She was lucky to get to work with a talented cast including James Dunn (one of her best partners) and Claire Trevor. The best part of the movie is when the officers at the end of the movie ask James Dunn's character if he's alright (he was just shot in the shoulder mind you) and he says- OH ITS JUST A SCRATCH! I always die on the floor laughing! God love the classic movies of the 30s. And of course James Dunn doesnt need any medical attention and it all ends pleasantly! And there is another part where Shirley Temple is help letting lose the bad guy (well she of course doesnt know hes bad until later) and she uses a knife to cut him lose- Just look at Shirley's face when she picks up the knife. She looks like a pyscho killer! It is excellent! Its little Shirley gone bad!

Dont get me wrong- I'm a die hart Shirley fan- I own practically all of her movies (all of the them under her fox contract from 1934-1940) and have read Child Star her autobiography which is like 700 pages. I just find these little things greatly humorous! I recommend Baby Take a Bow to any Temple fan- its one of her bests!


Shirley- Take A Bow   January 26, 2005
ilovemydog (TX, USA)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

Why can't they make more movies like Shirley does??? The classic family films that always have a happy ending???
This is one of Shirley's best in my opinon the on-screen dynamic you see between Shirley and her dad(Dunn) is present. Dunn is a great actor--for in this movie you do see him as Shirley's dad who worships his family and littel Shirley.
Shirley as always the entertainer does a ton of dancing in this scene including the famous "copy-cat" dance.
I gave four stars because I found the whole jewel-thief thing and hide and seek jewel thing boring-- me and my cousins fast forward through that one but, still it's a great movie.
Lots, of great on-screen chemistry and Shirley's dance. This is a precious film-- watch it with your kids...or buy the tape. You won't be disappointed if you lovve good clean fun!!!


Great!   August 22, 1999
9 out of 10 found this review helpful

Little Shirley's father is a good father who once was a thief("Eddie"). Her family's best friends are a younger man who also once was a thief, but is going straight("Larry"), and his new wife. When "Trigger Stone", a robber and sometimes a killer, steals a pearl necklace from Eddie and Larry's employer, a detective who's trying to promote himself a job by blaming everything on Eddie and Larry blames it on them(well, of course!). Trigger Stone gives the pearls to Shirley, and tells her it's a "birthday present"(yes, in the movie it is her fifth birthday)to protect himself. Little Shirley hides the beads in her father's pocket, not knowing what she was doing. "Welch"(the detective), comes to Shirley's family's apartment and openly searches everywhere. He even tries to bribe Shirley into telling him where the beads are. then Trigger Stone comes to collect the beads and that's where I'll stop, but I will tell you that Shirley is in a lot of trouble, and I don't mean with her parents.


Cute Shirley Temple film, but not for kids!   May 2, 2001
12 out of 15 found this review helpful

This is a cute movie and Shirley Temple is just adorable in it, but there is a scene at the end of the movie in which little Shirley is--literally--in the clutches of the bad guy. She is bodily carried to the rooftop of her apartment building, screaming, "Mommy! Daddy! Help me!!" for about six or seven minutes while the police are in pursuit with guns drawn and bullets being fired. I didn't find this appropriate for my young daughter, who currently is enamored with little Shirley Temple. At 2 1/2 years old, my child is too young to understand that "Baby Take a Bow" is just a movie and that the little girl was not in mortal danger during the making of the film. I will let her watch other movies by Shirley Temple rather than this one.

I don't know how many films Temple had made by the time "Baby Take a Bow" was filmed, but it certainly shows that she had tremendous talent at a very young age. She was truly a child star and entirely deserving of that title. What a wonderful little actress!