People are voting emotionally.

Admirable film.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

In this film, and in the subsequent similar-themed "Susannah of the Mounties", 'little miss fix it' graduates from reforming grouchy people or acting as matchmaker, to functioning as the very unlikely diplomat in bringing an end to ethnic warfare, here in the pre-Pakistan greater India-Afghanistan border region, and in the later film, on the Canadian rail-building frontier. Two other contemporaneous films dealt with the same subject: the prior Gary Cooper-starring "The Lives of a Bengal Lancer", and the first half of the Errol Flynn-starring "the Charge of the Light Brigade".There is considerable confusion about the ethnic affiliation of the Khoda Khan-led marauders, usually described in film summaries as Indian tribal renegades. However, several clues identity them as Afghan tribals. Both Colonel Williams(C. Aubrey Smith) and Sergeant MacDuff(Victor McLaglen) speak of them as Pathans, which is a sometimes- used alternative term for Afghans. Also, the story is sited near Khyber Pass, which was in the center of the region controlled by the Pathans. Their Pathan identity is confused by their wearing turbans characteristic of the Indian Bengal Lancers(included in the film) or rather similar ones worn by Sikhs, rather than the standard Afghan turban.Director John Ford has his Indian Army unit composed of a majority of Scottish kilt-clad infantry(all apparently being of Scottish origin!), and a small contingent of native Bengal Lancer cavalry. It's quite a stretch of plausibility that the infantry could march within a day from the British fort to Khyber Pass! Scottish bagpipes are heard frequently throughout the film, especially when the troops are drilling, parading or marching out on patrol. "Coming through the Rye" is the favored tune. Ford would again indulge his penchant for parading cavalry accompanied by a popular traditional song a decade later, in "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon".Victor McLaglen gets to practice his role as the cut up top sergeant in the decade-later Ford cavalry films "Fort Apache" and "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon". With John Wayne playing the peacemaker role played by Shirley in this film, the screenplay of the present film more resembles that of the latter film. However, it's in "Fort Apache" that we again encounter both Shirley and McLaglen, although their relationship is then quite different, of course.As in the subsequent "Susannah of the Mounties", Shirley sometimes has a boy companion, with whom she has a largely antagonistic relationship, being largely dismissed as a mere little girl, which only encourages her to show that she can be a significant person in a non-traditional feminine way within the military community. The skirmish-related death of her friend Sgt. McDuff is an additional incentive to try to convince Khoda Khan and his bunch to voluntarily give up their traditional lives of plundering merchants who must negotiate the vital Khyber Pass to reach their destinations, rather than having to face the wrath of the British Army to force them to do so. Of course, little Shirley faces the initial ridicule of the British infantry, with her ambition to dress and act like a soldier, and the equal ridicule of the Pathans , when she journeys to their stronghold to plead with KK to end his plundering ways. Of course, she is not deterred, against all odds, succeeding in both missions. The film ends with Shirley's victorious smiling face filling the screen, in full uniform, saluting the troops parading by.Gruff old Aubrey Smith joined a list of older character actors portraying set-in-their-ways grandfathers, grandmothers, aunts, etc., whom Shirley must charm and demonstrate that it was possible to change for the better what they considered insolvable problems. Perhaps the subliminal take-home message was that solving The Depression, which lingered despite all the New Deal policies, might require input from an unexpected source, as indeed it would, with the unofficial, then official, participation of the sleeping US industrial and military establishments in the most intense war the world had ever seen: an ironic twist on Shirley's pacifist solutions.Shirley again charms with her naïve little girl questions and antics. Her initially difficult relationship with her female-shy grandfather somewhat reminds us of her rather similar relationship with her reclusive grandfather in "Heidi". As children do, she occasionally blurts out the wrong word for something, suggesting that her grandfather is a 'cauliflower', which he corrects to 'wallflower', when it comes to dancing.June Lang graduated from playing Shirley's school teacher in "Captain January", to her widowed mother in this film. She was a good looking blond, who is adequate for the role, but lacked striking charisma. The bland, if handsome, Michael Whalen(Lt. Brandes), who played Shirley's widowed father in "Poor Little Rich Girl", returns to play June's new love interest, hence Shirley's potential father-in-law. Bunny Beatty plays a rival available debutant for the attention of Lt. Brandes, egged on by her haughty mother, but ignored by Brandes. Handsome Cesar Romero is barely recognizable, with his turban, as Khoda Khan. Although raised in NYC, he was of Cuban parentage, hence was usually cast as a Latino or other exotic. Unfortunately , assumed audience ethnic prejudice mostly limited this talented comedic or straight actor to secondary roles, and the loser in romantic contests over the leading lady.

