Annie Was a Wonder

This one reel short subject was the debut of beloved character actress Kathleen Freeman in which she plays Swedish immigrant Annie, who hires out as domestic help for what we would consider really pittance wages of $15.00 a week. For that she put in an 84 hour work week. It's bad enough, but you also have to remember she's live in help as well and her room and board are free.

As Annie, all the brassiness that characterized Kathleen Freeman's screen persona is all there. The charm is there too as she wins her place in the affections of the family that hired her. Her good Swedish cooking helps in that department.

Kathleen Freeman worked steady on the big and small screen from this point on right up to her death in 2001. I'm not sure she ever starred in anything other than this short subject from John Nesbitt's Passing Parade Series. Yet this particular short was an Oscar winner in 1948 and the reason for it is Kathleen Freeman.

She went places and we the audience are all the better for it.

It's a shame that John Nesbitt's stories aren't shown more often... I caught this one on TCM's "One Reel Wonders" segment, along with "Our old Car". His stories really show what it was like at the beginning of the 20th century. I hope someone does the same for our era.

An MGM JOHN NESBITT'S PASSING PARADE Short Subject

Our Swedish hired girl ANNIE WAS A WONDER in those long ago days before the First World War.

This Oscar-nominated gem is a tribute to the European women who came to America looking for work - $15 a month, 84 hours a week, 14 hours a day - in the years preceding World War One. Warmhearted & utterly charming, it is also a showcase for character actress Kathleen Freeman (1919-2001), starring as Annie Swenson. A talented performer of stage, screen and television, Miss Freeman continued to entertain audiences right up until her death at age 82.

Often overlooked or neglected today, the one and two-reel short subjects were useful to the Studios as important training grounds for new or burgeoning talents, both in front & behind the camera. The dynamics for creating a successful short subject was completely different from that of a feature length film, something akin to writing a topnotch short story rather than a novel. Economical to produce in terms of both budget & schedule and capable of portraying a wide range of material, short subjects were the perfect complement to the Studios' feature films.

Kathleen Freeman was unrecognizable as Annie Swenson, a Swedish immigrant who had become hired by a family. At first, she creates a terrible impression on the parents when their sons are playing around with her and she turned the hose on them too. Still, Freeman was wonderful in her role and stole the short film.

Annie Was a Wonder (1949)

** (out of 4)

Oscar-nominated short from John Nesbitt's Passing Parade series. Nesbitt narrates the story of Annie (Kathleen Freeman), a Swedish woman who came to American to work as a maid. She's almost fired on her first day but the father of the family falls in love with her cooking and keeps her on. This here leads to a close relationship between the family and their maid. This is a decent short but there's really nothing here to make it worth seeking out, although if you've got ten minutes to kill and spot it on Turner Classic Movies then you mind find it as mild entertainment. Freeman gives a pretty good performance but the film never really allows her to take shape and deliver what we need and that was some sort of character movement. The narration is decent but there's just not enough here to keep it going even through its short running time.