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Best movie of this year hands down!

It is a performances centric movie

Absolutely the worst movie.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

When hearing the name Shirley Temple,the first thing that always comes to mind is the countless cartoon spoofs of Temple on the Good Ship Lollypop. Taking a look at BBC iPlayer listings,I was intrigued to find a "grown up" Temple title in the listings that has not reached DVD in the UK,which led to me travelling to Baltimore.The plot-Baltimore 1905:Expelled from Art School,Dinah Sheldon is sent back to Baltimore to be looked after by her mum and Episcopalian pastor dad. Taking an interest in the suffragette movement,Dinah begins wanting to continue her art,which will lead to Dinah painting a work that catches the old-fashion city by surprise,and starts Dinah off on an adventure in Baltimore. View on the film:Although her "grown up" credits do get looked down on,Shirley Temple actually gives a very good performance as Dinah Sheldon,thanks to Temple using her "innocent" image to give Dinah a thoughtful feisty side that breaks down barriers the town/audience try to put on Temple/Dinah. Trying to make sense of Dinah's "changes", Robert Young gives a charming performance as Dinah's dad that rings with care.Stepping on all of the heels of the town folk,the screenplay by Lionel Houser/ Lesser Samuels & Christopher Isherwood paints them as (largely) well-meaning people who hold their "traditions" a bit too close,which leads to great battle cry scenes of the suffragettes shaking the foundations of the city. Although the film sadly made a loss of $875,000,director Richard Wallace & cinematographer Robert De Grasse sweep up the dusty roads with an elegant floral appearance,which gives a fitting lady-like backdrop to Dinah backdrop-breaking adventure in Baltimore.

Back in 1905, atypical teenager Shirley Temple (as Dinah "Di" Sheldon) is expelled from school after telling her teacher she wants to study human anatomy by painting nude models. Called "immoral," the budding art student also advocates a woman's right to vote. Plus, she wears two petticoats instead of the standard five. Sent home to North Baltimore, Ms. Temple receives moral support from understanding minister father Robert Young (as Andrew Sheldon). As a youth, he dabbled in ballroom dancing. Temple is attracted to tall, dark and handsome John Agar (as Thomas "Tom" Wade), but he prefers a traditionally feminine woman...Back home, Temple gets into more political trouble when she paints Mr. Agar in his bathing suit. But, we do not see this on camera. Agar appears fully clothed while posing for Temple, but is bare-chested in the finished product. First of all, we are left to wonder when Temple became an expert in his male anatomy. Of course, in real life, they were married. After an interesting start, this becomes a silly film. However, the star (now being billed below Robert Young) shows her natural appeal. This is especially evident in the opening minutes. With cast and crew possibly helping set the mood, Temple appears to be comfortable and competent.***** Adventure in Baltimore (4/19/49) Richard Wallace ~ Shirley Temple, John Agar, Robert Young, Josephine Hutchinson

Mild sitcom, from a story by Christopher Isherwood of all people, about a pastor's rebellious daughter in the stuffy upper-middle-class Baltimore of 1905. Though it's handsomely photographed, there's no Baltimore atmosphere here; it could as easily be Milwaukee or St. Louis, and in fact, the strong-family-ties theme, aggressive nostalgia, boy-next-door puppy love, and sleeve-tugging sentimentality play like a less well-written "Meet Me in St. Louis." Robert Young, top-billed and with a mustache and silly hair, does a tolerable warmup for "Father Knows Best"; he furrows his brow a lot and makes pronouncements. (But the height of the plot arc, in which he delivers a give-'em-hell sermon to his hypocritical congregation, is unaccountably omitted from the script.) The only real surprise of the movie is how amazingly uninteresting a 21-year-old Shirley Temple is. She simpers, she searches for her key light to be never anything but as attractive as possible, she tries to convey adolescent feistiness, but her line readings are monotonously alike, and she has no inner life. Nor is it wise to pair her with then-husband John Agar, in what's essentially the Tom Drake role; he's as dull as Tom Drake. The script puts the two through some very contrived roadblocks on the road to love, including a hard-to-believe episode of her unintentionally instigating a riot, a harder-to-believe one of him reading a speech of hers out loud and forgetting to change the pronouns, and an unpalatable one of her lying to him about painting his portrait. I wouldn't even root for such a selfish young miss. RKO must have figured, well, she's Shirley Temple, the audience will be on her side no matter what. I wasn't, and while the denouement is rushed to the point of incoherence, I wasn't sorry to see this one end.

I totally agree with the first post! I never could understand why people didn't think she was a great actress as an adult too. She was terrific and I appreciate her enough to make up for all the fools who don't. She is my favorite actress ever. I'm so sorry she quit acting at such a young age. What we've missed because of it! I wish Shirley would get back into show business now even after all these years! After all she has accomplished in her life she deserves take it easy at this age but sorry, as a great fan, I want more Shirley even now! I hope she doesn't stay away because of feeling unappreciated, it would make me cry if she did. I can't help but make a comment on Shirley the child... It would have been enough just to look at her pretty face, beautiful hair, sweet giggly voice, infectious smile and dimples, but it's amazing that on top of all that, she was so smart, had more poise than most adults, could dance fantastic, sing, act, remember lines and lyrics (all simultaneously) It is still totally amazing to me. And watching her movies when I was a child, I couldn't appreciate how easy she made it all look. Now that I'm an adult who has raised my own child, I fully realize how extraordinary Shirley really was. I don't know HOW she did it. I know this sounds like a small thing, but even if you watch her hands ... how expressive they were. I love how she use to put on her mad face and stamp her little foot! Best of all the little Shirley makes me smile just watching her put on a big smile and she can also bring me to tears. How many other people can do that?