The struggle to transition from child star to more adult fare can be a very rocky road, a notion that was especially true during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Shirley Temple may be best known for being the adorable little actress who sang about having animal crackers in her soup, but you can only survive on cuteness alone for a short amount of time. By 1942, Temple was unfortunately already on the downslope of her film career. Temple was fourteen and trying to figure out how to distance herself from the kid roles for which she was known to the young adult path she aspired to walk down. This lone outing for United Artist, Miss Annie Rooney from director Edwin L. Marin, was not the stepping stone she wished it to be as it received a critical bashing and sent her into a two-year retirement. The film is far from exceptional, but the vitriol behind the initial reception seems to be a symptom of a larger backlash certain parties were forming against Temple. It is a slight feature to be sure, but overall pleasant enough to let it wash over you.
Temple stars as the titular Annie Rooney, a 14-year-old girl who hails from a struggling, working-class family. The youths in the film rattle off some “hip” lingo that offers an approximation of what adults believe the kids sounded like at the time, and they extoll their deep interest in George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion. Annie and her friend Myrtle (Peggy Ryan) pass the time daydreaming about the opposite sex and when they might find someone who sees their light like that in the pages they read with such attention. Annie feels she might have to default to her friend Joey (Roland Dupree), who has a deep interest in fixing up cars but can barely pronounce Pygmalion, let alone have an interest in reading it. A new potential suitor slams into the picture one night on the way to a jam session; 16-year-old Marty White (Dickie Moore) is a rich kid who fits what Annie has always dreamed of on paper. Romantic interest is present on both sides, but issues of class imbalance threaten to upend potential happiness.
There is nothing particularly groundbreaking in the journey to the film’s conclusion. Marty’s friends and parents do a notable job of making Annie feel like an unwelcome presence until she is able to show off why she is not to be underestimated. Complicating matters is Annie’s widower father Tim Rooney (William Gargan), an inventor working on a new synthetic rubber material that he hopes will impress Marty’s parents. The problem is that Tim is often disappointing in his execution which leaves Annie’s grandfather (Guy Kibbee) to take care of Annie in the way she needs. The invention subplot feels slightly out of place next to all of the chaste young romance and socialization, but the film needs to give some extra roadblocks and life preservers. Temple is saddled with some ridiculous dialogue that she makes somewhat believable in the zeal of her execution. All of the performances are pretty solid, but the script itself just fails to deliver anything with much of a pulse. Even with the uninspired script, Miss Annie Rooney delivers a fine, enjoyable time that does not overstay its welcome at less than 90 minutes. The romance is cute and innocent and the swinging big band numbers are infectious.
Video Quality
Miss Annie Rooney makes its Blu-Ray debut thanks to ClassicFlix with a 1080p master that largely looks very pleasing. There is a good amount of detail present with nice textures on the clothing and within the production design. The contrast has brief moments of variance that impacts brightness and the stability of the otherwise solid black levels. The track does experience a minor amount of damage but is largely free of anything truly off putting. The new transfer shows off a great amount of depth and enhanced detail within the film’s composition. The presentation does not experience much in the way of black crush or compression artifacts. There are a few instances where white levels bloom just a bit. The lovely black-and-white photography shines in high definition with natural grain intact. ClassicFlix has done a pretty decent job with this one overall.
Audio Quality
The Blu-Ray comes with a decent DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track that serves this movie as well as can be expected given the vintage of the source material. This track does present some amount of age related wear and tear and some slightly boxy sounding music. The music never really overpowers the dialogue or other important information. Dialogue and background noises are represented in harmony with all competing elements, even if it can sound a bit hollow. There are optional English (SDH) subtitles included for the feature film. ClassicFlix has done their best to provide the most stable track possible for this one.
Special Features
- Jitterbug-ese: There are no on-disc special features, but the release does come with a paper insert that defines some of the slang from the film.
Final Thoughts
Miss Annie Rooney is a tepid picture that is enjoyable enough in the moment but is unlikely to stick with you after you have finished with it. Shirley Temple does an admirable job trying to break free of her child roles, and it feels a bit of a shame that audiences did not care enough about that transition to support her. ClassicFlix has released a Blu-Ray featuring a pretty good A/V presentation and next to nothing in terms of extra content. This will probably be of interest to Temple fans, but all others will likely find this unnecessary of exploration.
Miss Annie Rooney is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: ClassicFlix has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
