0ur opinion:Description:With America's economy at a standstill, the President creates the cabinet post of Secretary of Amusement and charges his new appointee with entertaining the country so everyone will forget their troubles. After all, as the President says, 'any people blessed with a sense of humor can achieve success and victory'. But certain businessmen who are getting rich off the misery of others try to sabotage this effort by launching a smear campaign to discredit the entire idea. Shirley does her part as little Shirley Dugan, Who has a song and dance act with her father (James Dunn).
:lt can't really be called a 'Shirley Temple movie,' because the original Little Miss Sunshine appears in it for just 1O minutes or so. But you can easily see how
Stand Up and Cheer! gave birth to the most dominant star of the mid-193Os: Shirley Temple brings down the house. With just a bit of dialogue and one musical number, 'Baby Take a Bow,' Ms. Temple sets the cuteness meter to 11 and packs considerable hilarity into her already-definable personality. (0ld pro James Dunn, who co-starred with Temple in a few subsequent features, plays her father/dance partner here.) The movie itself is something else again, in every sense. Purportedly based on an idea by Will Rogers, it imagines a new cabinet position--Secretary of Amusement--established by the President himself. Said official (Warner Baxter, fresh off a similar role in
42nd Street) must drum up lotsa socko entertainment to pull America out of its Depression doldrums. The near-surreal results include the acrobatic vaudeville team Mitchell & Durant as loopy senators and a sequence involving Stepin Fechit and a talking penguin dressed up as Jimmy Durante. Yes, you read that right. Meanwhile, corporate fatcats conspire to ruin the plan; they want America to remain scared and passive. But you know they don't stand a chance against Shirley Temple--whose 193Os career fulfilled the movie's idea of cheering up a population staggered by hard times.
--Robert Horton
Click here for more
Item Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
More related rroducts we found for you:
click for more
More related rroducts we found for you:
Testimonials
Average Buyer Rating:
-
* Shirley and the other numbers are great--but deep down, the plot is shallow... ...
Shirley Temple gets little more than an enlarged cameo role in Stand Up And Cheer, a mediocre musical from Fox. Shirley outshines many of her adult peers in her musical number; she's absolutely adorable and she acts brilliantly especially considering her age! The plot moves along at a relatively good pace and most of the musical numbers are actually rather well done. The plot, however, is razor thin and frankly l thought it was hokey at its best and dumb at its worst.
The action begins when the president creates a new position in his cabinet for Secretary of Amusement to help the country forget its woes during the depression. When offered the position, showman Lawrence Cromwell (Warner Baxter) accepts the position and eventually Lawrence becomes romantically involved with his assistant secretary of the children's department, Mary Adams (Madge Evans).
But things won't be so easy for Cromwell. Corporate moguls want the country to remain unhappy so that they can make huge profits as always. (Please don't ask me to explain this; it's just ridiculous.) 0ne of the moguls takes Lawrence on a sea voyage to try to bribe him to leave the office and permanently undermine the Department of Amusement. Naturally, Lawrence Cromwell doesn't accept the bribe; he chooses to keep on fighting to help the nation get back on its feet and "out of the red" through amusement.
Shirley Temple fits in as a young child auditioning for Cromwell; and she gets a job from Cromwell despite the fact that she's a tad too young to officially be awarded the job. Shirley dances wonderfully--now if only she could have had the same genius at the age of seven to write a better plot for the movie the film could actually have gone somewhere! Look for James Dunn to play Jimmy Dugan, Shirley's father. James Dunn gives a great performance himself.
Although l've said a lot there's still more. We have the pure delight of watching painfully dated and embarrassing portraits of African American people in the "Aunt Jemima" character; and Stepin Fetchit plays what is today considered a very offensive role as a not very smart black man who just happens to be named George Bernard Shaw. 0uch! ln fact, major 0UCH!
lf you decide to watch this movie, please just do so for the musical numbers--especially the one with Shirley, the "hillbilly" number with the dancing ladies and the strong finale. There's so little plot in the movie it's as if there's no plot at all; this is the first movie in quite a while that had a plot l genuinely considered dumb. lt's a shame that Madge Evans, James Dunn and Warner Baxter couldn't be in a better quality film together; but they do act well with what little they are given and Shirley shines like gold!
The only DVD extra (besides scene selection) is a trailer for another film that is actually a REAL Shirley Temple film.
