Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

This is one of two movies that Shirley Temple made for Paramount before she signed a contract with Twentieth Century Fox and became a superstar child actor. (Temple's other Paramount production was Now and Forever, which starred Gary Cooper and Carole Lombard).

This movie was made in 1934. There were three re-makes, most recently in 1980, but I have not seen them. I am afraid that they might spoil the magic of the original for me.

Most of Shirley Temple’s movies make me cringe because they take every opportunity and every excuse to have the little girl sing and dance, even if it adds nothing to the story. Not so with Little Miss Marker. This was made before she became a phenomenon.

Little Miss Marker is based on a story by Damon Runyon. (So is The Lemon Drop Kid, which I have also reviewed.)

Paramount did not showcase Shirley Temple, as Fox did. The star of this movie is Adolphe Menjou as Sorrowful Jones. However, as often happens in the movies, the little girl steals every scene. The movie world of bookies, gamblers and soft-hearted gangsters revolves around her.

Shirley Temple plays Marthy “Marky” Jane, a little girl whose father leaves her with the bookie as a “marker”, a surety that he will come back with the money that he owes. When Marky’s father cannot pay back the bookie for his $20 bet, he kills himself. The bookie is forced to keep the little girl. Marky soon changes his life and the lives of everyone he knows, beginning with Bangles Carson (played by Dorothy Dell), the soft-hearted girlfriend of gangster Big Steve (played by Charles Bickford).

The gangsters decide to use the girl to help them fix a race, by naming her as the owner of a race horse.

It ends with a tear-jerker scene in a hospital.

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Director - Alexander Hall

Run time - 80 minutes

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Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12