.

The full frame image is very good overall. The image is a tad soft in places, but the contrast is very good as is the level of detail. The print was above average for a film of this age, with very few spots. Digitally, the DVD looks pretty good. Aliasing is a bit of a problem, especially when Shirley wears plaid suits. There's a bit of low level digital noise too that looks like slight grain, but it isn't too bad.

The color version looks really horrid. The colors are artificially bright, and skin tones don't look natural. Shirley Temple's skin is a bright peach color and looks really silly. The leaves on the trees and plants in the fields are all the exact same shade of green. Avoid this version.

Extras:

The only extras are a pair of trailer for other Shirley Temple movies out on DVD, Heidi and Little Miss Broadway. The latter is missing the narration and text overlays.

Final Thoughts:

This movie was made for Shirley to star in, and she does a great job. It's easy to see why she was such a sensation in the 30's and 40's, it's hard to see her perform and not like the little tot. Though it's a tad predictable and nothing really surprising happens, it's still a fun film, especially for families. Recommended.