THE LITTLE PRINCESS

The Little Princess
20th Century-Fox, 1939, Color, 93 minutes, ***½
Released March, 1939

One of Shirley's best! It's set in Victorian England. Shirley's father (Ian Hunter) is off to fight in the Boer War and leaves Shirley in the hands of Mary Nash who runs a boarding school for girls. Because of her father's social standing as a Captain in the army, Shirley is treated like a little princess. But when Hunter is reported killed, Nash assumes no more checks will be forthcoming and throws little Shirley out of her room, putting her to work as a household servant. But Shirley is convinced her father is still alive and becomes a fixture at the military hospital, searching for her father. Will she ever find him?

Shirley and Treacher sing and dance a cute version of "Old Kent Road."


The story begins in England, 1899

In Charge of Production: Darryl F. Zanuck
Associate Producer: Gene Markey
Directed by: Walter Lang
Screen Play by: Ethel Hill and Walter Ferris
Based on the Novel by: Frances Hodgson Burnett ("The Fantasy")
The Fantasy: Words and Music by Walter Bullock and Samuel Pokrass
Ballet Staged by: Ernest Belcher
Settings by: Richard Day
Dances Staged by: Nicholas Castle, Geneva Sawyer
Musical Direction: Louis Silvers
Art Direction: Bernard Herzbrun, Hans Peters
Set Decorations: Thomas Little
Costumes: Gwen Wakeling
Sound: E. Clayton Ward, Roger Heman
Photographed by: Arthur Miller, William Skall
Photographed in Technicolor
Technicolor Color Director: Natalie Kalmus
Associate: Morgan Padelford
Film Editor: Louis Loeffler

Cast: Shirley Temple [Sara Crewe], Richard Greene [Geoffrey Hamilton], Anita Louise [Rose], Ian Hunter [Captain Crewe], Cesar Romero [Ram Dass], Arthur Treacher [Bertie Minchin], Mary Nash [Amanda Minchin], Sybil Jason [Becky], Miles Mander [Lord Wickham], Marcia Mae Jones [Lavinia], Beryl Mercer [Queen], Deidre Gaye [Jessie], Ira Stevens [Ermengarde], E.E. Clive [Mr. Barrows], Eily Malyon [Cook], Clyde Cook [Attendant], Keith Kenneth [Bobbie], Will Stanton, Harry Allen [Grooms], Holmes Herbert, Evan Thomas, Guy Bellis [Doctors], Kenneth Hunter [General], Lionel Braham [Colonel]

Musical Program: [0:20] Wot' Cher! (Knock'd 'Em in the Old Kent Road) (sung and danced by Shirley Temple and Arthur Treacher); [0:57] Wot' Cher! (Knock'd 'Em in the Old Kent Road) (sung by Shirley Temple, Arthur Treacher and Chorus; danced by Shirley Temple and Arthur Treacher); [1:08] The Fantasy (spoken in verse and danced by Shirley Temple and Ensemble; includes an instrumental ballet to the tune of "Old Kent Road" danced by Shirley Temple and Ballet Dancers)