This Shirley Temple classic has never looked better! A patented coloring and remastering process makes her picture-perfect charm more vivid than ever! When her aunt tires of caring for her, orphan Heidi (Shirley Temple) goes to live in the Alps with her gruff grandfather (Jean Hersholt), who comes to adore her. Eventually placed with another family, Heidi fights to join her granddad again. Shirley gives a magical performance - "In Our Little Wooden Shoes" and no one can resist her charm in one of the world's most heartwarming films!
2.
One thing Shirley Temple did extremely well (besides sing, dance, and act) was turn the cranky cuddly. She'd done it effectively, two years prior, in 1935's The Little Colonel with grandfather Lionel Barrymore. Now in Heidi she turns her reclusive grumpy grandfather, Adolf (Jean Hersholt), into the loving sort she knows he really is. Heidi is an orphan, dumped into the Swiss Alps by self-centered Aunt Dete (Mady Christians) onto a grandfather she's never known, but they soon learn to love each other. Heidi's mercenary aunt returns and sells (!) Heidi to a cruel woman, appropriately named Fraulein Rottenmeier (Mary Nash). Adolf sets out on a quest to find his granddaughter. Meanwhile, Heidi charms Klara Sesemann (Marcia Mae Jones), the wealthy handicapped girl in Fraulein Rottenmeier's care. Look for a delightful Arthur Treacher as the Sesemann butler. There's a cute fantasy production number, "In Our Little Wooden Shoes," featuring Temple in various period costumes. Throughout Heidi, Temple is, as always, wonderfully joyful. This is perhaps the best-known rendering of the popular children's story by Johanna Spyri (it's been filmed some 10 times). --N.F. Mendoza
3.
Although the rough-and-ready Allan Dwan was at first underwhelmed about the idea of working with the 1930s child star, his collaboration with Temple turned out to be a pleasure for both. She stars as the title character in this adaptation of the children's classic. Set in the Swiss Alps during the 19th Century, the film opens with Heidi's Aunt Dete (Mady Christians) taking her to live with the girl's grandfather Adolph Kramer (Jean Hersholt), a rather ill-tempered hermit. Although the old man at first refuses to speak to the girl, he soon grows to love her. When Pastor Schultz (Thomas Beck) tries to persuade Kramer to bring the girl to church, he angrily refuses at first, but finally relents, and the two are accepted into the local community. Heidi's aunt suddenly returns, kidnapping the girl and taking her to the home of her wealthy employer Herr Sesemann (Sidney Blackmer), in Franfurt. He needs a child to spend time with Klara (Marcia Mae Jones), his invalid daughter, since he's often away on business. Heidi soon tries to escape, while her grandfather has already begun the 100-mile journey to Franfurt to find her. This amiable version of the classic features a top-drawer cast of character actors, and Dwan keeps thing moving along briskly.
4.
Hollywood's biggest little star is back for an encore! Featuring "In Our Little Wooden Shoes," Shirley Temple plays the spirited young heroine of the classic novel, the orphan who is forced to live with her gruff grandfather who comes to adore her.
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