The Little American | |
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Directed by | Cecil B. DeMille Joseph Levering |
Written by | Jeanie MacPherson Cecil B. DeMille (uncredited) Clarence J. Harris (uncredited) |
Screenplay by | Jeanie MacPherson (uncredited) |
Produced by | Cecil B. DeMille Mary Pickford |
Starring | Mary Pickford |
Cinematography | Alvin Wyckoff |
Edited by | Cecil B. DeMille |
Distributed by | Artcraft Pictures Corporation |
Release date |
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Running time | 80 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
Budget | $166,949.16 [1] [2] |
Box office | $446,236.88 [1] [2] |
The Little American is a 1917 American silent romantic war drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. The film stars Mary Pickford (who also served as producer) as an American woman who is in love with both a German soldier and a French soldier during World War I. A print of the film is housed at the UCLA Film and Television Archive and has been released on DVD. [3]
Karl Von Austreim (Jack Holt) lives in America with his German father and American mother. He admires and woos a young woman, Angela More (Mary Pickford). As she is celebrating her birthday on the Fourth of July of 1914, she receives flowers from the French Count Jules De Destin (Raymond Hatton). They are interrupted by Karl, who also gives her a present, and they compete for Angela's favor. Karl is unexpectedly summoned to Hamburg to join his regiment, and Angela is crushed when he announces he has to leave. The next day, Angela reads in the paper the Germans and French are at war and 10,000 Germans have been killed already.
Three months pass by without a word from Karl. Angela is requested by her aunt in France to visit and take her to the USA. Word spreads that Germany will sink any ship which is thought to be carrying munitions to the Allies. Angela is aboard one of those ships when it is torpedoed, and saves herself by climbing onto a floating table, begging the attackers not to fire on the passengers. She is eventually rescued.
After weeks of ceaseless hammering from the German guns, the French fall back on Vangy, the home of Angela's aunt. At the same time, Angela arrives at Chateau Vangy to visit her aunt, only to discover she has died. The Prussians are bombing the city and Angela is requested to flee. However, she is determined to stay to nurse the French wounded soldiers. A French soldier tries to help Angela escape, but she is unwilling to. He next asks her to let a French soldier spy on the Germans and inform the French via a secret hidden telephone. Angela is afraid, but gives them permission. The Germans attack the chateau and the remaining French soldier is killed.
German soldiers enter the chateau with the intention of getting drunk and enjoying themselves with the women who work there. After discovering the other young women, the Germans are intent on also raping Angela, who is the only person in the mansion not to be hidden. To save herself, she reveals herself to be a neutral American, but they are not interested in her nationality. Angela attempts to run away and hide, but is discovered by a German soldier who turns out to be Karl. Angela begs him to save the other women in the house, but Karl responds he cannot give orders to his superior officer, who says his men deserve their 'relaxation'. She realizes there is nothing she can do. With permission to leave the mansion, she witnesses the execution of French civilians. She is heartbroken and decides to go back for revenge.
Angela secretly calls the French with the hidden telephone and describes three gun positions near the chateau. The French prepare themselves and attack the Germans. The Germans realize someone is giving the French information and Karl catches Angela. He tries to help her escape, but they are caught. The commander orders that Angela be shot as a spy. When Karl tries to save her, he is sentenced to be executed for treason. As the couple face death, the French shell the chateau, enabling Angela and Karl to escape. They are too weak to run and collapse near a statue of Jesus in the ruins of a church. The next day, they are found by French soldiers. They initially want to shoot Karl, but Angela begs their commander, Count De Destin, to set him free. They eventually allow her to return to America with Karl by her side.
Although the United States had entered World War I and declared war on Germany earlier in 1917, the Chicago Board of Censors initially blocked exhibition of the film in that city, calling it anti-German and suggesting that showing it could start a riot. [4] Artcraft challenged the Board in state court and, after a jury trial, the refusal of the board to issue a permit despite a court order, and the denial of a second appeal by the board, won the right to show the film in Chicago. [5]
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is a 1917 American silent comedy-drama film directed by Marshall Neilan based upon the 1903 novel of the same name by Kate Douglas Wiggin. This version is notable for having been adapted by famed female screenwriter Frances Marion. The film was made by the "Mary Pickford Company" and was an acclaimed box office hit. When the play premiered on Broadway in the 1910 theater season the part of Rebecca was played by Edith Taliaferro.
