| Stowaway | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | William A. Seiter |
| Produced by | Buddy G. DeSylva |
| Written by | Screenplay: William M. Conselman Nat Perrin Arthur Sheekman Story: Samuel G. Engel |
| Starring | Shirley Temple Robert Young Alice Faye |
| Music by | Harry Revel Mack Gordon |
| Cinematography | Arthur C. Miller |
| Editing by | Lloyd Nosler |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | December 25, 1936 |
| Running time | 87 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Stowaway is a 1936 American musical film directed by William A. Seiter. The screenplay by William M. Conselman, Nat Perrin, and Arthur Sheekman is based on a story by Samuel Engel. The film is about a young orphan called 'Ching Ching' (Temple) who stows away on a ship and is adopted by Tommy Randall (Young) and his wife Susan (Faye). The film was hugely successful [1], and is available on videocassette and DVD.
Contents |
Barbara 'Ching-Ching' Stewart is an orphan living in Sanchow, China. When bandits threaten, she is taken to Shanghai for safety and meets Tommy Randall, a rich playboy traveling about the world on a ship. Barbara accidentally becomes a stowaway on his ship. When discovered, she is provided for by Tommy and Susan Parker, a passenger on the ship engaged to the son of her traveling companion, Mrs. Hope. Susan and Tommy become romantically involved. Barbara plays Cupid in furthering their romance. The couple realize they love Barbara and want to do the best for her after learning she will be put off the ship and sent to an orphan's asylum. Susan breaks her engagement with Hope after discovering his selfish nature and marries Tommy. The two adopt Barbara.
Temple learned forty words in Mandarin Chinese for the film, later stating the learning process required six months of instruction (Edwards 101,306). In the film, she impersonates Ginger Rogers (with a life-sized male doll fixed to her toes), Eddie Cantor, and Al Jolson singing “Mammy” [1]. Temple’s IQ was tested during the Stowaway period and found to be 155, the genius classification [2].
The film features three songs by Harry Revel and Mack Gordon: "Goodnight, My Love" (sung by Temple, reprised by Faye), "One Never Knows, Does One?" (Faye), and "You Gotta S-M-I-L-E To Be H-A-Double-P-Y" (Temple). Other songs are "Please" by Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin (sung by a Chinese performer in a theater), and the film's finale, "That's What I Want for Christmas" by Gerald Marks and Irving Caesar (sung by Temple).
Variety remarked, “It’s a nifty Shirley Temple comedy with musical trimmings” [3]. Variety commented, “Whether or not due to Seiter’s efforts, [Shirley] does not appear to have outgrown […] the Little Miss Marker stage in this one as she had in her last pictures” [2].
The New York Times applauded the film, noting that Temple had “an amusing script behind her, an agreeable adult troupe with her, and a clever director before her.” The reviewer thought the film the best from Temple since Little Miss Marker[4]
In 2009, Stowaway was available on videocassette and DVD in the black and white original and in computer-colorized versions of the original. Some versions featured theatrical trailers and other special features.