Captain January

Movie / Show Details

Amazon.com

A 1936 vehicle for Shirley Temple, Captain January is actually a remake of a 1922 feature starring Baby Peggy Montgomery as an orphan informally adopted by the lighthouse keeper who rescues her from a storm. The Temple version, directed by David Butler, finds the little star playing a child named, well, Star, who is rescued and taken in by a salty old lighthouse-keeper known as Captain January (Guy Kibbee). Like a briny variation on Bret Harte’s classic story, “The Luck of Roaring Camp,” Captain January finds Star nurtured by a community of aging sailors who adore her, including her hoofer friend Paul (Buddy Ebsen), with whom Star sings and dances one of the most-beloved numbers from a Shirley Temple movie, “At the Codfish Ball.” Star’s fable-like paradise is disrupted by the appearance of a truant officer (Sara Haden), who determines the child isn’t receiving proper schooling and overall care. That decision leads to a bit of conflict and despair, but with Temple wiggling, singing, and charming her way through her character’s mostly enchanted circumstances, it’s not hard to have faith in happy endings. The film is offered in both its original black-and-white presentation and in colorized form. Special features include a trailer and clips from Temple’s appearance at the presentation of a memorial to Will Rogers. –Tom Keogh

Product Description

Four year old star (Temple) has been living with Captain January (Guy Kibbee) ever since he rescued her form a shipwreck when she was a baby. Now their happy life together is unexpectedly threatened when the town’s new truant officer tries to take her away from the lighthouse keeper and place her in an institution.