Die kleine Annemarie

...written by and starring Mary Pickford, with direction by William Beaudine. Pickford plays the title role, a young girl who runs with a gang of innocently delinquent kids in the Bowery area. Her older brother Tim (Gordon Griffith) runs with the older boys who are little more than gangsters. Annie's beloved pa (Walter James) is a beat cop who is liked and respected by the multi-ethnic immigrant community. When tragedy strikes, and Little Annie is devastated, things look like they may take an even darker turn in response. Also featuring William Haines.

Pickford was 33 when she filmed this, still playing a juvenile. Her short stature, combined with larger sets and tall co-stars, help sell her casting. Pickford is very charming, as are many of the kids in her gang. Schipa was also good as the hot-tempered Tony. I enjoyed seeing the camaraderie between the disparate racial and immigrant population, among them Irish, Greek, Italian, Jewish, Chinese and black. Showing this kind of unity is especially touching in today's increased tribalism, nationalism, and anti-immigrant sentiment.

Annie Rooney lives with her officer father and brother Tim in the slums of New York, where she is constantly getting involved in many fights with the other neighborhood kids. Annie secretly has a crush on Joe Kelly (whose little brother Mickey is head of the gang that Annie constantly battles), who is in a gang that is headed for trouble, says Officer Rooney. Kelly sponsors a dance, where Tony plans to shoot Kelly in order to get even with him for making him look like a fool in front of his girl, but Officer Kelly gets fatally wounded instead. Tim (part of Kelly's gang) is told by Tony, and friend Spider, that Kelly shot his father, so he goes after him in vengeance. Annie learns of this and goes to stop her brother, if she is in time. Very good mix of humor and heart in this film, even though the plot doesn't start until the 40 minute mark of the film. Pickford is enjoyable (even though she was 33 playing a girl no more than 12-13) and really gets into her character. Haines doesn't play Kelly as tough as he should, but is able make the audience feel for him on an emotional level. The scenes where the officer tells Annie of her father's death and the ending really put a lump in your throat. The mix of all sorts of kids throughout the film are fun to watch. Rating, 8.

Although the concept of a 32 year old woman portraying a 12 year old girl might be a stretch for today's

sophisticated audiences,in the 1920's this was what the fans of Mary Pickford desired and expected from their favorite star. The opening scene displays Annie's tomboyish character as the apparent leader of a multi-ethnic street gang in comic "battle" with a rival group. The sight of a young girl being socked in the jaw and kicked may be a bit crude, but the scene is played in such an "Our Gang" fashion that it would be hard to take any of this seriously. Anyway, Annie can dish it out as well as take it. Once Annie returns to her tenement home and replaces her street duds with more girlish attire, it becomes more difficult (especially in close-ups) to imagine this beautiful young woman as a street urchin. However, for those who can muster the required suspension of disbelief, the rest of the movie has it's rewards. Vacillating between comedy (Annie's gang puts on a show) to sentiment (Annie plans a birthday surprise for her Irish policeman father) to tragedy (her father is killed on his birthday), the film gives Mary ample opportunity to display a range of emotions that would please her fans of any era.

Of course the requisite "happy ending" is eventually achieved; the evildoers are apprehended with the help of Annie's friends and rivals and she is last seen in the company of her pals riding down a busy thoroughfare on a sunny day. Which is a good a way as any for a Mary Pickford movie to end.

Rambunctious Little Annie Rooney (Mary Pickford) lives in a poor tenement and leads her gang of fellow pre-teens in fighting against another group of kids. Her father is a respected incorruptible neighborhood policeman. Her brother Tim is hanging around the wrong crowd.

Thirty three year old Pickford returns to playing a child as she had done earlier in her career. It may seem unnatural for this work but there is a modern equivalent TV show right now. Pen15 has two young women around thirty playing 13 year olds around other actual 13 year olds. The comedy works because the surreal element allows more comedy to be injected. Once that happens, it can slip in some real heartfelt drama. That's what's happening here in this movie. It's great that the movie starts with that tenement fight between the two groups of kids. It's fun and the hilarity opens up the heart. Pickford was once a great Hollywood star and this shows why.

Although it might seem a bit bizarre to see a 32-year-old woman play the part of a 12-year-old, Mary Pickford soon makes you forget the incongruities and simply enjoy the fun.

Mary is a street kid in New York City, with her own lovable gang of mischief makers, whose attentions are engaged by the older William Haines (he was 25 at the time & just on the cusp of his own screen stardom.)

To give away too much of the plot would not be fair. Suffice it that Mary is great fun to watch & amply displays why she was Hollywood's first and most beloved super star. Production values are very good, with lots of extras making the NYC street scenes quite believable.