The Little Princess (1939 film)

The Little Princess
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Walter Lang
Screenplay by	Ethel Hill Walter Ferris
Based on	A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Produced by	Darryl F. Zanuck Gene Markey
Starring	Shirley Temple Richard Greene Anita Louise Ian Hunter Arthur Treacher Cesar Romero
Cinematography	Arthur C. Miller William Skall
Edited by	Louis Loeffler
Music by	Charles Maxwell Cyril J. Mockridge Herbert W. Spencer Samuel Pokrass
Distributed by	Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
Release date	March 10, 1939 (1939-03-10)
Running time	93 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	over $1 million[1] or $1.3 million[2]

The Little Princess is a 1939 American drama film directed by Walter Lang. The screenplay by Ethel Hill and Walter Ferris is loosely based on the 1905 novel A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was the first Shirley Temple movie to be filmed completely in Technicolor.^[3] It was also her last major success as a child star.^[4] This film was the third of three in which Shirley Temple and Cesar Romero appeared together, following Wee Willie Winkie (1937) and Ali Baba Goes to Town (1937).^[5]

Although it maintained the novel's Victorian London setting, the film introduced several new characters and storylines and used the Second Boer War and the siege of Mafeking as a backdrop to the action. Temple and Arthur Treacher had a musical number together, performing the song "Knocked 'Em in the Old Kent Road". Temple also appeared in an extended ballet sequence. The film's ending was drastically different from the book.

In 1968, the film entered the public domain in the United States because the claimants did not renew its copyright registration in the 28th year after publication.^[6]