Fox continues to release their catalog of Shirley Temple films with Just Around the Corner (1938).  What's just around the corner??  Why prosperity of course!  All that's required to end the depression, according to this film, is a bright-eyed little girl that can melt the heart of a mean old tycoon.  While it's hard to imagine even depression era movie goers buying the premise of the film, this is a nice vehicle for Temple, even if it is a bit harder to swallow than usual.

When Penny Hale (Temple) is pulled out of her elite private boarding school and taken back to New York City to be with her father Jeff (Charles Farrell), she's extremely excited.  Her perkiness isn't diminished when she arrives at her father's expensive apartment high rise and discovers that they don't live in the penthouse anymore.  He's lost his job as an architect when the bank called a note due on a $10 million project he was working on and the building was shelved.  Now he's a handy man living in the basement and can't afford to send his daughter to private school.  (Or even public school apparently.)

Jeff explains to Penny that the country is going through a bad time now, and the reason is that too many people want things from Uncle Sam.  If Uncle Sam could just get a little money, he'd be able to get businesses going again and people would get back on their feet.

Samuel G. Henshaw (Claude Gillingwater) the rich tycoon who lost a fortune on Jeff Hale's project is now living in the penthouse suite with his extended family.  He's a mean old man who rules the household with an iron fist.  When Penny hear's Henshaw's nephew refer to his relative as Uncle Sam, Penny is sure that's the man who can help the country and her father.  When a group of reporters are bothering Henshaw about his future plans, Penny manages to extricate him from the mob.  Offering her a penny for her troubles, she refuses, saying that he could use the money more than she could.   Henshaw grows to like this optimistic spitfire.  When she decides to put on a show to raise money for 'Uncle Sam' and the press gets hold of it, Henshaw becomes a laughing stock for taking money from poor children, and it seems like there's no way he'll ever give Jeff his job back.

This was a cute movie, but just a little too simplistic even for a Shirley Temple film.  The ending speech, where Henshaw proclaims that everyone just has to be optimistic and believe in the US had me rolling my eyes.  Did they really think that anyone would by that?

Shirley was her perky self, but the film was made interesting by the fine supporting cast she had.  Bill `Bojangles' Robinson is the doorman and dances to a song or two and does it quite well.  Bert Lahr (The Wizard of Oz) and Joan Davis (I Married Joan) are great comic reliefs as the romantically linked chauffeur and dog walker, and veteran character actor Franklin Pangborn does a wonderful job as the stuffy manager who wants Penny to stay quiet and out of sight.  I was disappointed that Charles Farrell had such a small role.   He was a star leading man only a decade before, staring with Janet Gaynor is a series of silent films including Seventh Heaven.  He does fine in this film, but his part really doesn't have much meat too it.

While this isn't Temple's best movie, it's far from her worst too.  A bit over the top in parts and too simplistic it still has quite a bit of charm.
 

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 only a 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 is a trailer for another Shirley Temple movie out on DVD, Susannah of the Mounties.

Final Thoughts:

This Shirley Temple vehicle was a bit too formalistic and a bit hard to swallow in parts, but still has a good amount of fun.  While you'll never really worry whether Penny's father gets his job back or will have to be shipped off to Borneo, there are some nice scenes (mainly featuring the supporting actors) that make this worth watching.  Recommended.