NFR Project: 'Little Miss Marker' (1934)

 

NFR Project: ‘Little Miss Marker’

Dir: Alexander Hall

Scr: William R. Lipman, Sam Hellman, Gladys Lehman

Pho: Alfred Gilke

Ed: William Shea

Premiere: June 1, 1934

80 min.

Phenomenon. That’s what Shirey Temple was. Here, acting rings around adults at the age of 5, she completely steals this film, in her first featured role. The resulting applause from all audiences meant that she became phenomenally popular, the biggest Hollywood box-office draw of the middle ‘30s.

The idea for the film comes from a Damon Runyon story. Runyon was a well-known journalist who began to write funny stories about the dem-dese-and-dose criminal world of New York, and is best known for being the source for the musical Guys and Dolls. Runyon’s tough-talking, language-mangling characters became archetypes of the urban American.

In this tale, a desperate gambler leaves his little daughter (Shirley, natch) as collateral for the money for a $20 bet. The cynical bookie who takes his “marker” is Sorrowful Jones (Adolf Menjou), who reluctantly takes in the child. He finds himself growing to love her, and wants to keep her despite the fact that the child’s father has killed himself and that she should be turned over to the police.

Menjou is delightful as the grumbling Jones, but it’s Shirley as Marky who steals the show. She delivers her lines with verve and clarity. She can sing, and she can dance a little, too. Most important of all, she is simply a sunny presence, a 1,000-watt light bulb of a person who can’t fail to cheer those around her.

In the depths of the Depression, movie viewers were looking for reasons to be cheery. This tale of redemption and eventual happiness, when the bums and crooks of Manhattan are turned into King Arthur’s knights, and even the hardest gangster, Big Steve (Charles Bickford) is transformed, finding nobility in taking care of Marky.

Temple had been performing in films since 1931, at the age of 3. This success meant she would make more than a dozen films over the next five years, capitalizing on her cuteness before she aged out of child roles. She was recognized worldwide, and took it all in stride, later becoming a respected diplomat.

The NFR is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: Our Daily Bread.