Little Annie Rooney 1925

     Annie Rooney is a tough girl living a slum.  Her father is a policeman and she has an older brother Tim.  On his birthday, her father was shot at a dance hall.  Annie has a crush on her bother's friend Joe Kelly and he’s accused of the shooting.  Tim follows the killer down the street and shoots him.  Annie rushes to the hospital and she learns Joe Kelly needs a transfusion.  She offers her own blood but she thinks she’s going to die after they take her blood?  Of course, she doesn’t die!!

     The run time of the restored version is much longer than 94 minutes.  I was surprised about how long this film is!!  The majority of this footage is with Annie fighting with the local tenement kids and most of them are boys.  There is a rival gang known as Kid Kellys.  Their fighting accidentally scares a horse loaded with fruit.  The horse runs off and the gangs need to pay for the lost fruit.  Annie and her gang sign IOU notes for the $5 they owe the fruit man.  Annie’s father is a respected neighborhood police officer but her brother is a member of the Big Kellys, a gang of older boys led by Joe Kelly.  Annie’s father warned Joe that Tim won’t be able to hang out with him because of the gang situation.  2 ½* (This movie is so-so)

94 min, Drama directed by William Beaudine with Mary Pickford, William Haines, Walter James, Gordon Griffith, Carlo Schipa, Sec O’Donnell, Hugh Fay, Vola Vale, Joe Butterworth, Oscar Rudolph.

Note:  Imdb 7.4 out of 10, Rotten Tomatoes 40% audience, Moviessilently.com 2 ½*, Letterboxd.com average 3.4* out of 5*, 20/20 Movie Reviews 4*, Amazon Average review 4 1/2* out of 5* with 16 reviews.

Special Note:  This is a black and white silent movie.  Filmed in Los Angeles and The Lot, West Hollywood, California. This film was restored in 2014 from Mary Pickford’s personal 35mm tinted nitrate print.  It contains longer scenes, different camera set-ups and better shots of Mary.  The tinting effects were not seen in any previously available versions. Helen Keller visited the set and posed for publicity photos with Mary Pickford and the cast during production.  Mary is playing a 12 year old girl but she was actually 32 at the time!!