Mary Pickford was 25 years old when she played the 11 year old Gwen in this movie. Her short stature helped the illusion of youth.
This film was selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress, in 1991.
One of many Silent Era motion pictures starring "America's Sweetheart" Mary Pickford which were remade as Shirley Temple vehicles. Known as the "Girl with the Curls," Pickford's box-office hits included Une pauvre petite fille riche (1917), Le petit démon (1917), and Petite princesse (1917). In the mid-1930s, 20th Century Fox studio boss Darryl F. Zanuck re-purposed Pickford's films as vehicles for Temple and thus produced Pauvre petite fille (1936), Mam'zelle vedette (1938), Petite princesse (1939), etc. Zanuck also instructed studio publicists to use Pickford's persona and nicknames as a model for Temple's public image as a Hollywood star. (Frank McGlynn Sr., who plays the plumber in this film, would also co-star with Temple in Petite Miss (1934) and La petite rebelle (1935).)
Included among the American Film Institute's 1998 list of the 400 movies nominated for the Top 100 Greatest American Movies.