the audience applauded

Thanks for the memories!

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

"Susannah of the Mounties" begins with a group of Canadian Mounted Police (the 'Mounties') coming upon some wagons that were attacked by the Natives. All the settlers, aside from a child (Shirley Temple as the title character), have been killed and the girl is taken back to the fort to live. She is taken in by a handsome young officer (Randolph Scott) and she soon adjusts to camp life.Because of this and other attacks, the leader of the Mounties calls a meeting with the local Chief. The two swear to end the violence and as a sign of his integrity, the Chief sends his young son to live with the white folks. Soon, he and Susannah are at odds with each other. BUT, because she is so gosh-darn spunky and sweet, soon she and the boy become best friends. However, a small group of evil renegade natives are bent on stoking the fires of war. Can resourceful little Susannah bring everyone together? Considering how many times she hit the peace pipe with her new friend, it's a good bet she can.The film gets some credit for having a tribe of actual Indians play the natives....with a few obvious exceptions. The chief and the leader of the renegades are BOTH played by white guys painted up to look like natives. Why did Hollywood always insist in this era in giving all the major roles for most every ethnic group to white folks?! This is especially silly with the chief-- a guy by the name of Maurice Moscovitch! However, Shirley's acting is great (as usual) and the film is never boring. Overall, a pretty good family film--even if it isn't 100% politically correct!

Shirley's box-office appeal was on the wane by the time Fox put her in SUSANNAH OF THE MOUNTIES and obviously they were aware of this when they decided not to shoot this one in technicolor. Not sure, but I recall seeing a sepia tone version of this at a kiddie matinée revival years ago. However, all TV showings are in standard B&W.Once again, Shirley starts the story as an orphan when Indians kill her parents and she's rescued by none other than Randolph Scott, a handsome mountie who, with his sweetheart (Margaret Lockwood), takes Shirley under his wing. What happens next is a predictable yarn that doesn't require much from any of the participants, especially Shirley, who neither sings nor dances, except for a brief (and charming) moment when she teaches a dance step to the mountie. And naturally, when the plot calls for her to rescue Scott (captured by nasty Indians), she becomes the little diplomat who saves the day.Shirley and Scott worked together before in REBECCA OF SUNNYBROOK FARM and it's nice to see them paired again.But the story is strictly formula for the "little orphan girl" theme that writers always came up with for Temple, and the feeble attempts at comedy relief are so obvious as to be unfunny. The script is a tedious thing and thankfully the weak romantic angle between Scott and Lockwood is kept to a minimum to let Temple have the spotlight.At eleven or so, and just a bit chubby, she still has the dimpled charm that made her famous but has no opportunity to shine the way she did in her earlier films. Victor Jory shows some menace as an Indian, but none of the skirmishes seem very authentic. The humorous moments are no more than sad attempts at humor at the expense of native American Indians.Summing up: One of Shirley's weaker vehicles, enjoyable only for die-hard Temple fans. Fortunately for Shirley, she still had THE LITTLE PRINCESS in release that same year.

I have a vast collection of Shirley Temple movies in my possession. I don't however have all of them I am still in search of some of the ones that I don't have but, I do have Susannah of the Mounties and I watch it often. I enjoy this movie because I've always liked movies that have a variety of nationalities in it. And Susannah of the Mounties has a mixture of white and native americans in it and I liked it. True she doesn't sing or dance in it like she is known for in her earlier works but, she still touches the hearts of watchers through her talents. In this movie she ends up teaching watchers that not all native americans are bad and that indeed whites and native americans could live together peacefully. Through her befriending the young native american chief she is showing people that all ethnic groups can live together peacefully and be friends to. She also shows how important it is to be there for loved ones or good friends when they are in need like she does for Inspector Montague after she finds out that he has been captured and almost put to death by the Blackfeet Tribe. And by being friends with Chief Big Eagle and Little Chief she convinces the Blackfeet tribe to save Inspector Montague and to punish the real traitor. I think all her movies teaches us the lessons of life we need to learn and because of her being the popular child star she was and how everyone loved her she was able to teach children good from bad and be the positive influence that she was and always will be.

SUSANNAH OF THE MOUNTIES (20th Century-Fox, 1939), directed by William A. Seiter, stars Shirley Temple, now 11-years-old, trying new ground so not to repeat herself. No songs or dance numbers here, just plain outdoors adventure between white men and Indians.Temple plays Susannah Sheldon who is orphaned after her family is killed in an Indian massacre, thus, becoming the sole survivor found and taken in by a Canadian Mountie, Angus Montagu (Randolph Scott). She soon bonds with the Mountie and later rescues him from being sacrificed by Indians, who believe him to be a traitor. Susannah later exposes the one who is. Not as memorable as some of her earlier outings, but watchable. Temple has her moments with Scott in a scene in which she tries to teach him how to dance in order to impress an attractive visitor, Vicky Standing (Margaret Lockwood). Margaret Lockwood, an English actress, is best known for her performance in the Alfred Hitchcock's suspenser, THE LADY VANISHES (1938). She also worked in another Hollywood produced feature, RULERS OF THE SEA (Paramount, 1939) before returning to England where her roles surpassed those made in Hollywood. As for Shirley, she is even given some screen time opposite an Indian boy, Little Chief (Martin Good Rider), who calls her "papoose," which is Indian for "baby." Also featured in the cast are J. Farrell MacDonald, Moroni Olson and Victor Jory. As mentioned during the opening credits, scenes were filmed on location in the Canadian mounties. With plenty of background scenery, one wonders why it wasn't done in Technicolor. Otherwise, it's convincing actioner.SUSANNAH OF THE MOUNTIES, which can be found on video cassette from Playhouse Video, formerly played in the colorized context on the Disney Channel in the early 1990s, later on American Movie Classics from 1996 to 2001, and afterwards on the Fox Movie Channel, where it's presented either in its original black and white format or colorization. (***)