WEE WILLIE WINKIE (20th Century-Fox, 1937), directed by Academy Award winning John Ford, stars Shirley Temple in possibly her most prestigious film of her career. Capitalizing on the current trend of military themes as THE LIVES OF A BENGAL LANCER (Paramount, 1935), THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE (Warners, 1936), and later the most popular, Rudyard Kipling's GUNGA DIN (RKO, 1939), WEE WILLIE WINKIE, also authored by Kipling, fits well into this category. In spite of Temple's presence, high production values, fine support of Academy Award winning actor Victor McLaglen (RKO's THE INFORMER, 1935), and a well-scripted but leisurely-paced screenplay (by Ernest Pascal and Julian Josephson), WEE WILLIE WINKIE comes close to being overlooked item from cinema history.With Temple's previous screen efforts typically casting her as an orphan or child of a widowed parents who occupies screen time solving problems with feel good intervals of song and dance, WEE WILLIE WINKIE is a welcome change of pace. While Temple doesn't have any real musical interludes, she does acquire one heartfelt moment worth mentioning where she sings "Auld Lang Syne" to a dying soldier. Of her two 1937 releases, HEIDI, based on the literary work by Johanna Spyri, appears to be most admired mainly because it gears mostly towards the interest of children while WEE WILLIE WINKIE appears to be more of a story for adults. Being the longest (99 minutes, though road show version was reportedly at 105 minutes) of Temple's feature length films of the 1930s, WEE WILLIE WINKIE contains more ingredients of a John Ford movie than Temple's. Regardless, the chemistry of both blends in nicely into the scenario. Temple would work under Ford again in FORT APACHE (RKO, 1948) with McLaglen in the supporting cast.   Plot summary: The year is 1897. Joyce Williams (June Lang), a young widow unable to support herself and her daughter, Priscilla (Shirley Temple), in America, are sent by her father-in-law, Colonel Williams, to live with him on his British Army Base. Arriving by train to Raj Pore station in Northern India, they are greeted by Sergeant McDuff (Victor McLaglen) to escort them via coach to their destination. Before departure, Priscilla witnesses the arrest of Khonda Khan (Cesar Romero), the rebel leader responsible for the smuggling of guns belonging to her grandfather's regiment. Having dropped his sacred charm, Priscilla runs over return "the necklace" back to him. Khan, dangerous and handcuffed, shows gratitude towards this "strange child" as he is taken away by authorities. During her stay at the post, Priscilla meets Branders (Michael Whalen), a young lieutenant she calls "Coppy" (whose hair, as she described, shines like a copper penny). Feeling her grandfather (C. Aubrey Smith) doesn't like her McDuff, at Coppy's request, shows Priscilla the procedures on becoming a good soldier. Providing her a junior-sized uniform, much to the dismay of drummer boy, Mott (Douglas Scott), McDuff renames his little soldier, "Wee Willie Winkie." With an uprising leading to the prison escape of Khonda Khan and the death of Sergeant McDuff, war is officially declared, causing "Wee Willie Winkie" to try and make peace before any more men are killed.While Temple dealt with grumpy grandfathers before, Lionel Barrymore being her best encounter in THE LITTLE COLONEL (1935), C. Aubrey Smith fits the bill as her military-minded grandfather with little time for his grandchild. Cesar Romero, believable as Konda Khan, gives a remarkable performance. He would assume another recognizable, but less threatening role, opposite Temple once more in THE LITTLE PRINCESS (1939). Military formation and the lives of British soldiers take precedence over the romantic subplot between June Lang and Michael Whalen that has been kept to a minimum. Others in the cast include Constance Collier (Mrs. Allardyce); Lauri Beatty (Elsa Allardyce, her daughter); Willie Fung (Mohammed Dihn); Brandon Hurst (Bagby); Lionel Pape (Major Allardyce); Mary Forbes (Mrs. MacMonachie), and John Ford regular, Jack Pennick, as one of the soldiers.A successful film in its day, WEE WILLIE WINKIE was later reissued at 77 minutes, the print most commonly used on commercial television prior to 1985. It wasn't until around 1987 when WEE WILLIE WINKIE was available close to its theatrical length when distributed on home video. In recent years, the 99 minute version became available on numerous cable stations, including The Disney Channel (colorized, 1990s); American Movie Classics (1996-2000), The Fox Movie Channel and Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: July 13, 2015). It's availability on DVD contains the choice of both colorized and black and white formats.While Temple may seem to be an unlikely candidate on a military base in far away India wanting to become a good little soldier, she's certainly one who hasn't lost her appeal in the rank as "Wee Willie Winkie." (***1/2)

