Miss Annie Rooney – 1942 – English – Comedy – Drama – Romance
Miss Annie Rooney – 1942 – English
Film directed in 1942 by Edwin L. Marin, and starring Shirley Temple, William Gargan, Guy Kibbee, Dickie Moore, Peggy Ryan, Roland Dupree, Gloria Holden, Jonathan Hale, Mary Field, George Lloyd, Jan Buckingham, June Lockhart, Selmer Jackson, Charles Coleman, Edgar Dearing, Shirley Mills…
Synopsis: A poor girl falls for a wealthy young man. He invites her to his gala birthday party, but she doesn’t have the right kind of dress to wear, so her family and friends band together to raise money to get her the proper dress.
Review: It would be hard for me not to like any Shirley Temple movie.
It’s too bad most people think of her as the cute little tyke, because, as she grew into an adult, she just got better as an actress, and in fact became a beautiful woman.
She was at the in-between stage in this movie, playing a young teenager, which was appropriate since she was 14.
As usual, she was adorable. Even as a fan, I will admit that sometimes she relied too much on pouty expressions left over from her very young years, but she also had the ability necessary to portray the pertinent emotions.
She liked dancing, as she wrote in her autobiography (which I highly recommend, to everyone), and she got to dance here, and was a lot of fun to watch.
Dickie Moore, of whom also I am a fan, was just not quite right as the rich boy. He didn’t come across strongly enough, but his performance still does not detract enough to lessen one’s enjoyment.
Roland Dupree, on the other hand, gave a very strong performance, strong enough, in fact, that I am dumbfounded he didn’t have a major career.
He was a very good-looking young man, a good dancer, and a scene stealer, but apparently nothing is known about him.
Look for a very young Noel Neill and a very young June Lockhart in the party scene.
The adults, by the way, rather varied in watchability, but, again, nothing can detract much from this very nice movie.