Captain January is a 1936 American comedy drama film directed by David Butler. The screenplay by Sam Hellman, Gladys Lehman, and Harry Tugend is based on the story The Lighthouse at Cape Tempest by Laura E. Richards. The film stars Shirley Temple, Guy Kibbee, and Sara Haden in a story about a foundling pursued by a truant officer.
The film features a famous dance routine for Temple and Buddy Ebsen called “At the Codfish Ball”.[1] The film was a remake of a 1924 version of the story starring Baby Peggy.[2] In 2009, the film was available on videocassette and DVD in both black and white and computer-colorized versions.
Plot
Helen 'Star' Mason is a foundling rescued from the sea as a baby by Captain January, a lighthouse keeper. The two live in the lighthouse at Cape Tempest. Agatha Morgan, a truant officer in the area, demands that Star be enrolled in school and removed from the care of Captain January who never legally adopted her. The possibility of being separated is devastating for both January and Star. Meanwhile, January loses his job at the lighthouse when the lamp is replaced with an automatic one. Things look desperate for Star and January. Nazro, January’s friend, tries to help and traces Star’s relatives to Boston. He contacts them and they arrive at Cape Tempest to claim her. To Star’s surprise and delight, her wealthy aunt and uncle buy her a yacht and hire January as helmsman, Nazro and Roberts as crew, and Mrs. Croft as Cook.
Cast
- Shirley Temple as Helen 'Star' Mason, a foundling rescued from the sea by Capt. January
- Guy Kibbee as Captain January, the lighthouse keeper at Cape Tempest, Maine
- Slim Summerville as Captain Nazro, January’s friend
- Buddy Ebsen as Paul Roberts, January's friend
- Sara Haden as Agatha Morgan, a stern truant officer
- June Lang as Mary, a kindhearted schoolteacher
- Jane Darwell as Mrs. Eliza Croft, a widow smitten with Capt. January
Production
The studio’s first script ended with the death of Captain January following a massive heart attack when Star departs with her relatives. Zanuck found this ending unacceptable. In the revised script, January does not die but becomes the helmsman of the yacht given Star by her wealthy relatives. A talking parrot was introduced in the revised script but cut by Zanuck. The film went into production in late October 1936 and was ready for post-production work in December.[3]
June Lang commented, “[Temple] was never late on the set, never fluffed her lines […] She was never allowed to associate with anyone. After every scene, […] Shirley would always go to her mother, who sat in a director’s chair with her name on it just to the side of the camera. If not needed, they would go to Shirley’s dressing-room suite. There was never a time actors could talk to Shirley between takes.”[4]
Release
Critical reception
‘’Captain January’’ was a hit, but an unpleasant relationship developed between the Temples and the studio, and film critic Graham Greene. Greene saw something of the coquette Temple had portrayed in the old Baby Burlesks shorts in the film and commented in a British magazine: "Shirley Temple acts and dances with immense vigour and assurance, but some of her popularity seems to rest on a coquetry […] and on an oddly precocious body as voluptuous in grey flannel as Dietrich’s." He described Captain January as “sentimental, a little depraved, with an appeal interestingly decadent." He visited Hollywood, met Temple at the studio, and retained his initial impression of the young actress.[5]
In October 1937, Graham wrote in a British magazine that Shirley was a "complete totsy" and "[h]er admirers—middle-aged men and clergymen—respond to her dubious coquetry, to the sight of her well-shaped and desirable little body, packed with enormous vitality, only because the safety curtain of story and dialogue drops between their intelligence and their desire."[6] The studio and Temple’s parents sued and won. The settlement was placed in a London trust until Temple was twenty-one at which time it was given to charity for the construction of a youth center in England.[7]
Home media
In 2009, the film as available on both videocassette and DVD in the original black and white version and a computer-colorized version of the original. Some versions included theatrical trailers and other special features.
See also
Reference
- Footnotes
- Works cited
- Edwards, Anne (1988), Shirley Temple: American Princess, New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc.
- Windeler, Robert (1992) [1978], The Films of Shirley Temple, New York: Carol Publishing Group, ISBN 0-8065-0725-X
External links