Wee Willie Winkie is quite an interesting mix of a film, combining the seemingly disparate talents of Rudyard Kipling, John Ford, and Shirley Temple in one film. The very British Mr. Kipling and the very Irish Mr. Ford is odd enough right there.But when all is said and done it's a cavalry picture, just like Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and Rio Grande. The same rough house monkeyshines among the troops, the same tribute to regimental tradition and of course the same Victor McLaglen. All military units for Ford are the same, be they the Scotch Highlanders posted to India or the Seventh Cavalry fighting the Indians.Little Shirley and her mother June Lang go to live with Shirley's grandfather, C. Aubrey Smith, colonel of a regiment on India's northern frontier. He's a spit and polish soldier of the old school, but like she does in all her films, the little moppet melts the old guy.But she does more than that. She also gets into the heart of bandit chief Cesar Romero who probably gives the best performance in the film. He's a warrior chief fighting for his people, but he's light years removed from the terrorists of today. Since Shirley is the only one on speaking terms with Smith and Romero, she stops a frontier uprising as well.Wee Willie Winkie will not go down as one of John Ford's greater films, but it's decently entertaining enough. And I'm sure he didn't care about filming a Kipling story because with Shirley Temple in the lead it was going to make money.

India - the 1890's - the North-West Frontier. Precocious young Priscilla arrives with her widowed mother to live with the grandfather they've never met, a stern old Army Colonel. Gaining the nickname of Private WEE WILLIE WINKIE, the little girl quickly charms nearly everyone around her, including a tough Scots Sergeant. But it is her influence with the local bandit chief that portends the greatest impact on all their lives.This was arguably Shirley Temple's finest film. It is certainly her most lavish. Fox & director John Ford fashioned a mini-epic with great atmosphere and much to please family viewers. The detailed sets & huge cast of extras do the picture proud.Shirley is wonderful, as usual, in her own unique way, but this time she has a couple of co-stars that can hold their own with her. Victor McLaglen is every inch the embodiment of a bluff British sergeant - and well he should, given his real-life background as a boxing champion and Provost Marshal of Baghdad. Gruff & tender by turns, he gives an unforgettable performance. As Shirley's grandfather, marvelous old Sir C. Aubrey Smith gives another sterling portrayal as the archetype of the colonial officer class - crusty & domineering.The rest of the cast is equally enjoyable: Cesar Romero as the chieftain; June Lang & Michael Whalen as Shirley's mother and her new lieutenant friend (fortunately their romance is unobtrusive); Willie Fung as the giggling, treacherous house boy; and Constance Collier as the waspish wife of a brigade officer.