Littlest Rebel Review

Six year old Shirley Temple is (what else) as cute as can be in her eighth starring role in a feature in a two year period, playing the pampered daughter of a rich plantation family at the outbreak of the American Civil War.

With papa John Boles and the men folk off serving in the Confederate army, Shirley drills the slave children and shoots Yankee Jack Holt with her little slingshot. When Boles is captured while sneaking home to visit ill wife Karen Morley, Temple and head slave (and dancing partner) Bill Robinson visit the President (Frank McGlynn Sr., in one of thirteen film portrayals of Abraham Lincoln) to plead his case.

It’s a simplistic, but still a remarkably sensitive view of war, race and history, especially for kids, with a bit of action and a few songs thrown in as bonuses. The disc has bonuses, too, including a colorized version of the film and a newsreel clip of Temple’s birthday party.