Once a family favourite, now forgotten: John Ford's 1938 'Wee Willie Winkie' made effective use of child star Shirley Temple and veteran Victor McLaglen in what was essentially an 'eastern'.
M.cLaglen's performance as a gruff but kind soldier has meant modern media recordings of the film has given him equal prominence with Shirley Temple on display photos.
In 1929 Ford first used McLaglen in a north-west frontier setting in 'The Black Watch'. This was later remade as 'King of the Khyber Pass' in 1953.
|
John Ford's Indiana Jones Precursor Director John Ford
John Ford was one of the greatest 20th Century directors. Although most famous for his westerns ( 'Stagecoach', 'My Darling Clementine'), he also made comedies, musicals, political dramas and documentaries. He worked with a group of favourite actors, including John Wayne, Henry Fonda and Voctor McLaglen. Most of his films, regardless of genre, examine the nature of community and group loyalty, and questions of personal duty, loyalty and courage. All these themes can be seen in 'Wee Willie Winkie'. So too can the Fordian motif of placing groups of people under pressure in confined and dangerous circumstances and observing their responses.Even his comedies display this theme.
There are several good outlines of Ford's personality and long movie career. FilmDirectorSite (Ford); Directed by John Ford site; the IMDB site; and Wikipedia's biography and filmography.  Ford directing McLaglen in 'The Informer'
Victor McLaglen was one of Ford's 'stock' company of favoured actors. He frequently appeared as a bluff brawler of a character, but with a heart of gold, and rather found of a drink. This image shows him working with Ford on 'The Informant', made a couple of years before 'Wee Willie Winkie' and for which he won the Oscar for best actor.
Clip 1 below shows McLaglen and Temple. This was not McLaglen's first appearance for Ford in a movie set on the North-West frontier. In 1929 he was the hero, Captain King, in 'The Black Watch', remade by Henry King in 1953 as 'King of the Khyber Rifles'. McLaglen's personality, background and career would make an film. He was a performer in circus and vaudeville, a professional boxer, served in the army in the Iraq during World War I For more information about McLaglen's long movie career, go to the IMDB site http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0572142/bio, or his page on Matinee Classics at http://matineeclassics.com/celebrities/actors/victor_mclaglen/details/ 
Ford's mastery of the western genre enabled him to incorporate his skills of combining crisp visual action, grand settings and compelling if sentimentally portrayed characters into what was essentially an 'eastern' with the added box-office fillip of a child star at the height of her fame. Although 'Wee Willie Winkie' is today primarily remembered for the combination of McLaglen and Temple, it contains fine examples of Ford's incisive handling of action scenes. See Clip 2 below.
 Graham Greene
'Wee Willie Winkie' was the subject of one of the most famous of all movie reviews. Written by the great English novelist Graham Greene, it involved a scathing attack on Shirley Temple - and certain of what Greene regarded as her older male admirers.In 1937 Greene, then a leading journalist wrote a review of the film for a new magazine. He was no admirer of Shirley Temple, having previously described her as having the face of a 'fifty-year old dwarf'.This time he attacked some of her admirers: "middle-aged men and clergymen -[who] respond to her dubious coquetry,to the sight of her well-shaped and desirable little body, packed with enormous vitality,only because the safety curtain of story and dialogue drops between their intelligence and their desire". The film's production company sued Greene and the magazine, who had to pay 3500 pounds in damages. Thereafter Greene called Temple "that little bitch".
|
Scenes from the movie
About this movie:
Although Ford is now widely recognised by film historians and critics as a seminal figure in the cinema, it is doubtful if Wee Willie Winkie is the subject of much discussion in film studies classes today.Its sentimentality and the cloying presence of its child star upset contemporary sensibilities. The scene where Temple signs Auld Lang Syne to a dying soldier typifies this approach. A summary of its plot hardly suggests the film contains much of intellectual interest. The story focuses on the young Priscilla who travels with her mother to meet her grandfather, a commanding officer in the British army in the north-west, dealing with a troublesome Sikh rebellion. She befriends both an imprisoned rebel leader,Khoda Khan and the gruff regimental Drill Sergeant (McLaglen). Through her intervention conflict between the two sides is averted.
However, Wee Willie Winkie, sentiment and plot aside, is pure Ford in that its chief focus is on the examination of close-knit communities surrounded by danger and tension: the regiment and the Sikhs. Both groups have their codes, of which honour, courage and loyalty are crucial. Ford shows that both sides are also capable of compromise and good will, and willing to recognise the merits of the other's cause. Although the film praises military values, it also emphasises the need for restraint and compassion.
Sentimental though the relationship between the sergeant and the youngster might be, both actors bring an undeniable zest and acute comic timing to their performances. Their scenes together are entertaining and enjoyable. Shirley Temple later regarded this as the best of her screen performances.
For suggested books and articles which provide further background and information on the historical events and the people associated with the movie, go to this Cliomuse page.
However, Wee Willie Winkie, sentiment and plot aside, is pure Ford in that its chief focus is on the examination of close-knit communities surrounded by danger and tension: the regiment and the Sikhs. Both groups have their codes, of which honour, courage and loyalty are crucial. Ford shows that both sides are also capable of compromise and good will, and willing to recognise the merits of the other's cause. Although the film praises military values, it also emphasises the need for restraint and compassion.
Sentimental though the relationship between the sergeant and the youngster might be, both actors bring an undeniable zest and acute comic timing to their performances. Their scenes together are entertaining and enjoyable. Shirley Temple later regarded this as the best of her screen performances.
For suggested books and articles which provide further background and information on the historical events and the people associated with the movie, go to this Cliomuse page.