Movies like Curly Top (1935)
The best movies like Curly Top (1935) are Little Miss Marker (1934), Anne of Green Gables (2016) and Annie: A Royal Adventure (1995). If Curly Top hooked you with its family and music, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedA Little Princess (1995)7.6/10 from 1,080 votes
- NewestButtons (2018)Released 2018
Little Miss Marker (1934)
Big Steve Halloway, gambler and proprietor of New York's Horseshoe Cabaret, is in desperate need of money. He arranges for his fellow bookies, especially Sorrowful Jones, to each pay him $1,000 for his racehorse, Dream Prince, to lose. With all bets being placed at the window, Sorrowful encounters a gambler, having lost $500, wanting to place his bet but unable to come up with $20. Instead, he places his little girl, Marthy Jane, as security, or in bookie's terms a "marker". "Marky", as she comes to be known, winds up under the care of Sorrowful Jones and his lady friend, singer Bangles Carson.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & family
Anne of Green Gables (2016)
Anne Shirley, an orphan, is fostered by farmer Matthew Cuthbert and his sister Marilla, who were expecting a boy to be sent them to help with their farm work. They accept Anne, who quickly endears herself to them and to the local villagers.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAnnie: A Royal Adventure (1995)
Annie is back! Along with her friends Molly, Hannah, her dog Sandy, and her wealthy father Oliver Warbucks. They take a trip to England where Warbucks is going to be Knighted by the King. Annie and the gang stumbles onto a wicked scheme led by an evil noblewoman who plans to blow up Buckingham Palace so she can become Queen and claim the throne for herself! And now it is up to Annie and her friends to stop her!
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both music & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnnie (1982)
An orphan in a facility run by the mean Miss Hannigan, Annie believes that her parents left her there by mistake. When a rich man named Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks decides to let an orphan live at his home to promote his image, Annie is selected. While Annie gets accustomed to living in Warbucks' mansion, she still longs to meet her parents. So Warbucks announces a search for them and a reward, which brings out many frauds.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeidi (1937)
Heidi is orphaned and her uncaring maternal Aunt Dete takes her to the mountains to live with her reclusive, grumpy paternal grandfather, Adolph Kramer. Heidi brings her grandfather back into mountain society through her sweet ways and sheer love. When Dete later returns and steals Heidi away to become the companion of a rich man's wheelchair-bound daughter, the grandfather is heartsick to discover his little girl missing and immediately sets out to get her back.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAngels in the Outfield (1951)
The short-tempered manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates mends his ways in return for a little divine assistance.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & family
Annie (1999)
Things seem pretty bad for a young girl living a "hard-knock life" in an orphanage. Fed up with the dastardly Miss Hannigan, Annie escapes the run-down orphanage determined to find her mom and dad. It's an adventure that takes her from the cold, mean streets of New York to the warm, comforting arms of bighearted billionaire Oliver Warbucks - with plenty of mischief and music in between.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both music & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDavid Copperfield (1935)
A young man journeys from a difficult childhood to maturity, exploring social injustice, personal development, and the complexities of human relationships.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisButtons (2018)
During a time of robber barons, child labor, and rising industry, two orphan girls get a little help from their unexpected guardian angels who turn the tide of events and change their lives forever.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Heidi (1968)
Heidi is an orphaned girl initially raised by her aunt Dete in Maienfeld, Switzerland. In order to get a job in Frankfurt, Dete brings 5-year-old Heidi to her grandfather, who has been at odds with the villagers for years and lives in seclusion on the alm. He at first resents Heidi's arrival, but the girl manages to penetrate his harsh exterior and subsequently has a delightful stay with him and her best friend, young Peter the goat-herd.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family
Pollyanna (1960)
A young girl comes to an embittered town and confronts its attitude with her determination to see the best in life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Human Comedy (1943)
Teenager Homer Macauley stays at home in the small town of Ithaca, California to support his family while his older brother Marcus prepares to go to war.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family
Anne of Green Gables (1934)
Anne Shirley, an orphan, is fostered by farmer Matthew Cuthbert and his sister Marilla, who were expecting a boy to be sent them to help with their farm work. They accept Anne, who quickly endears herself to them and to the local villagers.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & family
Oliver! (1968)
Musical adaptation of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, a classic tale of an orphan who runs away from the workhouse and joins up with a group of boys headed by the Artful Dodger and trained to be pickpockets by master thief Fagin.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThey Shall Have Music (1939)
The future is bleak for a troubled boy from a broken home in the slums. He runs away when his step father breaks his violin, ending up sleeping in the basement of a music school for poor children.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & music
The Little Colonel (1935)
After Southern belle Elizabeth Lloyd runs off to marry Yankee Jack Sherman, her father, a former Confederate colonel during the Civil War, vows to never speak to her again. Several years pass and Elizabeth returns to her home town with her husband and young daughter. The little girl charms her crusty grandfather and tries to patch things up between him and her mother.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & music
