Little Miss Marker (1934)
1h 19m | PG-13
Big Steve Halloway, gambler and proprietor of New York's Horseshoe Cabaret, is in desperate need of money. He arranges for his fellow bookies, especially Sorrowful Jones, to each pay him $1,000 for his racehorse, Dream Prince, to lose. With all bets being placed at the window, Sorrowful encounters a gambler, having lost $500, wanting to place his bet but unable to come up with $20. Instead, he places his little girl, Marthy Jane, as security, or in bookie's terms a "marker". "Marky", as she comes to be known, winds up under the care of Sorrowful Jones and his lady friend, singer Bangles Carson.
Director: Alexander Hall
Studio: B.P. Schulberg Productions
Genre: Comedy, Family
Video: 720p
Cast
Shirley Temple
as Marthy Jane aka 'Marky'
Adolphe Menjou
as Sorrowful Jones
Charles Bickford
as Big Steve Halloway
Dorothy Dell
as Bangles Carson
Warren Hymer
as Sore Toe
Lynne Overman
as Regret
Reviews
This movie really threw Shirley Temple into the spotlight, and for good reason. She hits every note perfectly, and showed that she had what it took to move beyond shorts and into feature films. The problems that Little Miss Marker suffers from are mostly caused by the times. The sound is pretty bad throughout the movie, the levels are all over the place, and the acting from a few characters is completely over the top. Of course, that's all due from the movie being made in 1934. The entire industry was still figuring out the whole sound thing, and this film is definitely a reminder of that. However, Little Miss Marker is still a heartwarming little movie with memorable performances and a solid story.