That Hagen Girl (1947)

My Review

Ronald Reagan and Shirley Temple star together in the melodrama “That Hagen Girl.” She plays a small town girl whom the local gossips believe is the illegitimate daughter of Reagan’s character. Things get nasty when he returns to town after a long absence. Peter Godfrey (“The Two Mrs. Carrolls” 1947) delivered flawed execution in his direction of this movie, from a poorly written script by Charles Hoffman. The actors seems to have awkward chemistry as the plot also calls for them to fall in love, despite the age difference between 18-year-old Shirley and 36-year-old Ronnie.

The cast includes Ronald Reagan, Shirley Temple, Rory Calhoun, Lois Maxwell, Dorothy Peterson, Charles Kemper, Conrad Janis, Moroni Olsen, and Harry Davenport as Judge Merrivale. This was the motion picture debut of Canadian actress Lois Maxwell, who went on to play Miss Moneypenny in the first 14 James Bond films – from “Dr. No” (1962) to “A View to a Kill” (1985). “That Hagen Girl” was a flop at the box office for Warner Bros. Pictures.

Years later, in the 1980’s when the two were involved in Republican politics, President Ronald Reagan appointed Ambassador Shirley Temple Black as the Foreign Affairs Officer in the State Department. She had previously been a candidate for the House of Representatives from California, and held Ambassador positions in the Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and George H. W. Bush Administrations.