Shirley Temple was a huge star in the 30's, bringing droves of people into theaters to see her films and almost single-handedly saving Fox from bankruptcy.  Fox has started releasing her pictures on DVD, but unfortunately they aren't taking the time and effort to restore these films the way they should be.  This disc, Bright Eyes, is one of her better films, showing the little moppet at her cutest.

In this film Shirley (Shirley Temple) lives with her widowed mother who works as a maid for the Smythes.  Mr. and Mrs. Smythe are a petty and disagreeable sort who order their servants around and are just waiting for rich, mean, old, Uncle Ned (Charles Sellon) to die so they can inherit his fortune.

Shirley likes to hang out at the airfield with her godfather, a pilot named Loop (James Dunn).  On Christmas all of the pilots decide to throw a party for Shirley.   Her mother is bringing the cake, but gets killed by a car on the way to the party.

Shirley is the only person who is truly kind to Uncle Ned, so he insists that the Smythes take the poor girl in when he finds out she's an orphan.  Afraid of being disinherited, they grudgingly agree, but make her life miserable.  Loop meanwhile wants to take care of her, but Ned and his lawyers are trying to rush the adoption papers through.  It's a bitter custody battle with cheerful Shirley caught in the middle.

This was another nice Shirley film, even if they do poor on the sentimentality a bit too much.  (Not only does her mother die, but she dies on Christmas day trying to bring a cake to Shirley.)  Even so, it is touching when Loop flies her into the clouds and tell little Shirley that her mother is in Heaven.

This early Fox film has all the elements that would be recycled in many of Shirley's future films at the studio: Her cheerful disposition even when people are mean to her, a big custody battle between people who love her and people who want her for monetary gain, and Shirley singing a couple of songs and charming the audience.

Shirley had an amazing amount of screen presence, and she easily steals the picture from her supporting actors.  The highlight of the film, of course, is Shirley singing her signature song "On the Good Ship Lollipop," which she preforms very well.

All in all, a fun family film.  If you can look past the heavy handed tugging at the heart strings, this film is easy to enjoy.

This DVD contains both the original black and white version of the film and a color version on a single sided disc.  I find it hard to believe that studios are still spending the money to colorize movies, wasn't it decided that this was a rotten idea nearly two decades ago?  In any case you can chose to have artificial colors overlaid on top of the film, if you so desire.

Audio:

This DVD has the original mono English soundtrack as well as a stereo mix.  Both of these tracks sounded very good for a film from the 30's.  There isn't a lot of range, and the songs could have used a bit more on both ends, but the dialog was clear and there wasn't any audible hiss or hum at normal levels.

Video:

This DVD includes the original black and white movie, as well as a colorized version.  I screened the B&W version, and spot checked the colorized film.  I really wish they had spent the money it cost to colorize this film on restoration instead.
 
The B&W full frame image is pretty pathetic.  The image is soft and the lines aren't as tight as they could be.  The level of detail is alright, though fine details do get lost in black areas, and the highlights are usually washed out.  There is also a fair amount of grain which is distracting.  The print was above average for a film of this age though, with only a few spots and scratches.  The

The color version looks really horrid.  The colors are artificially bright, and skin tones don't look natural.  Shirley Temple's skin is a bright peach color and looks really silly.  The leaves on the trees and plants in the fields are all the exact same shade of green.  Avoid this version.

Extras:

There sole extra are some theatrical trailers for other Temple films.

Final Thoughts:

This is one of Shirley's better movies, and it is a shame that Fox gave it such lousy treatment.  The picture really isn't very good, very grainy and with several other problems.  It is watchable, but the mediocre picture does make it harder to enjoy this film.  Shirley Temple fans will assuredly pick this up, and to others it gets a slight recommendation, mainly due to the quality of the transfer, not the film itself.