Now and Forever (1934): The Cooper-Lombard-Temple Triangle

Now and Forever (1934) brought together three of Hollywood's most photogenic stars: Gary Cooper, Carole Lombard, and 6-year-old Shirley Temple. The Paramount Pictures production was directed by Henry Hathaway and gave Temple — who had just signed her Fox contract — substantial screen time opposite established adult stars at a moment when her career was about to explode into the global stardom that would define mid-1930s American cinema.

The premise

Cooper plays Jerry Day, an American con man hustling tourists in Southeast Asia. The early scenes establish Day as morally compromised but not malicious — he's a small-time grifter operating at the margins of respectability. Day discovers that he has a 6-year-old daughter, Penelope (Temple), whose mother has recently died. Day's brother-in-law has been raising the child, but is willing to release her to Day's care for a $50,000 payment — money Day doesn't have.

The picture's emotional center is the relationship Day gradually builds with Penelope as he travels with her across Southeast Asia and eventually to Paris. The picture's plot eventually involves a planned diamond heist, Day's moral redemption arc, and his ultimate self-sacrifice. The screenplay's combination of con-game adventure with father-daughter drama gives the picture genuine emotional weight.

The Shirley Temple performance

Temple was 6 years old when Now and Forever was filmed. She had been working professionally since age 3 (the Baby Burlesks shorts) and had just signed her landmark Fox contract that would launch her into A-picture stardom. Paramount borrowed her from Fox for Now and Forever — an unusual studio-loan arrangement that reflected both Temple's growing commercial value and Fox's belief that pairing her with established adult stars would accelerate her stardom.

The strategy worked. Now and Forever was an enormous commercial hit. Temple's pairing with Cooper and Lombard demonstrated that she could share scenes with Hollywood's most established actors without seeming overwhelmed. Within six months of Now and Forever's release, Temple had become the highest-grossing star in American cinema — outdrawing Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, and her co-stars from Now and Forever combined.

The Gary Cooper performance

Cooper was 33 years old when Now and Forever was filmed. He had been a major Paramount star since the late 1920s but had not yet found the laconic, morally grounded screen persona that would define his post-WWII career. Now and Forever shows Cooper in transitional form — still working with his earlier, more conventionally handsome leading-man register, but beginning to develop the quieter, more interior performance style that would later anchor films like Sergeant York (1941) and High Noon (1952).

The Carole Lombard performance

Carole Lombard plays Toni, Cooper's romantic interest and accomplice in his various schemes. Lombard was 26 years old, just beginning her transition from forgettable Paramount programmer leads to the screwball-comedy stardom that Twentieth Century (1934) and My Man Godfrey (1936) would soon make permanent.

Lombard's chemistry with Cooper is genuine but constrained by the screenplay's father-daughter focus. The picture's emotional weight rests more on the Cooper-Temple dynamic than on the Cooper-Lombard romance. Lombard plays Toni with characteristic warmth but doesn't get the central focus her later screwball performances would receive.

The Henry Hathaway direction

Henry Hathaway directed Now and Forever as one of his earliest substantial productions. He would later direct Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935), The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936), and dozens of subsequent features across a 40-year directing career. Hathaway's combination of action-adventure framing with emotional family drama in Now and Forever shows his developing range as a director who could handle multiple registers within a single picture.

The Asian and European settings

Now and Forever uses Southeast Asian and Parisian settings throughout. The picture's location work (mostly studio-bound but supplemented by some location shooting) gives it visual ambition beyond typical 1934 Paramount programmer fare. The international settings also positioned Temple's character as a global figure — a child traveling between cultures rather than a purely American innocent.

The public-domain status

Now and Forever is in the public domain through Paramount Pictures's complicated post-1956 rights handling. The picture is widely available across streaming platforms and archive sites. Multiple restoration prints exist; modern digital editions provide substantially better quality than older transfers.

Why it matters now

Now and Forever is essential viewing for understanding Shirley Temple's mid-1930s rise. The picture demonstrates Temple's ability to anchor emotional scenes opposite the era's most accomplished adult performers — a capacity that distinguished her from previous child stars. Her career arc from Now and Forever forward redefined what children could do in American cinema, and the picture is the foundational text demonstrating that capability.

Where to start

Watch Now and Forever for the Cooper-Temple scenes — particularly the picture's final-act sequences when Day's moral redemption emerges through his protective relationship with his daughter. The Lombard scenes are charming but secondary; the Cooper-Temple dynamic is the picture's primary appeal. The 81-minute runtime is accessible for a single viewing.