La petite Annie

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.

LITTLE ANNIE ROONEY is one of the best known and most frequently seen of Mary Pickford's movies. This is because for years the title has been in the public domain and there are numerous poor quality editions that have been issued over the years. Now thanks to The Mary Pickford Foundation and Flicker Alley, we finally have a high quality version that looks remarkable with its crisp images, subtle tints, and proper speed. It even comes with a newly commissioned score by Andy Gladbach which, while not always appropriate, is miles ahead of any other musical accompaniment which up until now has consisted of public domain classical music that has nothing to do with what's going on in the film.

Pickford made LITTLE ANNIE ROONEY in 1925 when she was 33 years old. Her previous 2 films, ROSITA (1923) and DOROTHY VERNON OF HADDON HALL (1924) in which she had played adult roles, did not perform well at the box office. When she polled her audience as to what they wanted her to do next, they all wanted her to return to "little girl" roles like POLLYANNA and THE POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL. She gave them what they wanted. Annie Rooney is a young teenager growing up in a NYC tenement populated by a variety of what would today be considered ethnic stereotypes. She enjoys scrapping with the street kids but still manages to take care of her older brother and widower father who is an Irish policeman. When tragedy strikes she must summon up the courage and the smarts to save the man she loves who is falsely accused of murder.

Her fans kept their promise and LAR was a huge hit but it also meant that Pickford would never play another fully adult role in the silent era. Although she won an Oscar in 1929 for playing one in COQUETTE, she made only two more sound films before retiring in 1933 at the age of 41. She never appeared on screen again and turned down two iconic roles, Glinda the Good Witch in THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) which is clearly patterned after her, and Norma Desmond in SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950). She died in 1979 at the age of 87.

While LITTLE ANNIE ROONEY is not Pickford at her best, it shows her remarkable ability to capture the essence of youthful characters even when she was over 30. She was at the height of her powers as a producer at this time and LITTLE ANNIE ROONEY reflects this in the remarkable set design and the quality lighting and camerawork. The director, William Beaudine, had a long career in B movies and wound up directing episodes of TV's LASSIE in the 1950s. If you want to get a copy of LITTLE ANNIE ROONEY, make sure it is this one. Flicker Alley never disappoints. You not only get this best looking and sounding copy available, it comes as a Blu-Ray/DVD combination along with an informative 25 page booklet...For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.

While there is not much to "Little Annie Rooney" aside from the way that it showcases Mary Pickford's many talents, that's not a bad focus for a movie to have. The story does seem to be planned almost entirely with that goal in mind, as most of the other characters are not developed very much, and most of the plot likewise comes back to the ways that events affect Annie. Of course, Pickford is more than up to carrying the load, and while this picture has to rank a little lower than a good number of her other movies that have more depth to them, it's still worthwhile.

Through the course of the story, Annie finds herself in numerous kinds of situations, and several sides of her character come out. She has a tomboyish, boisterous side, yet she can plead with her father on behalf of a misunderstood friend. The scene where she prepares her father's birthday party could very easily have become unbearably cloying or melodramatic, yet she handles it very well, making use of the best possibilities available rather than resorting to cheap sentiment. (In that particular scene, a couple of creative camera shots also help it to work.)

There are very few actresses, especially in the present, who could make so many different things work believably and without undue emoting. While much of the movie is simple and sometimes even a bit contrived, It's still worth seeing as one of many chances to see such a fine actress at work.

Even at 5'1" and 33 years old, Mary Pickford pulls off the part of the 12 year old daughter of a policeman pretty well, and this is a silent film worth seeing. She looks a little out of place in the madcap early scenes where rival gangs are brawling and hurling a flurry of bricks at one another (think a slightly harder edged version of Little Rascals), but she's also pretty cute all wound up and throwing haymakers. The film includes Asian, Jewish, African-American, Greek, and Irish characters, and while there is a cringe-inducing scene where the black boy dances "the shimmy" in a grass skirt, stereotypes are reasonably contained. Nevertheless, these scenes with the gang were my least favorite, and they are a bit on the long side.

Where the film picks up is with little Annie Rooney's home life. Walter James is great as her even-keeled father, and the scenes of sibling rivalry with her older brother (Gordon Griffith) are cute. The other actors seem to tower over the petite Pickford, and I have to believe they made some of the furniture larger than normal to help her pull of the role. Director William Beaudine also takes advantage of the beautiful sets that were built, and captures some nice city shots. I don't want to spoil the plot, accept to say it takes an unexpected dramatic turn, and that made it interesting for me.

Pickford was a powerful force in Hollywood in 1925, and it's fascinating to me that she produced, wrote, and then took the part at her public's request. Four years later she was still pulling off a role of much younger woman in Coquette, a film I liked a little more, and so it's surprising that just four years after that, in 1933, she would play her final part as an actress. She had a rough time of it in life thereafter, battling alcoholism and depression. It seems this film captures her at the height of her powers, when she was on top of the world, and that adds to its charm for me.

Honestly, if you're thinking of seeing your first ever silent film, this probably shouldn't be the one you see. Things like a 33-year-old actress playing a child are a little bizarre even if you think you're used to the style of the era. But as a showcase for Mary Pickford, it's a great film. The story and pacing is a little uneven, but her acting is excellent. The Flicker Alley DVD is a beautiful restoration and the score on the DVD is fascinating - not old-fashioned like a "typical" silent film score but not so modern like some other scores (usually for movies like Nosferatu or Metropolis) that are so good at making things seem terrifying or futuristic - I think it's a good fit for the movie, which is not horror or science fiction but has a little bit of just about every other genre you could imagine. Basically, you're in for quite a ride when you watch this movie. So glad this was available on DVD!