Shirley Temple considered this the best among her films, a belief seconded by critic Andrew Sarris, who regarded it more highly than director John Ford's contemporaneous masterpiece THE INFORMER. She stars as Priscilla Williams, a young girl traveling with her mother, Joyce, to join her paternal grandfather (C. Aubrey Smith), a British army colonel, at the post he commands in northern India. Upon arrival, they witness the capture of Khoda Khan (Cesar Romero), leader of the rebel Indian faction. Priscilla plays at being a soldier and is even given a uniform and allowed to drill by the genial Sergeant MacDuff (Victor McLaglen), but her gruff grandfather disapproves and insists she remain apart from the troops. She eventually charms him, along with everyone else on the post, including Khoda Khan, whom she wins over by returning a talisman he's dropped. When the attractive Lieutenant Brandes (Michael Whalen) deserts his post to take Joyce to a dance, Khan escapes, and Brandes is arrested. As hostilities with the rebels mount, Priscilla and servant Mohammet Dihn (Willie Fung)--actually an Indian spy--take off for Khoda Khan's stronghold. Departing from the Kipling story, Ford places Temple in a military setting with a wonderfully expansive feeling not unlike that of his classic cavalry films. The high production values and excellent supporting cast further illuminate Temple's eternally fresh and ebullient allure in this irresistible gem from Hollywood's golden age. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld has observed that the phrase "family entertainment" is an oxymoron, but in the case of this delightful film he's mistaken.
A young girl travels to India to visit her grandfather in the British army and ends up using her prodigious charms to stem the tide of rising tensions between the Brits and native rebel forces.
Copyright 1937 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. Renewed 1965 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.
Additional cast: Willie Fung (Mohammet Din); Lionel Pape (Major Allardyce); Lauri Beatty (Elsie Allardyce); Lionel Braham (Major General Hammond); Cyril McLaglen (Corporal Tummel); Pat Somerset (Officer); Hector Sarno (Driver).
DVD Features:
Keep Case
Full Frame - 1.33
Audio:
Mono - English, Spanish
Stereo - English
Subtitles - English, French, Spanish - Optional
Disc 1/Side A: WEE WILLIE WINKIE - Tinted
Additional Release Material:
Comparisons: Restoration Comparison
Disc 1/Side B: WEE WILLIE WINKIE - Black & White
Director of Photography
Arthur Miller: Oscar Winning Director of Photography, '20s-'50s
Art Director
William S. Darling: Art Director
Review 1:
"...Shirley and gruff-but-soft sergeant Victor McLaglen have some very good scenes..."
Source: USA Today
p.3D 03/31/1989
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