Hearts of the World is a 1918 American silent World War I propaganda film written, produced and directed by D. W. Griffith. In an effort to change the American public's neutral stance regarding the war, the British government contacted Griffith due to his stature and reputation for dramatic filmmaking.
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Camille is a 1917 American silent film based on the play adaptation of La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas, fils, first published in French as a novel in 1848 and as a play in 1852. Adapted for the screen by Adrian Johnson, Camille was directed by J. Gordon Edwards and starred Theda Bara as Camille and Albert Roscoe as her lover, Armand.
Joan the Woman is a 1916 American epic silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Geraldine Farrar as Joan of Arc. The film premiered on Christmas Day in 1916. This was DeMille's first historical drama. The screenplay is based on Friedrich Schiller's 1801 play Die Jungfrau von Orleans. This film was considered to be the "first cinematic spectacle about Joan of Arc."
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Nan of Music Mountain is a 1917 American silent drama film directed by George Melford and Cecil B. DeMille. The film is based on Frank H. Spearman's novel of the same name and stars Wallace Reid and Anna Little.
The Devil-Stone is a 1917 American silent romance film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, co-written by his mother Beatrice deMille and Jeanie MacPherson, and starring Geraldine Farrar. The film had sequences filmed in the Handschiegl Color Process. Only two of six reels are known to survive, in the American Film Institute Collection at the Library of Congress. This was the last of Farrar's films for Paramount Pictures.
Till I Come Back to You is a 1918 American silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. This film is preserved in the George Eastman House Motion Picture Collection.
The Greatest Thing in Life is a 1918 American silent drama film about World War I, directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish, Robert Harron, and David Butler. The film is now considered lost as no prints are known to exist.
Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley is a 1918 American silent romantic comedy film starring Mary Pickford that was directed by Marshall Neilan and written by Frances Marion based upon a novel by Belle K. Maniates.
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The Spanish Dancer is a 1923 American silent costume epic starring Pola Negri as a gypsy fortune teller, Antonio Moreno as a romantic count, and Wallace Beery as the king of Spain. The film was directed by Herbert Brenon and also features a five-year-old Anne Shirley, appearing under the name "Dawn O'Day." The film survives today.
Smilin' Through is a 1922 American silent drama film based on the 1919 play of the same name, written by Jane Cowl and Jane Murfin. The film starred Norma Talmadge, Harrison Ford, and Wyndham Standing. It was co-written and directed by Sidney Franklin, who also directed the more famous 1932 remake at MGM. The film was produced by Talmadge and her husband Joseph M. Schenck for her company, the Norma Talmadge Film Corporation. It was released by First National Pictures. Popular character actor Gene Lockhart made his screen debut in this film.
Souls in Pawn is a 1917 American silent spy-drama film directed by Henry King and starring Gail Kane. Based on a story by Jules Furthman, it was released by Mutual Film.
Johanna Enlists is a 1918 silent film comedy drama produced by and starring Mary Pickford with distribution by Paramount Pictures. The film was directed by William Desmond Taylor from a short story by Rupert Hughes, The Mobilization of Johanna. Frances Marion, a frequent Pickford collaborator, wrote the scenario. The film was made at a time during World War I when sentimental or patriotic films were immensely popular. It was an early starring vehicle for Monte Blue, the male lead opposite Pickford. The film survives in several prints, including one at the Library of Congress.
An Even Break is a 1917 American silent comedy-drama film written and directed by Lambert Hillyer, and starring Olive Thomas and Charles Gunn. A print of the film is preserved at the Library of Congress. Prints and/or fragments were found in the Dawson Film Find in 1978.
The Little Boy Scout is a lost 1917 American silent drama film produced by Famous Players Film Company and released by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Francis J. Grandon and starred Ann Pennington. The motion picture was also known as “The Little Soldier Girl.”
The Ghost House is a 1917 American silent comedy film directed by William C. deMille and written by Beulah Marie Dix. The film stars Jack Pickford, Louise Huff, Olga Grey, James Neill, Eugene Pallette, and Horace B. Carpenter. The film was released on October 1, 1917, by Paramount Pictures. It is not known whether the film currently survives, which suggests that it is a lost film.