Mary Pickford plays Annie Rooney--the daughter of a cop that lives in the tough part of town. She is a rough and tumble young lady of indeterminate age (somewhere between 12 and 16) who loves to scrap but down deep has a heart of gold.

This is a very typical style of film for Mary Pickford. Like so many of her films, she plays a young girl--even though she was nearly 40 when she made LITTLE ANNIE ROONEY. And, like so many other stories, she was both plucky and courageous. As a result, I had a strong feeling of déjà vu. Now if you haven't seen her other films, this isn't an issue. However, she is essentially playing a character much like the one in SPARROWS or DADDY LONG LEGS--though these two other films are a lot better. Now this isn't to say this is a bad film--just that it's certainly not among her best work--mostly due to a rather "schmaltzy" story that is very heavy on sentiment but not especially convincing. Entertaining but not essential viewing unless you are a huge fan of the silents.

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 (1925) is available on a 10/10 Terra DVD.

I should really hand this one a 9/10, as Terra seem unaware that the dance fight scene is repeated at a reel change. However, as it's the best sequence in the movie, maybe we shouldn't complain?

The movie was re-made by Fox as a Jane Withers vehicle, Ginger, in 1935.

The story is credited to a Catherine Hennessey, although it was in fact written by producer Mary Pickford herself. For director, she chose Bill Beaudine, who stages the action most convincingly but is less adept with the static scenes which he allows to run far too slowly and too long so that we become aware of such stratagems as the unusual height of some of the adults (the assistant surgeon, the reporter) and the use of a baby spot to remove wrinkles from faces.

As a result, although it most definitely hits some dramatic highs, it's a story that impresses more for its enormous production values than its too carefully carpentered dramatic qualities.

Pacier film editing would certainly also have helped.