The Little Princess (1939): watch the full film free, legally

Sara Crewe at Miss Minchin’s school

The Little Princess is a 1939 American drama directed by Walter Lang. Ethel Hill and Walter Ferris wrote the screenplay, loosely adapting Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1905 novel A Little Princess. It was Shirley Temple’s first film made completely in Technicolor and her last major success as a child star. The film was also the third and final collaboration between Temple and Cesar Romero, after Wee Willie Winkie and Ali Baba Goes to Town, both released in 1937.

The story remains in Victorian London, though the film adds characters and plot lines while placing its action against the Second Boer War and the siege of Mafeking. In 1899, Captain Crewe leaves to fight in the war and places his daughter Sara, along with her pony, at Miss Minchin’s School for Girls. His money secures her a private, elaborate room. Sara worries about her father, but riding lessons offer a distraction.

At the school, Sara helps arrange meetings between Miss Rose, her riding teacher, and Mr. Geoffrey, the riding instructor. Geoffrey is the grandson of Lord Wickham, Miss Minchin’s unpleasant neighbor. He volunteers for the war and asks Rose to marry him before he leaves. Sara invites him to tea as a way to help the couple, but Miss Minchin discovers them and prevents a proper farewell.

Loss, work and stubborn hope

News that Mafeking has been freed leads Sara to expect her father’s quick return. At Captain Crewe’s request, Miss Minchin gives Sara a lavish birthday party. The celebration is cut short when the captain’s solicitor arrives with news of his reported death and the confiscation of the real estate that supported his wealth. Sara no longer has financial support. Miss Minchin makes her a servant in the school where she had been a pupil.

Her work leaves her hungry and exhausted, but she finds kindness from Ram Dass, Lord Wickham’s servant, and from Miss Minchin’s brother Bertie, who disapproves of his sister’s treatment of her. Miss Minchin intercepts a letter from Geoffrey to Rose, dismisses Rose, and appeals to Lord Wickham, who says he will never speak to Geoffrey again. Sara slips away to veterans’ hospitals, convinced that her father is alive.

Temple and Arthur Treacher perform “Knocked ’Em in the Old Kent Road,” described as the film’s best-known song. Temple also appears in an extended ballet sequence. Sara’s hope creates further conflict with Miss Minchin, who tries to force her to accept that her father has died. After Lavinia taunts her, Sara loses her temper and dumps ashes on her. Miss Minchin finds blankets, food and other items that Ram Dass and Lord Wickham have left for Sara, assumes they were stolen, and locks Sara in the attic while calling the police.

Technicolor precision and costly additions

After filming, Fox’s Darryl Zanuck ordered $300,000 in additional scenes, raising the cost above $1 million and making it the most expensive Shirley Temple film to that point. The production sought accuracy in its 1899 English setting. A doll had to match the specifications of one made in that period, and clothing was checked closely. Work was delayed when a Temple costume was found to use snap fasteners, which had not been invented until 1908.

Ernest Belcher trained Temple for the ballet scene. Temple rented her pony, Spunky, to the studio for a stall scene, but artificial green straw used for Technicolor made the pony restless. Spunky was removed, and Temple lost the appearance fee. During the ash scene with Marcia Mae Jones’s character, Temple asked Walter Lang for a second take after the first, but he declined.

Variety said the adaptation successfully transferred Burnett’s Sara Crewe story, calling it “saccharine to the nth degree” but acceptable once its premise was established. Reviewing the New York opening at the Roxy Theatre, Benjamin R. Crisler wrote that Temple made the film more than “pure hokum.” In 1983, Janet Maslin of The New York Times called it “antiquated enough to seem charming,” noting its music, likable histrionics and patriotism. The film entered the public domain in the United States in 1968 after its copyright registration was not renewed in the 28th year after publication.

Film details from the Wikipedia article “The Little Princess (1939 film)”. Text adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0.