Line #4 Film/TheLittlestRebel


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/e4fce7a96570c8c7a55c2b8e5564443d.png]]
2	Creator/ShirleyTemple plays Virginia "Virgie" Cary, a pint-sized SouthernBelle during UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar. The [[HappinessInSlavery slaves are happy]] ([[ValuesDissonance of course]]) and for some reason [[NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent no one has a Southern accent]].
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4	In the opening scenes, Virgie is celebrating her sixth birthday. Unfortunately, her sixth birthday happens to be April 12, 1861 (what are the odds?). Captain Herbert Cary goes off to war, leaving Virgie in the care of her mother and their happy, happy slaves. The Cary family owns a number of slaves, but the two main ones are Uncle Billy, a tap-dancing butler played by Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, and James Henry (Willie Best), who is portrayed as TheDitz. The damn Yankees show up and are mean, except for their leader, Colonel Morrison, who is a FriendlyEnemy. Somehow, it all ends up with Virgie sitting in UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln[='s=] paternal lap and convincing him to grant presidential pardons to her father and Colonel Morrison.
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6	The movie is an adaptation of a 1911 play of the same name, which was earlier adapted as a silent film in 1914. This 1935 version takes the original play, a serious drama about the toll war takes on an innocent little girl, and turns it into a family-friendly musical because why not. Well, family-friendly except for the racism. It is this movie's whitewashing of slavery and sympathy of the Confederacy which makes it the most controversial entry in the Shirley Temple canon.
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8	!!This film provides examples of:
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10	* {{Blackface}}: At one point, Virgie dons blackface to disguise herself as a slave.
11	* BeenThereShapedHistory: In [[WhatCouldHaveBeen an earlier version of the script]], Virgie gives Lincoln the inspiration he needs to write the Gettysburg Address. A script doctor made them get rid of that, saying "if you ever even suggest that Shirley Temple was the inspiration for the Gettysburg Address, they'll throw rocks at us".
12	* DaddysGirl: Guess
13	* TheFool: A weird example thanks to the massive amounts of ValuesDissonance that come with this movie. James Henry is actually not nearly as dumb as people in the movie seem to think he is; he knows how to march and halt, he’s correct in saying the Yankees are coming to free the slaves, and he asks interesting questions about the origin of words. In every instance, though, he gets yelled at by Uncle Billy or even [[SpoiledBrat Virgie]].
14	* HappinessInSlavery: All the slaves are happy under the Cary family and fear the Yankees. When [[DumbassHasAPoint James Henry suggests the Yankees are coming to free them]], it's treated as another moment of him being an idiot.
15	* LighterAndSofter: The original 1911 play was more serious (and more racist) than this film is.
16	* MissingMom: Halfway through the film, Virgie's mother (who apparently doesn't have any name beyond "Mrs. Cary") is KilledOffForReal.
17	* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Neither Shirley Temple nor anyone else attempts a Southern accent.
18	* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: Not politically correct for now, of course, but politically correct for 1935.
19	* TitleDrop: At one point, Colonel Morrison refers to Virgie as "the littlest rebel of them all". For her part, Virgie insists in an earlier scene that, "[[InsistentTerminology I'm not a rebel! My daddy said so. I'm a Confederate!]]"
20	* TruthInTelevision: They got one thing right. Abe Lincoln's favorite snack was apples.
21	* UncleTomfoolery: James Henry, full stop. Uncle Billy was this trope in the source material, but the film gives him more dignity while still having him be loyal to the Cary family.

Context Film / TheLittlestRebel