That Hagen Girl (Warner) begins as a sociological case history and ends
as a soap opera. The case: a wealthy smalltown family smuggles daughter
home from somewhere on a night train. The doctor comes and the windows
to daughter's room are barred. The town correctly guesses that she is
insane. The same train has also brought a middle-aged townswoman and a
baby.
A few idle words of gossip connect the two events; a little more gossip
surmises the parentage of the baby. Suspicion is documented when the
middle-aged woman begins to receive a regular "insurance" check, and a
young man (Ronald Reagan) who was in love with the sick girl leaves
town.
When the baby grows up to be Shirley Temple, she finds out why people
have always referred to her as "that Hagen girl" and why parents and
teachers deal her out of the lead in the high-school play.
