What a waste of my time!!!

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

10/10, of course. Song and dance movies are my favorites, and you know that.Bill Robinson (Mr. Bojangles IRL) was the absolute best master tap dancer who ever lived. He was very famous for his stair dance. In this movie, he and Shirley dance on a few short stairs, but in another one they tap dance up and down quite a long flight (can't remember which Shirley movie). It is too bad racism kept him from being the greatest dance star of the movies, and that his roles were always/usually household staff. Gentlemen named Astaire, Kelly and O'Connor were supposedly the best tap dancers, and Bill shamefully didn't get their leading roles. I love them all, however. The best women tap dancers were Eleanor Powell and Ann Miller among others, plus of course dear little Shirley Temple. I think Bill may have taught her some steps, however.I like Willie Best in this movie. You have to be a very smart actor to play a dumbbell. Just ask the late, great Marilyn Monroe. Willie got lots of lines, not to mention punch lines, so he was never in this movie the under-5 actor who only said a few sentences. James Henry was talked down-to a lot by Virgie/Shirley, and I feel that that was not only racism but the usual disrespect/depiction of 1935 plus Civil War era of Caucasians ordering African Americans about.1938 saw John Boles again play Shirley's Army father in "The Little Princess", this time in the Boer War. 1936 saw Jack Holt portray Mr. Burley in "San Francisco" (starring Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Jeannette MacDonald).I liked Mr. Lincoln, up to a point. Virgie must have been starved. Abe gave her those apple slices. I feel that Virgie and Uncle Billy did not sing and tap dance enough on their way to the White House, because all I could tell was that they needed money for their train fares and it was not shown if or how they ate any food. Too bad Mr. Lincoln did not offer Uncle Billy any apple slices. Lincoln IRL was not necessarily an abolitionist, and he wrote the Emancipation Proclamation as a political move. He was rather racist, despite what you may have been told. I imagine Uncle Billy was just as starved as Virgie. The racists were not all in the South.Virgie's mother and father were superb. Did Mrs. Cary have consumption? John Boles played good fathers. In this movie, I liked him in both the Confederate as well as Union uniform. He cut a quite dashing figure.

The Littlest Rebel is probably one of Shirley Temple's infamous and most controversial movie that she has starred in. It is extremely sympathetic toward the Confederate side of the Civil War but the eternal charm that Shirley Temple gives in each of her movies can't help being repressed.The story is simple. Shirley T plays a little Southern girl named Virgie Cary a adorable moppet who seems to hold the social graces that would put Emily Post to shame. Because she is so cute and polite, everyone finds her irresistible. Oh! She is also a TERRIFIC tap dancer to boot! One sunny afternoon (April 12th) while she is celebrating her birthday, news flies in the door that Fort Sumter was fired upon and The War between the States has begun! Virgie is the child of Southern parents on a beautiful plantation with the happiest bunch of slaves that you ever seen---so we know what side her father will fight for.Life for Virgie changes somewhat after that. Like any child in the Civil War, she misses her father who has gone off to battle. But Virgie has incredible spunk and bravery when she confronts the "Yankee" army and actually seems to want to do battle with them when some of the soldiers get mean with her and try to steal from her home and pushes her mother roughly down the stairs. Luckily, her bravery and stubborn pluck captures the heart of a Union Commander who later tries to help her father. When Virgie's mother is stricken with an illness and dies, her father is captured and the kind Union Commander is also implicated. There is only one person who can save them....Can Virgie charm the socks off of Abraham Lincoln in Washington D.C and get a reprieve for them? African American's will not view this movie favorably because it shows a preposterous view of the treatment of slavery. The slaves seemed so happy that they don't want to leave. The Cary's seem to be kind slave owners---the slave quarters are furnished tastefully like a roadside motel. There are no beatings or mention of abuses. Of course, there are dreadful black stereotypes like John Henry.But the most interesting actor besides Shirley T is Bill "Bojangles" Robinson whom I consider one of the greats in tap dancing. Temple and Robinson enjoyed a very close friendship outside the studio. It was said when Temple saw Bill Robinson on a movie set, she had a mad compulsion to run up to him, take him by the hand, tug at him and look into his eyes and smile. When Bill Robinsonlooked down and saw her tugging at his hand, he couldn't resist her childish charm and smiled back at her. Temple maintained that "Uncle Billy" was the one adult who never treated her like a child but as an equal adult. Robinson said that Temple was one of the most talented young person when it came to dance--all he had to do was show her a routine twice and she picked it up immediately. Robinson also displayed a fatherly protective figure with Temple. A story was said that when Temple married John Agar, Robinson congratulated him but said "Be good to my little girl or I'll kill you" If you watch the interaction between these two on film, you could see Shiley Temple's eyes light up like a Christmas tree. I am sure that they felt some type of respect for each other off screen that carried into their outside lives. Relationships between black and white actors were not forbidden at that time but they were not encouraged. But we could say Temple and Robinson have been dubbed the first inter-racial couple on screen.Despite the false picture of slavery, The Littlest Rebel entertains us thanks to the talents of Bill Robinson and Shirley Temple. There is a tap dancing scene halfway in the picture that can't be missed. Sure, the plot is campy and corny, and Shirley's sugar sweet demure is gut wrenching---but for some reason it entertains.

Shirley Temple's natural way with lines and look of pure enjoyment as she shares a tap dance routine with Bill Robinson, is reason enough for Shirley's fans to want to watch THE LITTLEST REBEL. When these two go into their dance steps, it's a pure pleasure to watch.Not so pleasurable is treatment of the North and South and the Civil War, least of all the dim-witted jokes at the expense of the blacks. How far we've come since 1935 is painfully evident throughout much of the story and is bound to be something audiences have to overcome if they care to enjoy the story.Once again, Shirley's father is handsome John Boles and there are plenty of competent adult performers surrounding her--but make no mistake about it, the film belongs to the little star whose wondrous way with song and dance (and lines) makes her the most precocious and precious of all the child stars. Her "Polly-Wolly-Doodle" and "These Endearing Young Charms" are proof positive of her rare talent.

Shirley Temple is wonderful as usual in this cute movie. It is a about a little girl, Virgie(Temple)living through the civil war. Her Father has to go to and fight in the war and is caught as a spy in a Yankee uniform. Virgie and her beloved slave Uncle Billy go to president Lincon to ask him to let her father out.Shirley shines in this movie, and is especially charming singing the song 'Those endearing young charms' with a pink bow in her hair. She and Uncle Billy do a great tap dance and Shirley shows her amazing talent. The song 'Polly Wolly Doodle' was really good also.I think that Shirley Temple fans would really enjoy this movie, but if you don't really like Shirley this movie could be a little boring.