Now and Forever

Jerry Day, who lives by swindling, has left his daughter Penny with relatives. One day he decides to take her back and builds a life for three: himself, his lover and the child. Then he cannot give up his old trade and goes after one last score. The film is not interested in crime. It is interested in the child's gaze: Jerry only considers stopping once he realises how his daughter sees him. Its best scenes are the moments between father and daughter in which the lie collapses. The form is thirties studio melodrama: short running time, quick transitions, music that states the feeling outright. The cast brings together three separate poles of the period: Gary Cooper, Carole Lombard and the six-year-old Shirley Temple. Temple was among the biggest earners in America that year, and her presence shapes the film. Henry Hathaway directed. Who it is for: viewers who like classical Hollywood melodrama and Shirley Temple. Who it is not for: anyone wanting complex characters. The story is predictable and the last section resolves too easily.