Runt Page (1932) User Reviews

The Fold in the Diaper

[tedg · 23 June 2005]

There are so many films out there. And so many bad ones, or at least movies that you have to find a reason to like.

I'm watching a lot of movies for historical reasons, so I see many like this which is unlikely to be available for sale. But I want to have fun, and one way to do that is to watch in pairs.

For this, I paired it with "Son of the Mask," another project whose whole appeal is having a baby do "adult" things. And there's another layer as well.

This is a takeoff of "The Front Page,"("Runt Page," get it?) of the previous year, which you probably know in its remade form as "His Girl Friday." That was a fun and important movie. Knowing that, you can imagine this: four and five year olds wearing only diapers with 8 inch safety pins. They speak the dialog (pretty amazingly) which is dubbed over with tough guy voices.

You have an entire chunk of the movie: accused murderer hidden in desk with a three-knock code: bitchy mother in law, reporters gathered, last minute pardon and so on. In fact, if you don't know the original, this won't make any sense.

What's behind these things is the unavoidable awareness of actors. We know that we are watching dual personalities, both a character and an actor. Often, the filmmakers play up the similarities, but in recent films the norm is to create ironies or annotations. So we see a story and an annotation on that story.

I think this little film is important because the 30's was the period when movies decided what they were. Many candidates for genres and styles became extinct, with only an alarming few surviving.

The one that interests me is what I call "folding." We have it here: a "regular" movie where all the fun isn't in the movie itself but in the annotation of the actors.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Ten minutes of this?! Uggh!

[planktonrules · 1/10 · 1 February 2013]

"Runt Page" is a film that satirizes the famous story "The Front Page"--with very small children playing the parts and with adults dubbing. This is Shirley Temple's first film, and for that reason it is an important film--though she doesn't appear until about 7 minutes into this 10 minute film. However, I must also warn you that it's truly godawful--too painful and too stupid for words! This is one of those terrible 'Baby Burlesque' films--where kids act like adults and this is supposed to be funny. Of course, folks back then also thought films where they did the exact same thing but with dogs was funny, too. The bottom line is that it's an idea that wears thin almost immediately. Seeing 3, 4 and 5 year-olds running about in diapers with bow ties isn't something normal folks would enjoy. And, I worry about adults who DO like this sort of entertainment. As for me, I'd rather have my eyes gouged out with a rusty melon-baller than see a steady diet of films like this one.

Shirley Temple's Film Debut

[springfieldrental · 7/10 · 4 December 2022]

She was a less than four years old when she made her first appearance-in diapers of all things. Less than two years later after her film debut in April 1932's "Runt Page," Shirley Temple became Hollywood's number one child actor, a distinction she held throughout the later half of the 1930s.

The third kid of a homemaker and a bank employee couple, Shirley lived in the Los Angeles area when her mother recognized an unusual innate acting personality in her daughter. At three and and half, Shirley was enrolled in Los Angeles' Meglin's Dance School in September 1931. Donning a ringlet hair style her mother applied, all 56 of them, Shirley was seen hiding underneath a piano by a film scout visiting the school. He asked her to drop by the Educational Pictures' studio for an audition. The company, begun in 1916 with the focus on instructional films for schools, was also producing short comedies to augment its teaching movies.

The scout felt Temple was perfect for its new series, 'Baby Burlesks,' which consisted of young childhood actors recreating popular movies and newsworthy events. The studio loved what they saw in Temple and scheduled her to play a minor part in "Runt Page," a takeoff of the 1931 film "The Front Page." The short was the first of eight movies she appeared in the 'Baby Burlesks" series. Shirley Temple was paid a $10 daily rate while her mother earned $5 a day as her chaperon, chauffeur and hair stylist.

"Runt Page" was the only short in the series where adult voices were dubbed in for the kids. The series' other 10-minute shorts had the children speaking. And when the children were too young to know English fluently they would speak phonetically. In her autobiography, Temple looked back at her first acting days and was unhappy with the way Educational Pictures presented the series, calling it "a cynical exploitation of our childish innocence," recalling one of the roles she played as a saloon singer imitating Mae West in 'Glad Rags to Riches.'

Just as "Baby Burlesks" was winding down, Shirley auditioned twice for the "Our Gang" series. She didn't make the cut the first time, but in the second, director Robert McGowan offered her a slot in the gang. He withdrew the offer, however, when Shirley's mother demanded star billing for the series.

Babies with guns, babies with axes and Shirley Temple nude!

[dudeman5685 · 8 May 2005]

Well what can I say.

This was back when Hollywood would make little filler pieces like this with dogs or babies running around with adult voice overs.

The rug rats in this feature are being coaxed off-camera to perform a one acted stock gangster plot in their diapers, playing with cards, gangster hats, the afore mentioned weapons, etc.

There is also Shirley here, about 3-4 years old, as one of the gangsters girl friends. Back then they apparently thought nothing of having her topless.

No real "cinematic value" to speak of, but this is the kinda thing our grandparents got a kick out of in between flicks.

Also the DVD box (Little Miss Marker) says this is STs first movie.