Little Miss Marker [VHS]
Shirley Temple's superstardom in the 1930s was associated with Twentieth Century Fox, but before Fox locked her down she made two films for Paramount. It was 1934, her breakthrough year, and these pictures are not quite yet the showcase vehicles Fox would assemble for their pint-sized meal ticket. InLittle Miss Marker, Shirley comes under the wing of Sorrowful Jones (Adolphe Menjou in good form), as Damon Runyon's world of bookies and gamblers and soft-hearted gangsters comes to life around her. It's a heartstring-tugger of an expert kind; Shirley's final line, delivered in an operating room, should have grown men weeping on their knees.--Robert Horton