Young People (1940 film)

Plot

Believing that it's good for their adopted daughter Wendy (Shirley Temple), Joe Ballantine (Jack Oakie) and his wife Kit (Charlotte Greenwood) decide to retire their vaudeville act and move the family to a small New England town. But despite Wendy's many attempts to charm the locals, the "show folk" are given the cold shoulder. That is, until a hurricane hits the town, and because of the generosity, strength and conviction in the face of disaster, it appears that the troupers just might win over the residents in their new hometown after all.

Cast

Reception

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote, "For patrons who can take so much precocity, it should be one of the more charming of the miracle child's films. Mr. Oakie and Miss Greenwood make a couple of amusing hoofers, and there are several nice songs to catch the ear. If this is really the end, it is not a bad exit at all for little Shirley, the superannuated sunbeam. But we rather suspect she'll be back." Variety wrote that the film "makes up in tunefulness and spontaneity what it lacks on the story side ... Miss Temple, relieved of the responsibility of carrying the entire picture on her shoulders, drops neatly into the groove assigned her." Film Daily wrote, "Shirley Temple's latest and last offering for 20th-Century Fox is loaded with entertainment and finds the youngster as appealing and attractive as ever." Harrison's Reports wrote, "Good! Although the story is lightweight, it has plentiful human interest, a few good musical numbers, comedy, and engaging performances." "Miss Temple has obviously retired in the full tide of her powers," John Mosher wrote in The New Yorker. "In 'Young People,' her swan song, so to speak, she shows no weariness, no slacking up, no arthritic pangs."

As with Temple's previous film, The Blue Bird, Young People was a box office disappointment.