Child Star: The Shirley Temple Story
A made-for-TV biopic of Shirley Temple's early life.
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Child Star: The Shirley Temple Story is a 2001 American made-for-television biographical family drama film that aired on ABC in The Wonderful World of Disney. Based on Shirley Temple's 1988 autobiography Child Star, the film stars Emily Hart and Ashley Rose Orr as the legendary child actress. Directed by Nadia Tass, it chronicles Temple's early life and rise to stardom during the Great Depression.
Production
The film was shot on location in Port Melbourne, Australia for budgetary reasons. Melissa Joan Hart noted in her DVD commentary that many aspects of Temple's career were cut to reduce runtime, and that the Australian location presented challenges such as right-hand drive vehicles, which required modifications to appear left-hand drive; a hidden stunt driver controlled a vehicle in one scene. Australian cast members' accents necessitated a dialect coach.
Many dolls used in the film were actual Shirley Temple dolls from Hart's collection. The scene where Temple is surprised by on-set workers at the Fox Studio Lot is fictional; in reality, Temple was not allowed to fraternize with crew and had a bungalow for play and lessons with an on-site tutor. Hinton Battle, who portrayed Bill Robinson, also served as the film's choreographer.
Reception
The film received mostly negative reviews from critics. Howard Rosenberg of the Los Angeles Times called it "one-dimensional" and "underwritten, overplayed, [and] extremely weak," criticizing Ashley Rose Orr's portrayal of a five-year-old Temple. Michael Speier of Variety gave a negative review, noting that while the film depicted the studio system and briefly mentioned Temple's father's mismanagement of her earnings, it focused on an idealized career depiction; Speier wrote that audiences expecting a sweeps expose would be reminded "via overbearing sentimentality that this is a 'Wonderful World of Disney' presentation all the way."
He also criticized Orr's lack of resemblance to Temple but mildly praised her dance numbers and the period costumes. Scott Pierce of the Deseret News felt the lead actress could not compare to the legend, noting the incongruity of Orr portraying a five-year-old and the film's lackluster portrayal of Temple's life.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Child Star: The Shirley Temple Story (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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