shirley temple pre-code films
Oh, Shirley Temple. Perhaps no one is more equated with 1930s films outside of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Her films, stories of little orphans who have to endure Sisyphean feats to find a happy ending and perhaps even connect a few wayward lovers in the process, were formulaic but charming. The kid had acting talent in spades, I won’t say she won’t.

But Temple’s pre-Code offerings are… diverse. Let’s go with that. She achieved major stardom just as the pre-Code era was ending with feel good movies like Little Miss Marker and Stand Up and Cheer!. But before that she was a struggling kid star, stuck in a lengthy series of shorts wherein kids parodied adult movies, sometimes with rather baffling results. Although nearly a quarter of Temple’s entire filmography occurs during the pre-Code era, my hearty recommendation is to skip it. All of it. Save yourself.

Shirley Temple’s Pre-Code Filmography

  • Kid’s Last Stand (1932)
  • Runt Page (1932)
  • War Babies (1932)
  • Red-Haired Alibi (1932)
  • The Pie-Covered Wagon (1932)
  • Glad Rags to Riches (1933)
  • Kid in Hollywood (1933)
  • Out All Night (1933)
  • The Kid’s Last Fight (1933)
  • Polly Tix in Washington (1933)
  • Dora’s Dunking Doughnuts (1933)
  • To the Last Man (1933)
  • Kid ‘in’ Africa (1933)
  • Merrily Yours (1933)
  • What’s to Do? (1933)
  • Pardon My Pups (1934)
  • Carolina (1934)
  • Managed Money (1934)
  • Stand Up and Cheer! (1934)
  • Change of Heart (1934)
  • Little Miss Marker (1934)
  • Now I’ll Tell (1934)
  • Baby Take a Bow (1934)

Studios

Videos of Shirley Temple

She shows up to belt out an early number at around 3:30 in this one:

Autobiography of Shirley Temple

shirley-temple-child-star-book1

Child Star

by Shirley Temple Black

Click here to view this on Amazon.

Shirley Temple Sites and Links

Other Actresses

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