War Babies

Plot

In this controversial short comedy from the Baby Burlesks series, a group of child soldiers gather in a café where a young dancer (Shirley Temple) entertains them with adult-style performances. The film parodies wartime melodramas with children playing adult roles, complete with romantic rivalries and sophisticated dialogue. Two of the young soldiers become competitors for the dancer's affection, leading to comedic confrontations and jealous antics. The short culminates in a chaotic scene where the rivals attempt to outdo each other to win her favor, all while maintaining the absurd premise of children navigating adult romantic situations in a wartime setting.

Historical Background

War Babies was produced during the Great Depression when theaters needed inexpensive programming to fill out their bills. Short subjects were essential to the moviegoing experience of the early 1930s, providing variety and entertainment between features. The film parodies the popular war films and melodramas of the era, reflecting audiences' familiarity with these genres. The Baby Burlesks series also tapped into the vaudeville tradition of child performers and the public's fascination with precocious talent. This was also the period when sound film was firmly established, allowing for the dialogue-heavy comedy that characterized these shorts.

Making Of

The Baby Burlesks series was created to capitalize on the popularity of child performers while parodying contemporary adult films. Director Charles Lamont worked with very young children, including Shirley Temple, who had to memorize complex dialogue and perform adult scenarios. The production conditions were challenging by modern standards - children often worked long hours and were subjected to uncomfortable costumes and makeup. Temple's mother was very protective on set and negotiated better conditions and pay as her daughter's talent became apparent. The shorts were filmed quickly with minimal takes to accommodate the young actors' attention spans. Many of the gags and situations were improvised by the children themselves, adding to the series' chaotic energy.

Visual Style

The cinematography was typical of low-budget short subjects of the early 1930s, featuring static camera positions and basic lighting setups. The film was likely shot on 35mm film with early sound recording equipment, which limited camera movement. The visual style emphasized clear framing of the child performers to ensure their expressions and actions were visible to the audience. The sets were simple and theatrical, resembling stage productions more than cinematic locations. The camera work was functional rather than artistic, focused primarily on capturing the performances rather than creating visual artistry.

Innovations

As a low-budget short subject from 1932, War Babies did not feature significant technical innovations. The film utilized standard sound recording equipment of the early talkie period, with microphones often hidden in set pieces. The technical aspects were functional rather than groundbreaking, focusing on clear audio capture of the child performers' dialogue and songs. The film represents the standard technical capabilities of Hollywood short subjects during the transition from silent to sound cinema, demonstrating how studios adapted to the new requirements of synchronized sound while maintaining rapid production schedules.

Music

As an early sound short, War Babies featured synchronized music and dialogue typical of the period. The soundtrack likely included popular songs of the era performed by the child actors, including Shirley Temple's dance numbers. The music would have been provided by studio musicians creating generic background scores appropriate to the comedic action. Sound recording technology of 1932 was still relatively primitive, so the audio quality would have been basic with limited dynamic range. The film probably included musical interludes showcasing Temple's emerging talents as a singer and dancer, skills that would later become her trademark.

Memorable Scenes

• Shirley Temple performing a provocative dance routine for the child soldiers, showcasing her remarkable talent at age 4 while demonstrating the uncomfortable premise of the series
• The climactic scene where the two rival soldiers compete for the dancer's attention through increasingly absurd antics

What Critics Said

Contemporary reviews of the Baby Burlesks shorts were generally positive, noting the novelty of children parodying adult films and praising young Shirley Temple's remarkable screen presence and comedic timing. However, modern critics and scholars view these shorts with discomfort, criticizing the inappropriate nature of having very young children enact romantic scenarios. Film historians acknowledge the shorts as important artifacts of early 1930s cinema while condemning their content by today's standards. The shorts are rarely screened publicly today due to their problematic nature, though they remain of interest to film scholars studying Temple's early career and the evolution of child stardom.

What Audiences Thought

In 1932, audiences found the Baby Burlesks shorts amusing and novel, enjoying the spectacle of precocious children mimicking adult behavior. The shorts were popular programming for theater owners looking for inexpensive content. However, once Shirley Temple became a family-friendly superstar in films like 'Bright Eyes' (1934), audiences and studio executives became uncomfortable with these early works. Modern audiences generally find the shorts unsettling due to the inappropriate premise of very young children in adult romantic situations, though film enthusiasts and Temple completists still seek them out for historical value.

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