Adventure in Baltimore
Adventure in Baltimore is a 1949 American drama film directed by Richard Wallace and starring Shirley Temple and Robert Young. The story follows Dinah Sheldon, a bold art student at an exclusive girls’ school who campaigns for women’s rights. Her minister father, Dr. Andrew Sheldon, and her boyfriend Tom Wade disapprove of her activism.
In 1905 Baltimore, Dinah is expelled from Miss Ingram’s Seminary for wearing two petticoats, attending political rallies, and wanting to study nudes. She returns home and is forgiven by her understanding father, but her mother urges her to be more conventional. Dinah dreams of studying art in Paris, while Tom, her childhood sweetheart, believes she should settle down and begins dating Bernice Eckert.
Dinah gets into trouble when she’s arrested after a park brawl sparked by one of her paintings. Tom posts bail for all five people involved. Dinah offers to write a speech on equality for Tom to deliver at a spring dance, but the plan draws attention to her and creates a new scandal. Andrew, who has just been nominated for bishop, is torn between protecting his daughter and his career.
To prove his support, Andrew shares that he once danced ballroom but gave it up to protect his father’s reputation. Dinah attends the Forum Society event, but Tom is forced to read her speech and is ridiculed by the crowd. He ends things with Dinah and returns to Bernice, while Andrew agrees to partner with Dinah in a waltz contest, and they win.
Dinah later asks Tom to pose for a painting she enters in a contest called Spirit of Labor. She disguises his face, but the painting makes his identity clear, hurting Dinah’s reputation. Tom is fired, and Bernice leaves him. Dinah is sent to Pittsburgh to live with her aunt until Andrew’s bishop appointment is secure. Tom defends Dinah’s honor, and during their departure a suffrage parade is harassed, leading to a small riot that the family helps to calm. Andrew then delivers an impromptu sermon on tolerance, and Tom finally confesses his love for Dinah. The film ends with Andrew learning he has been named bishop.
The movie recorded a loss of about $875,000.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 05:15 (CET).