That Hagen Girl is a 1947 American drama film directed by Peter Godfrey. The screenplay by Charles Hoffman was based on the novel by Edith Kneipple Roberts. The film focuses on small town teenage girl Mary Hagen (Temple) whom gossips believe is the illegitimate daughter of former resident and lawyer Tom Bates (Reagan). Lois Maxwell received a Golden Globe award for her performance.
Plot
Mary Hagen is believed by town gossips to be the illegitimate daughter of Tom Bates, a former resident and lawyer. She is often treated badly. Bates moves back into town and begins a friendship with Hagen's favorite teacher Julia Kane. There are hints that Bates is the real father of Hagen, though it is later revealed that she is an orphan adopted by the Hagens. When the teacher leaves town, she suggests to Bates that he stop playing Hagan's father, as it has become clear that he is in love with her. The movie ends with Bates and Hagen boarding a train, presumably to get married.
Cast
Production
Almost all prints of the film mysteriously disappeared from various film storage facilities and television stations as Ronald Reagan was becoming a prominent political figure. The film resurfaced in the 1990s with showings on Turner Classic Movies. Reagan considered it his least liked role.[1][2]
Reagan considered it his least liked role.[3] In her autobiography, Temple confirms that Reagan apparently detested his role and that it was a very difficult period in his life. After multiple retakes of a scene in which Reagan's character rescues her from a suicide attempt by jumping into a river during a storm, he collapsed. He was hospitalized in Cedars of Lebanon Hospital with viral pneumonia.[4]
Critical reception
In one scene, Temple attempts suicide. A critic wrote that it was too bad the attempt failed.[5]
The New York Times thought the script amateurish and of Reagan and Temple wrote, "Ronald Reagan keeps as straight a face as he can while doing what must have struck him as the silliest job of his career [...] [b]ut it is poor, little put-upon Shirley who looks most ridiculous through it all. She acts with the mopish dejection of a school-child who has just been robbed of a two-scoop ice cream cone."[6]
The movie was included in the popular 1978 book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time.[7] The authors of the book report that almost all prints of the film mysteriously disappeared from various film storage facilities and television stations as Reagan was becoming a prominent political figure. The film resurfaced in the 1990s with showings on Turner Classic Movies.
Awards
Lois Maxwell earned a Golden Globe Award (Most Promising Newcomer: Female) for her performance in the film.[8]
See also
References
- ^ "Biography: Hollywood Years". Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Foundation. http://www.reaganfoundation.org/reagan/biography/hollywood_years.asp.
- ^ Medved, Harry; Dreyfuss, Randy (1978). The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (And How They Got That Way). Warner Books. ISBN 0-445-04139-0.
- ^ "Biography > Hollywood Years". Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Foundation.
- ^ Temple Black, Shirley (1989), Child Star: An Autobiography, Warner Books, pp. 411–412, ISBN 0-446-35792-8
- ^ Windeler, Robert (1992), The Films of Shirley Temple, Carol Publishing Group, p. 239
- ^ 'That Hagen Girl' with Shirley Temple at the Strand, The New York Times, http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9806E2DA133AE233A25756C2A9669D946693D6CF, retrieved 2009-10-15
- ^ Medved, Harry; Dreyfuss, Randy (1978). The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (And How They Got That Way). New York: Warner Books. ISBN 0-445-04139-0.
- ^ "Lois Maxwell, 80, an Actress Who Played in 14 ‘Bond’ Films, Dies". The New York Times. 2007-10-01. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/01/movies/01maxwell.html?ref=arts.
External links
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