The lucky doll
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The lucky doll |
| Original title | Little Miss Marker |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1934 |
| length | 80 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Alexander Hall |
| script |
William R. Lipman Sam Hellman Gladys Lehman |
| production | BP Schulberg |
| music | Ralph Rainger |
| camera | Alfred Gilks |
| cut | William Shea |
| occupation | |
| |
The Lucky Doll is a 1934 American film directed by Alexander Hall with Shirley Temple and Adolphe Menjou in the lead roles. The film is based on a story published in a magazine in 1932 called "Little Miss Marker" by Damon Runyon .
action
The cute Martha Jane, who from then on will only be called “Marky”, would certainly never have dreamed that she would one day become the “Little Miss Marker”, the “little Fräulein Schuldschein”. But that's exactly how it happened: Because her father, who got into a gangster organization with his gambling addiction, pledged her downright in case he couldn't pay his debts. When he loses his last $ 20 in a horse bet for the doped Zossen "Dream Prince" and is thus finally bare, Marky passes into the "possession" of the pushers, gamblers and criminals. While Marky begins to be abused for weird transactions and she is even declared the owner of "Dream Prince" without further ado in order to be able to start again with the horse, Martha Jane begins a special relationship with the racehorse that her dead father did had brought much misfortune to develop. The actual owner, Big Steve Halloway, is a rather shrewd and unscrupulous contemporary and of course doesn't even think about letting the horse actually pass into Marky's possession. With the bookmaker Sorrowful Jones, he provides a supervisor for Martha Jane, while the dumb gangster thugs Sore Toe and Canvas Back are supposed to act as their babysitters.
Martha Jane once received good night stories from her late mother, who often dealt with the Knights of the Round Table. And so, in Little Miss Markers' illusory world, the gangster buddies are all given names from the same knighthood that makes Martha Jane's life easier here. The once ripped-off Sorrowful Jones, who was once not very sensitive, suddenly becomes pious and begins to develop downright paternal feelings for his guardian Marky. Big Steve Halloway's lover, Bangles Carson, falls in love with Jones, and both of them care more and more for parents instead of the girl with the golden heart. Sorrowful Jones even dresses the little one in new clothes, which he pays for himself. For Marky's sake, the racing thugs and half-worlds that surround them put on a “historical celebration” in which everyone is dressed like figures from that knightly era. Marky sits proudly on "her" "Dream Prince", but the joining Big Steve ensures with a rough act that the "dream prince" shies away and throws Marky off. The girl is seriously injured and has to be hospitalized immediately. Jones and Bangles take care of the girl. Steve, who wants revenge on Bangles for cheating, is condemned to donate the life-saving blood for Marky. Little Miss Marker is getting well again and can be happy to have found “surrogate parents” in Sorrowful Jones and his new girlfriend Bangles Carson, whom they absolutely want to adopt.
Production notes
The lucky doll was created in Hollywood on February 28, 1934 and was premiered on June 1, 1934. The Austrian premiere took place in the spring of 1937, there was no German premiere.
Hans Dreier and John B. Goodman designed the film structures.
useful information
With this film, a veritable box office success, and the subsequent meeting point: Paris! Shirley Temple made her breakthrough as a screen star in 1934.
Co-star Dorothy Dell survived the film's premiere by just a week. She died in a car accident at the age of 19.
The story was remade several times, including in 1949 with Bob Hope ( "Child Maid Against Will" ) and 30 years later with Walter Matthau ( "A lovely Fratz" ).
music
The following songs can be heard:
- "Low-Down Lullaby", "Laugh You Son-of-a-Gun" and "I'm a Black Sheep Who's Blue". Music by Ralph Rainger, text by Leo Robin.
Reviews
"Little Miss Marker" was consistently received positively. Below are some contemporary and modern reviews:
The Österreichische Film-Zeitung wrote: "... Shirley Temple, who enchants with her unaffected game ..."
" Clean, funny, with moments of tension and touching the heart, everything nicely mixed up ."
" ... admirable little Shirley ... "
“ Nobody can deny that this kid was an“ old hand ”. She brings her lines of text with a killer instinct. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ "The Lucky Doll". In: Österreichische Film-Zeitung , April 30, 1937, p. 3 (online at ANNO ).
Web links
- The lucky doll in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Little Miss Marker in the American Film Institute catalog