They say one lie leads to another, and in order to get out of a fix (being out until 5:00 in the morning), a 20-something teenaged Shirley Temple pretends to have amnesia in order to save face with her frustrated parents (Tom Tully and Gloria Holden). Too bad Ms. Holden couldn't turn back into Dracula's Daughter to hypnotize the truth out of Temple (or put her out of our misery) in this miserable comedy which co-star David Niven has referred to as one of the most horrid pieces of celluloid he ever had to appear in. Looking as if she's swallowed ecologin tablets (or had lip-o-suction), Temple (with dimples so thin and deep here they look like they could accept subway tokens) repeats her role of Corliss Archer (first played in 1945's "Kiss and Tell"), and finished her film career off here, if the film didn't do it for her.
I am one of the few critics who actually thought "That Hagen Girl" (her notorious bomb with Ronald Reagan) wasn't as bad as I had read it to be, but this film makes up for my acceptance of that film as mediocre, but basically entertaining in spite of its implausibilities. This film has so many implausibilities I couldn't list them all, but the major one is that it expects us to believe that Niven, a rival of Tully's, would use Temple just to get back at her father by sending her a dresser full of lingerie and pretend that they've cohabitated so Tully is forced to insist that Temple and Niven marry. Darryl Hickman is Temple's easy going boyfriend, and actually gives the one likable performance in the film. Holden, totally wasted here, escapes judgment totally simply by being misused. If you want to remember Shirley as she was in her post-teen years, skip this one and watch her "Mr. Belvedere" film instead.
I am one of the few critics who actually thought "That Hagen Girl" (her notorious bomb with Ronald Reagan) wasn't as bad as I had read it to be, but this film makes up for my acceptance of that film as mediocre, but basically entertaining in spite of its implausibilities. This film has so many implausibilities I couldn't list them all, but the major one is that it expects us to believe that Niven, a rival of Tully's, would use Temple just to get back at her father by sending her a dresser full of lingerie and pretend that they've cohabitated so Tully is forced to insist that Temple and Niven marry. Darryl Hickman is Temple's easy going boyfriend, and actually gives the one likable performance in the film. Holden, totally wasted here, escapes judgment totally simply by being misused. If you want to remember Shirley as she was in her post-teen years, skip this one and watch her "Mr. Belvedere" film instead.