Fifty Years of Film in 50 weeks, #5: Little Annie Rooney, 1925

Led by a feisty tween, youngsters of many different ethnicities band together in the Bowery to entertain themselves and hold the adults accountable when they act on the razor's edge of the law, sometimes crossing over with devastating consequences.

Little Annie Rooney (1925)

Director: William Beaudine

Writers: Mary Pickford (as Catherine Hennessey), adapted by Hope Loring and Louis Lighton

Cinematographers: Hal Mohr, Charles Rosher

Producer: Mary Pickford (uncredited) for the Mary Pickford Company; distributed by United Artists

Starring: Mary Pickford, William Haines, Walter James, Gordon Griffith, Carlo Schipa, Spec O'Donnell

Why I chose it

Would you believe I'd never seen a Mary Pickford silent? So when I was looking through options for 1925 and learned that this film registered #10 in box office, I decided to rectify this before my options run out due to the advent of sound films.

'No-spoiler' plot overview

Little Annie (Pickford) lives with her widowed father, the beat cop (Walter James), and her brother Tim (Gordon Griffith) in a working-class immigrant neighborhood in NYC in the early 20th century. Rarely away from the mischievous antics of the neighborhood boys, she delights in the gentlemanly attitudes and special friendship offered by Joe Kelley (William Haines), who isn't quite trusted by Dad. When adult jealousies get out of control, a tragedy touches Annie's life, and Joe is unfairly accused of murder. Determined to exonerate him, Annie is willing to put her life on the line.

Production Background and 1925 in Film History

"America's Sweetheart" Mary Pickford's star was at its apex during 1925. She was the most celebrated movie actress on the planet, was married to equally-celebrated Douglas Fairbanks, and wielded considerable power as producer and film executive. Ms. Pickford's acting career faced a crossroads: she had made her reputation playing spunky young girls, and in 1925 she was well into young-womanhood. She still owned a cherubic face and small stature, so when a couple years earlier her attempts at playing more mature characters backfired at the box office, she went in search of a new project to reclaim her territory. The popular Irish ballad 'Little Annie Rooney' inspired her to write a story arc that would connect and inspire her loyal fans. At this, she delivered.

Some other notable film-related events in 1925*:

• Another huge star of the era, and United Artists partner Charlie Chaplin, became the first actor to appear on the cover of Time. (He had just released The Gold Rush.

• The Central Casting Corporation was set up to select and employ extras for all the major studios.
• The great Russian war film Battleship Potemkin was released, known today for its innovative editing techniques.
• The biblical epic, Ben-Hur, a Tale of the Christ, was brought to screen to great acclaim, second only to The Big Parade in box office that year.

My random observations

• On Mary Pickford: yes, it was obvious she wasn't a girl anymore, but she made it possible to suspend disbelief on this point, especially during the early part of the film when her physical acting skills - running around, throwing punches, play-acting, etc., were called upon. As the plot took a more serious turn, and her character encountered more adult situations, her acting changed. It seemed that it would be hard to distinguish her here vs. her playing a naive young woman in a different film. I need to see more of her films to judge that.

• The film sets were pretty realistic, and I thought I was watching a film set on location in and around the Bowery and the Lower East Side of NYC. It turns out that the Mary Pickford Company had gone to great lengths to create the set to deliver just that sense of realism.
  
  
• I loved the mixing of the Irish, Chinese, Greek, African-American, and Jewish families here. Yes, there were some stereotypes trotted out (the Chinese laundry, the forbidding of pork and "fighting" on the Sabbath for the Jewish characters), but in general, all were treated with affection and largely as equal partners in life in the Bowery, in an all-for-one and one-for-all kind of way. I found that aspect refreshing.
  
  
• 'Annie's' teenage brother was played by Gordon Griffith, who was the first-ever screen Tarzan as a boy (Tarzan of the Apes, 1918). His acting career petered out after the mid-1930s, but he went on to producing roles at various studios.
  
  
• In order to enjoy the film, you'll have to endure an overlong opening scene of gangs of children fighting and throwing things at each other. While it no doubt required quite a bit of choreographing and sure-handed direction, it will try your patience. Stick it out.

• In case you are wondering about the song 'Little Annie Rooney', here it is! It's sung by the perspective of Annie's "sweetheart" Joe, who is also the name of Annie's crush in the movie.
  

Screenshots (most credited to http://jackpickfordisaluteyou.blogspot.com/)

Establishing shot.

William Haines as Joe Kelley, blamed for a 
crime he did not commit.

Gordon Griffith as young Tim Rooney, Annie's brother

Mary Pickford blew me away with her projection of pathos.

A comic scene when Annie helps Tim with his wardrobe before a date.

Annie and the kids on the block.

Where to watch:
It's on YouTube here, and a recent restoration by the Academy Film Archive from a nitrate print originally in Ms. Pickford's collection has been published on a Flicker Alley DVD.

Further reading
Check out fellow CMBA blogger Fritzi's review here.

TCM gives many interesting production details, including a visit to the set by Rudolph Valentino, on their site here.