Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

PodBill Just what I expected

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Yvonne Jodi Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

MartinHafer As I watched this film, I was shocked how the amazingly talented Shirley Temple APPEARED to be speaking Chinese. I assumed she was actually speaking nonsense. I was thrilled, however, by Moondog-8's review as they said that she really WAS speaking reasonably good Mandarin Chinese!! What a talented kid!! Ching-Ching is the orphaned child of missionaries in China. She mostly wanders the street like a ray of sunshine. She happens upon a playboy bachelor (Robert Young) and he's naturally taken by her. Later, when she accidentally stows away on the same ship as Young, he befriends her and even wants to adopt her. But, he needs to find a wife FAST, as they won't let a bachelor adopt a kid. So, he asks a very nice lady (Alice Faye) and the rest is for you to see for yourself.This film is unusual in that it's pure sentimentality and schmaltz...yet it manages to work. This is because of the combined talents of Shirley, Robert Young and Alice Faye--who were all at the top of their game. Plus, the writing is good...provided you can dismiss some nagging questions you'll naturally face. So, try not to think HOW an orphan living in impoverished China can have permed curls, clean clothes and look well-fed! Just ignore all this and take in the fun--and the film does manage to be quite fun.By the way, in the credits, Faye's fiancé is credited as Allan Lane. Later, he gained fame as cowboy star 'Rocky' Lane.

mark.waltz Ms. Temple is an adorable orphan whose missionary parents were killed as the result of the attack on their Chinese town by a group of bandits. Now her foster parents are at risk too but refuse to let Shirley's Chinese pal (Phillip Ahn) take her to safety. He does anyway, but when she believes he's abandoned her, she leaves their boat to find food. Instead, she encounters wealthy American Robert Young who falls under her spell and takes her out to lunch. She falls asleep in the back seat of his car, and wakes up to find herself inside the car on a cruise liner. Reports of stowaways frighten her, and she hides in the suite of wealthy American matron Helen Westley and her daughter-in-law to be (Alice Faye). Young and Faye are introduced and Westley summons her son out of suspicions regarding Ms. Faye. Will Shirley get the more appealing couple of Young and Faye together? While pleasant overall, I found the movie to be slightly disappointing over the idea that Young's fake marriage to Faye in order to adopt Shirley then divorce would be the ideal way to save Shirley from another orphanage. Shirley has a pleasant musical number, "You've got to be H-A-Double P-Y" while imitating Jolson, Eddie Cantor and dancing to the song with a Fred Astaire dummy while impersonating Ginger Rogers. Faye, taken out of those Jean Harlow roles she was doing in such films as "George White's Scandals" and "King of Burlesque", sings a few songs too, but lacks the vigor of other roles she had before and after. Westley plays a most unpleasant character, even more aggravating than her still lovable Parthy in "Show Boat". Arthur Treacher is amusing in his typecast role of suave playboy Young's butler, while raspy-voiced Eugene Palette is wasted as Young's constantly wasted friend.

Snow4849 "Sparkle, Shirley, sparkle!" Gertrude Temple cried between takes whenever her little daughter's energy flailed. As Ching-Ching, an American girl living in China, Shirley sparkles, all right; she just never dazzles. Little Ching-Ching is full of happy grins and spouts plenty of wise Chinese proverbs, but not once does she break into one of the delightful song-and-dance routines that make Shirley's other films so memorable. She only dances very briefly in this movie, and it is a great disappointment to fans who want to see the tapping that made her such a world famous star.Another disappointment is the absence of memorable music. Shirley's song "You've Gotta Smile to be Happy" showcases her impressive talent for mimickry -- she channels Eddie Cantor and Ginger Rogers, among others -- but her other two songs, "Goodnight My Love" and "That's What I Want for Christmas," completely lack the snap and fun of catchy classics like "On the Good Ship Lollipop" (Bright Eyes), "Animal Crackers in My Soup" (Curly Top), "At the Codfish Ball" (Captain January), "Oh My Goodness" (Poor Little Rich Girl), or "The Old Kent Road" (The Little Princess).What sparkle Shirley does achieve is snuffed by the dreary adult performances. Ching-Ching's rural guardians, the Kruikshanks, and her pal Sun Lo are almost laughable. Alice Faye's character, Susan Parker, is clearly in love with Ching-Ching, but that's about the only emotion she seems to have. Susan has been harboring doubts about her engagement to the very contrived, cardboard character Richard Hope -- largely because of Richard's sickly enmeshment with his mother, played to meddlesome perfection by Helen Westley -- when she begins to feel a budding romance for Ching-Ching's rich, handsome guardian, Thomas Randall. Her choice between the two men is supposed to seem dramatic and difficult, but instead Susan only comes off as indecisive and wishy-washy. In another Shirley film, "Poor Little Rich Girl," Alice Faye displays a natural chemistry with her on screen husband Jack Haley, but in "Stowaway," Susan's relationships with both are Richard and Thomas are severely lacking, and together these three adults manage to display all the passion of a dentist office. Arthur Treacher does add some charming and unexpected wit in his small role as Thomas's butler, but if you want to see the full extent of Temple and Treacher's talents, watch them together in "The Little Princess," but not "Stowaway."

buppy Shirley Temple, Robert Young, and Alice Faye star in this wonderful family film. Shirley Temple plays Barbara Stewart aka Ching-Ching, a lovable child who befriends Tommy Randall (Robert Young) in China. Both end up on a ship going to the United States. There they both meet Susan Parker (Alice Faye, in a brilliant performance). If you like Shirley Temple films and haven't seen this one you definitely should. Shirley was always great in her films and this one is no exception.