Pollyanna (1920)
When Pollyanna is orphaned, she's sent to live with her crotchety Aunt Polly. Pollyanna discovers that many of the people in her aunt's New England hometown are as ill-tempered as her aunt. But Pollyanna's incurable optimism - exemplified by her "glad game", in which she looks for the bright side of every situation - brings a change to the staid old community.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & family
Mary Poppins (1964)
In turn of the century London, a magical nanny employs music and adventure to help two neglected children become closer to their father.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAnnie (2014)
Annie is a young, happy foster kid who's also tough enough to make her way on the streets of New York in 2014. Originally left by her parents as a baby with the promise that they'd be back for her someday, it's been a hard knock life ever since with her mean foster mom Miss Hannigan. But everything's about to change when the hard-nosed tycoon and New York mayoral candidate Will Stacks—advised by his brilliant VP and his shrewd and scheming campaign advisor—makes a thinly-veiled campaign move and takes her in. Stacks believes he's her guardian angel, but Annie's self-assured nature and bright, sun-will-come-out-tomorrow outlook on life just might mean it's the other way around.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBright Eyes (1934)
An orphaned girl is taken in by a snobbish family at the insistence of their rich, crotchety uncle, even as her devoted aviator godfather fights for custody.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & music
On Borrowed Time (1939)
Young Pud is orphaned and left in the care of his aged grandparents. The boy and his grandfather are inseparable. Gramps is concerned for Pud's future and wary of a scheming relative who seeks custody of the child. One day Mr. Brink, an agent of Death, arrives to take Gramps "to the land where the woodbine twineth." Through a bit of trickery, Gramps confines Mr. Brink, and thus Death, to the branches of a large apple tree, giving Gramps extra time to resolve issues about Pud's future.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
A Little Princess (1995)
When her father enlists to fight for the British in WWI, young Sara Crewe goes to New York to attend the same boarding school her late mother attended. She soon clashes with the severe headmistress, Miss Minchin, who attempts to stifle Sara's creativity and sense of self-worth.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPeter Pan (1960)
In this magical tale about the boy who refuses to grow up, Peter Pan and his mischievous fairy sidekick Tinkerbell visit the nursery of Wendy, Michael and John Darling. With a sprinkling of pixie dust, Peter and his new friends fly out the nursery window and over London to Never-Never Land. The children experience many wonderful and exciting adventures with the Lost Boys, Tiger Lily's Indian tribe, and Peter's arch enemy the dastardly pirate Captain Hook.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & comedy
The Little Princess (1939)
A little girl goes in search of her father who is reported missing by the military during the Second Boer War.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Miss Broadway (1938)
An orphan is provisionally adopted by the manager of a hotel populated by show business people. The hotel's owner doesn't like the entertainers and wants the girl returned to the orphanage.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family
A Day at the Races (1937)
Doctor Hugo Hackenbush, Tony, and Stuffy try and save Judy's sanitarium by winning a big race with a finicky horse owned by Judy's boyfriend Gil. There are a few problems. Hackenbush, who was recently put in charge of the sanitarium, isn't really a doctor, he's a veterinarian.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBabes in Toyland (1934)
Ollie Dee and Stannie Dum try to borrow money from their employer, the toymaker, to pay off the mortgage on Mother Peep's shoe and keep it and Little Bo Peep from the clutches of the evil Barnaby. When that fails, they trick Barnaby, enraging him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlice's Adventures in Wonderland (1972)
An all-star cast highlights this vibrant musical adaptation of Lewis Carroll's immortal tale. One day, plucky young Alice follows a white rabbit down a hole and discovers a world of bizarre characters.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962)
The Grimm brothers Wilhelm and Jacob, known for their literary works in the nineteenth century, have their lives dramatized. Wilhelm fights to write something entertaining amongst the sea of dry, non-fiction books they write and he sets about collecting oral-tradition fairy tales to put into print. Their life story is countered with reenactments of three of their stories including "The Dancing Princess," "The Cobbler and the Elves" and "The Singing Bone."
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & music
The Littlest Rebel (1935)
Virgie Cary's father, a rebel officer, sneaks back to his rundown plantation to see his dying wife and is arrested. A Yankee officer takes pity and sets up an escape. Everyone is captured and the officers are to be executed. Virgie and Uncle Billy beg President Lincoln to intercede.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & family
Like Curly Top and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Curly Top?
The closest matches to Curly Top are Little Miss Marker (1934), Anne of Green Gables (2016) and Annie: A Royal Adventure (1995). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Curly Top?
People who watched Curly Top most often go on to Little Miss Marker (1934), Anne of Green Gables (2016) and Annie: A Royal Adventure (1995).
What is the highest-rated movie like Curly Top?
A Little Princess (1995), rated 7.6/10 by 1,080 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Curly Top?
Buttons (2018) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Curly Top?
Yes: Little Miss Marker (1934), Anne of Green Gables (2016) and Annie: A Royal Adventure (1995).
How are movies similar to Curly Top chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Curly Top, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.