Film

Stowaway

Name: Stowaway
Genre: Adventure, Family
Released: 1936
Cast: Shirley Temple, Robert Young, Alice Faye, Eugene Pallette, Helen Westley

Family drama

A 1936 adventure-comedy where Shirley Temple's orphaned Chinese child befriends an American playboy and accidentally sails to America with him. It's a breezy, music-filled romp that treats the Depression as a minor inconvenience and Shirley as capable, charming, and utterly unflappable. Pure escapism for families, or anyone who loves the innocence of 1930s Hollywood entertainment.

TMDb rating

3.4

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love old-fashioned studio entertainments where a sweet child, a breezy romance and a few sing-along numbers share the screen with a shipboard adventure that never takes itself too seriously.

Skip it if you find Shirley Temple's precocious charm grating, or you want a modern pace; this is a brisk, sentimental 1930s picture with song breaks and broad comic supporting turns.

What it asks of you: It runs a brisk eighty-seven minutes and asks you to accept its cheerful sentiment and musical interludes without irony, settling into the rhythm of a classic studio programmer.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Captains Courageous1937

Spencer Tracy mentors a spoiled boy aboard a fishing vessel in this warmhearted adventure. Like Stowaway, it pairs a cynical adult with a young innocent and lets kindness triumph through ocean-set hijinks and genuine adventure.

But The pacing feels leisurely by modern standards, and Tracy's Portuguese accent is, shall we say, creative rather than convincing.

Follow the Fleet1936

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musical romp set aboard a naval ship with dancing, charm, and that frictionless 1930s ease. The same era, the same sense that every problem can be solved by a good song and a smile.

But If you're not in the mood for tap-dancing sailors and romantic nonsense, it will test your patience severely.

The Little Colonel1935

Shirley Temple plays a mischievous girl who transforms a grumpy colonel into her devoted friend. It's the template for Temple's appeal: resourcefulness, charm, and absolute certainty that adults will bend to her will for good reasons.

But Child performance may grate if you prefer subtlety, and the sentimentality is thick enough to spread with a knife.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Stowaway

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The 39 Steps1935

Both films trust that likability and resourcefulness matter more than muscle or cunning. Innocence meets danger; innocence prevails by being fundamentally good.

Hitchcock's playful spy thriller where an ordinary man is caught up in international intrigue and must use charm, quick thinking, and romance to survive. Like Stowaway, it's an adventure where the protagonist's personality—not violence or brutality—carries them through danger.

But The tone is far darker and more sophisticated; if you're expecting feel-good Temple escapism, the threat here has real teeth.

Curly Top1935

Another Temple vehicle where she plays an orphan who wins over a wealthy benefactor through pluck and song. It's got the same DNA as Stowaway—orphans, wealthy men, unlikely friendships, and production numbers that stop the plot cold.

But The script treats serious issues (poverty, abandonment) with such lightness it borders on denial, which modern audiences may find uncomfortable.

Dimples1936

Temple as a street urchin in 1880s New York, performing in vaudeville and enchanting rich people. Same year as Stowaway, same formula, same effortless charm and Production Code sentimentality.

But The class politics are painfully dated—poverty portrayed as charming and quaint, solved by a wealthy stranger's kindness.

Wee Willie Winkie1937

Temple ventures to India and charms a gruff military commander (Victor McLaglen) amid colonial adventure. John Ford directs, lending the whole thing a slightly more substantial backbone than typical Temple vehicles.

But The imperial attitudes are of their time and jarring now; the film doesn't question or complicate them in any way.

Dodge City1939

Errol Flynn in technicolor western adventure with zippy pacing, stunts, and that same breeze of confidence that everything will work out. Different genre, same spirit as Stowaway: no problem too big for charm and ingenuity.

But The plot is thin as parchment and exists mainly to string together set pieces and romantic banter.

The Great Ziegfeld1936

Epic, glittering musical about show business ambition set in the same era. If you want the lavish production design and escapist musical energy of Stowaway on a grander, more adult scale, this is your film.

But At three and a half hours with episodic pacing, it's exhausting; the narrative meanders and the treatment of women is period-typical and uncomfortable.

Mon Oncle1958

Both films celebrate decency as the central human force. Characters transform not through plot but through exposure to the goodness of another person.

Jacques Tati's gentle comedy about a modern-day uncle bewildered by suburban efficiency. It's a completely different era and style—quiet, observational, wordless comedy—but shares Stowaway's belief that kindness and humility are stronger than pretense or ambition.

But It moves slowly and deliberately; nothing 'happens' in the conventional sense, and the humor is subtle to the point of invisibility for some viewers.

A Little Princess1995

Both are about orphan girls whose internal goodness is so infectious they literally reshape the adults around them. The difference is that this one acknowledges the cost of that transformation and sits with the girl's loneliness before the happy ending arrives.

A later adaptation with Frances Hodgson Burnett's story, but shot as a gorgeously imagined fantasy-drama. Like Stowaway, it's about an orphan girl who retains her dignity and imagination through hardship, ultimately winning over gruff adults and enemies alike through sheer force of spirit.

But It's deliberately theatrical and visually stylized rather than naturalistic; the fantasy elements may feel precious, and it's far more emotionally complex than a 1930s romp.