Trying to feed off Wizard of Oz Popularity

The studio that made Wizard of Oz had tried to get Shirley Temple to play Dorothy, but her studio ultimately wouldn't let her do it. They got Judy Garland, and surprise! They had a successful, profitable, beautiful movie.

Enter Shirley Temple's studio, no doubt unhappy about the WOO success. So decide to put on their own fairy tale show, starring their #1 star, Shirley Temple. Surely it would outdo WOO.

Sadly, it comes off as a thrown-together-in-haste fantastical, somewhat schmaltzy fairy tale that has a whiff of Heidi to it. The set decoratoins are beautiful, some of the characters interesting. But mostly the characters are same ol' same ol' stereotypes.

It's worth a watch. There was a reason that Shirley Temple was a huge success, in that she's immensely talented and has that "it" factor in spades. She's absolutely adorable, even as an older girl.

But I can see why this wasn't a big hit. For one thing, it's important to be first. Wizard of Oz was first in the fantastical tale category. Second, it's just not the same quality. The songs, the dances. No comparison. I mean...WOO had Alan Hale, Ray Bolger, Judy Garland, and Bert Lahr. There is no way to top that.

Also, for all her talents, Temple wasn't a very good actress. She's a bit hammy and says her lines a certain way, no matter the movie. "Oh, no. We can't leave!" is spoken as if she's reciting a line excitedly an overly dramatic. This is how she was taught as a child to say lines. Judy Garland, OTOH, was more of an actress.

But the two movies needn't be compared these days. They are different movies entirely. WOO being a real classic, almost perfect for the type of movie it is. Blue Bird being a more run of the mill studio venture turned around in a hurry in the hopes of feeding off WOO. It's also very sad in places. She visits her dead grandparents? How sad.

Still, the lesson is a good one, for those times. Her grandmother tells her to choose a bird out of the many little birds in the large cage. Mytyl says "No blue bird out of all these birds?" Grandma says "That one at the top is blue." "No, grandma, it's black." Grandma says, "That's funny. It always looked blue to me." Happiness is where you find it. Money is not important. (These days, however, money is everything, isn't it? There is no high regard for poor people. No Frank Capra view of poverty.)