Shirley Temple – America’s Sweetheart Collection, Volume 6 / 2008 Fox / 266 Minutes / http://www.foxhome.com/shirtleytemple /
Where I was too young to really have focused much on when The Magnificent Seven was originally shown on Fox (1998-2000), my parents were not even born when these three Shirley Temple films – Stowaway, Wee Willie Winkie, and Young People – were originally released. This collection of films was timed to coincide with Shirley Temple’s 80th birthday, ensuring that part of eir history that is at times forgotten when compared to other, more well-known films is given proper time. Stowaway’s plot revolves around Temple, playing Ching-Ching. Ching-Ching’s parents are sadly killed in Shanghai, and it is Temple’s own beauty and cuteness that gets the individual (Robert Young) to marry someone (Alice Faye) randomly, to ensure that Temple’s character can be adopted and given a proper home.
 Wee Willie Winkie keeps the foreign aspect of Temple’s films present, putting Temple into the role of a young girl that ultimately wins the affections of a rough grandfather, trained by the British and stationed in India. In much the same way, Temple continues to charm the rest of the outpost and ensure that a war will not break out between the British and native forces. Finally, Young People showcases the last time that Temple would link up with director Allan Kwan. In this film, Temple is adopted by a vaudeville team (played here by Jack Oakie and Charlotte Greenwood), and impressed into service in their act. After a short while, they move to Vermont and ultimately get into a culture clash with a much more conservative town. With hostilities against them, the family ultimately decides to move away, saving a child from a storm and gaining the admiration of those previously against them.
 There are still a number of films to be released in the Shirley Temple collection; where Fox has already committed 18 movies in this format, there are still a majority of films to be placed in this format. With a value price point on this set (under $30), individuals can either familiarize themselves with the films of Shirley Temple, or recall some great memories. While the movies were created for a specific demographic about seventy years ago, there still seems to be some connection that individuals can take from the movies to the present day. Make sure to pick up this DVD set and look into picking up previous volumes of this DVD set; at some point, one could have all of Temple’s works in a convenient format.
Rating: 6.8/10
