| The Littlest Rebel | |
| Director: | David Butler |
| Producer: | Darryl Zanuck (producer) Buddy G. DeSylva (associate producer) |
| Screenplay: | Edwin J. Burke Harry Tugend |
| Starring: | John Boles Jack Holt Karen Morley Bill Robinson Shirley Temple |
| Music: | Cyril Mockridge |
| Cinematography: | John F. Seitz |
| Editing: | Irene Morra |
| Distributor: | 20th Century Fox |
| Runtime: | 70 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Gross: | $1,431,000 (U.S. and Canada rentals)[1] |
The Littlest Rebel is a 1935 American musical drama film directed by David Butler. The screenplay by Edwin J. Burke was adapted from a play of the same name by Edward Peple.
The slingshot scene was written into the movie by screenwriter Edwin Burke after he learned of Temple's natural ability to use the slingshot. She was perfectly on target and needed only one take for the scene. Temple made international headlines when in the context of trying to keep noisy doves on the prison set (which the director explained did not belong in war) she asked "Why doesn't someone make Mussolini stop?" Someone overheard her comment and it made it into the newspapers, angering Mussolini.[2]
Writing for The Spectator in 1936, Graham Greene gave the film a mildly poor review, explaining that he had "expected there [would be] the usual sentimental exploitation of childhood", but that he "had not expected [Temple's] tremendous energy" which he criticized as "a little too enervating".[3]
Bill Gibron, of the Online Film Critics Society, wrote: "The racism present in The Littlest Rebel, The Little Colonel and Dimples is enough to warrant a clear critical caveat." However, Gibron, echoing most film critics who continue to see value in Temple's work despite the racism that is present in some of it, also wrote: "Thankfully, the talent at the center of these troubling takes is still worthwhile for some, anyway."[4]
The Littlest Rebel was dramatized as an hour-long radio play on the October 14, 1940, broadcast of Lux Radio Theatre, with Shirley Temple and Claude Rains.[5]