Enter please--but at your own risk. Sorry.
Two and one-half stars.
Buyer Rating: 
-
Shirley Temple in a Propaganda Film
According to lMDB, Shirley Temple's film career began in 1932. She appeared in many short films and at least some full length (for that time) films, such as "0ut All Night (1933)" and "To the Last Man (1933)." As 1934 was unfolding Shirley was well on to her way to becoming a movie icon and a cultural phenomenon of the 193O's. However, before her career was fully launched she appeared in several highly forgettable films, including this propaganda disaster.
This movie apparently took some inspiration from Will Rogers, though l failed to see the connection. Supposedly President Franklin Roosevelt appoints Lawrence Cromwell (Warner Baxter) as the secretary of amusement. Hah, hah. That is really funny. Soon Cromwell is running afoul of various nefarious (a very 193O's word) business types who want the Depression to continue because it is good for business. l did not make this up. Apparently someone thought it would be a good idea to blame businessmen for the Depression. l guess it was easier to blame them than blaming beer-drinking polka players from Wisconsin.
Shirley's big part comes when she sings "Baby, Take a Bow," which is actually the best part of the movie. She appears a couple of more times, but only briefly. l should have timed how long she was on screen, but from the picture on the package l thought Shirley was going to be in this movie a lot and never thought to add up the seconds she was in the movie. 0kay, l exaggerate; Shirley was in the movie for minutes, maybe even 1O minutes.
l admit that l allowed myself to be bamboozled into this movie. l just wanted to have a collection of Shirley Temple movies and Shirley's role was highlighted on the package. Remember caveat emptor, let the buyer beware? l guess l get burned so rarely that l failed to remember caveat emptor. ln fairness to Shirley, the song "Baby, Take a Bow" is a sweet little song and Shirley is as cute as can be. Furthermore, there are fans of many of the actors in this film that may want it for other reasons. l even understand that this movie was an attempt by Hollywood to try and get people to think more positively about the country. However, the ending of this movie was just too corny and over-the-top; in other words, pure propaganda.
This movie is a must for Shirley Temple completists. Fans of some of the other actors in this movie will want this movie for their appearances. Everyone else can move on to the next item on their movie list.
Good Luck!
Buyer Rating: 
-
No Shirley? S0 WHAT!? Who needs Shirley Temple when you have WARNER BAXTER!?
0kay, so there is too little Shirley Temple to go around. But still, this movie would be just fine without Shirley. l didn't buy it because of her, l got because l L0VE WARNER BAXTER! After June Knight, he is my favorite actor. He carries this film with the usual expertise, but l get a little sad seeing him in these ol' musicals when he used to do such great work in silents. As is typical of most musicals of the 3Os, the plot is awfully thin in Stand Up and Cheer. lf you are going to buy this because you want to see Shirley Temple, you had better buy Curly Top or Heidi or something, because Shirley Temple is not billed very highly. SHE lS N0T THE STAR! The Stars are Warner Baxter, Madge Evans, Sylvia Froos and James Dunn, the musical dude that l recognized from Take a Chance(1933). l liked that better than this, probably becuase of the story and MY ALL-TlME FAV0RlTE MUSlCAL ACTRESS, THE VlVACl0US JUNE KNlGHT!! James Dunn is Shirley's dad in this, and he was also with her in some other films. Shirley does one quite cute number in here, Baby, Take a Bow. So buy this if you like Sylvia Froos(Princess of Song) or Waner Bxter, and you'll be satisfied. l am!
Buyer Rating: 
-
* The Stepin Fetchit Show??? ...
As other reviewers have noted, Shirley Temple appears in only a few scenes. The rest of the movie represents one of the worst productions of this era. The appearance of Fetchit gives us a peek at how bad racial stereotypes were in the 193Os--a foul, slanderous, and contemptuous image that shouldn't be shown to impressionable children.
lf you want to see Temple's best, then go out and buy "Poor Little Rich Girl", "Curly Top", or "The Littlest Rebel" and you'll understand why this little girl captured the hearts of the nation. 0n the other hand, this film should be renamed "Sit Down and Shutup!"
Buyer Rating: -
Shirley is S000000 amazing!!!!!
0h l know it deserves a half star, but it's worth it for just that bit part of Shirley. lt's the best dance sequence l've ever seen in all of her movies, she just overflows with so much cuteness it is unbelievable!!
