Wee Willie Winkie (film)
Encyclopedia
Wee Willie Winkie is a 1937
American adventure film
directed by John Ford
. The screenplay by Julien Josephson and Ernest Pascal was based on a story by Rudyard Kipling
. The film stars Shirley Temple
, Victor McLaglen
, and Cesar Romero
in a story about the British presence in nineteenth century India.
William S. Darling
and David S. Hall
were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction
.
, Sergeant Donald McDuff escorts Joyce Williams, an impoverished widow, and her young daughter, Priscilla, to a remote military outpost on the northern frontier of India, to live with her stern father-in-law, Colonel Williams. Along the way, they witness the capture of notorious rebel chief Khoda Khan.
Soon, Priscilla, nicknamed 'Wee Willie Winkie' by McDuff, wins the hearts of all the soldiers, especially her grandfather and McDuff; even Khoda Khan is touched by her visits to cheer him up in his captivity. Meanwhile, her mother is courted by Lieutenant Brandes.
Khoda Khan is rescued by his men in a daring night raid and a fight breaks out. McDuff is fatally wounded while out on patrol. He passes away in the hospital, while Winkie sings "Auld Lang Syne
" to him.
Winkie decides to persuade Khoda Khan to stop fighting when Mohammed-din, a soldier who is actually Khan's spy, smuggles her out of the base and takes her to the rebel mountain fortress. Khoda Khan is greatly pleased; he thinks that the colonel will bring his entire regiment in a hopeless attempt to rescue her.
Colonel Williams halts his force out of range and walks alone to the entrance. A few of Khan's men start shooting at Williams, and Winkie rushes to her grandfather's side. Impressed by the colonel's courage and overcome with empathy for the child, Khoda Khan orders his men to stop firing. He agrees to negotiate and the war ends.
was awarded 3500 pounds in a lawsuit it brought against British novelist Graham Greene
, who in his review of Wee Willie Winkie for the magazine Night and Day wrote:
1937 in film
The year 1937 in film involved some significant events, including the Walt Disney production of the first full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.- Events :*April 16 - Way Out West premieres in the US....
American adventure film
Adventure film
Adventure films are a genre of film.Unlike pure, low-budget action films they often use their action scenes preferably to display and explore exotic locations in an energetic way....
directed by John Ford
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
. The screenplay by Julien Josephson and Ernest Pascal was based on a story by Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
. The film stars Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...
, Victor McLaglen
Victor McLaglen
Victor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen was an English boxer and World War I veteran who became a successful film actor.Towards the end of his life he was naturalised as a U.S. citizen.-Early life:...
, and Cesar Romero
Cesar Romero
Cesar Julio Romero, Jr. was an American film and television actor who was active in film, radio, and television for almost sixty years...
in a story about the British presence in nineteenth century India.
William S. Darling
William S. Darling
William S. Darling was a Hungarian-born art director. He was born as Wilhelm Sándorházi. He won three Academy Awards and was nominated for a further four in the category Best Art Direction...
and David S. Hall
David S. Hall
David S. Hall was a British art director. He was nominated for two Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction.-Selected filmography:Hall was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Art Direction:...
were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction
Academy Award for Best Art Direction
The Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
.
Plot
During the British RajBritish Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
, Sergeant Donald McDuff escorts Joyce Williams, an impoverished widow, and her young daughter, Priscilla, to a remote military outpost on the northern frontier of India, to live with her stern father-in-law, Colonel Williams. Along the way, they witness the capture of notorious rebel chief Khoda Khan.
Soon, Priscilla, nicknamed 'Wee Willie Winkie' by McDuff, wins the hearts of all the soldiers, especially her grandfather and McDuff; even Khoda Khan is touched by her visits to cheer him up in his captivity. Meanwhile, her mother is courted by Lieutenant Brandes.
Khoda Khan is rescued by his men in a daring night raid and a fight breaks out. McDuff is fatally wounded while out on patrol. He passes away in the hospital, while Winkie sings "Auld Lang Syne
Auld Lang Syne
"Auld Lang Syne" is a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song . It is well known in many countries, especially in the English-speaking world; its traditional use being to celebrate the start of the New Year at the stroke of midnight...
" to him.
Winkie decides to persuade Khoda Khan to stop fighting when Mohammed-din, a soldier who is actually Khan's spy, smuggles her out of the base and takes her to the rebel mountain fortress. Khoda Khan is greatly pleased; he thinks that the colonel will bring his entire regiment in a hopeless attempt to rescue her.
Colonel Williams halts his force out of range and walks alone to the entrance. A few of Khan's men start shooting at Williams, and Winkie rushes to her grandfather's side. Impressed by the colonel's courage and overcome with empathy for the child, Khoda Khan orders his men to stop firing. He agrees to negotiate and the war ends.
Lawsuit against Graham Greene
In 1938, 20th Century Fox20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
was awarded 3500 pounds in a lawsuit it brought against British novelist Graham Greene
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
, who in his review of Wee Willie Winkie for the magazine Night and Day wrote:
The owners of a child star are like leaseholders—their property diminishes in value every year. Time's chariot is at their back; before them acres of anonymity. Miss Shirley Temple's case, though, has a peculiar interest: infancy is her disguise, her appeal is more secret and more adult. Already two years ago she was a fancy little piece (real childhood, I think, went out after The Littlest Rebel). In Captain January she wore trousers with the mature suggestiveness of a Dietrich: her neat and well-developed rump twisted in the tap-dance: her eyes had a sidelong searching coquetry. Now in Wee Willie Winkie, wearing short kilts, she is completely totsy. Watch her swaggering stride across the Indian barrack-square: hear the gasp of excited expectation from her antique audience when the sergeant's palm is raised: watch the way she measures a man with agile studio eyes, with dimpled depravity. Adult emotions of love and grief glissade across the mask of childhood, a childhood that is only skin-deep. It is clever, but it cannot last. Her admirers—middle-aged men and clergymen—respond to her dubious coquetry, to the sight of her well-shaped and desirable little body, packed with enormous vitality, only because the safety curtain of story and dialogue drops between their intelligence and their desire.
Cast
- Shirley TempleShirley TempleShirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...
as Priscilla 'Winkie' Williams - Victor McLaglenVictor McLaglenVictor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen was an English boxer and World War I veteran who became a successful film actor.Towards the end of his life he was naturalised as a U.S. citizen.-Early life:...
as Sergeant Donald McDuff - C. Aubrey Smith as Colonel Williams
- Cesar RomeroCesar RomeroCesar Julio Romero, Jr. was an American film and television actor who was active in film, radio, and television for almost sixty years...
as Khoda Khan - June LangJune Lang-Early life:Born Winifred June Vlasek in Minneapolis, Minnesota , she originally trained as a dancer in "kiddie reviews" and went to Hollywood at the urging of her mother.-Career:...
as Joyce Williams - Michael Whalen as Lieutenant 'Coppy' Brandes
- Willie Fung as Mohammed-din