Little Orphant Annie (1918)

Starring Colleen Moore, Tom Santschi, Harry Lonsdale, Eugenie Besserer, James Whitcomb Riley
Directed by Colin Campbell
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

Young Annie enjoys her orphanage life, and engages the other orphans with tales of the goblins that will get them if they practice bad behavior, but her life changes when her cruel uncle comes for her.

I had the privilege of attending a screening of this rare silent film last night, which has been lovingly restored from five different prints with varying quality and missing scenes among them.  The restoration by film historian and preservationist Eric Grayson given these challenges, was an amazing piece of work.  Yes, you can see some quality dips here and there, but the bulk of the film looks wonderful, and many scenes that had been missing from earlier prints are now back in the film for us to see.  The film is even introduced by the author of the poem it's based on, Hoosier poet & author James Whitcomb Riley, in rare footage shot for Indiana's Centennial film that according to Grayson was repurposed for this picture.  For those more familiar with the contemporary musicals and the comic strips before featuring Annie, they too were inspired by Riley's poem, but feature far different storylines.  The silent picture, per Grayson, was based on both Riley's poem, and his prose work Where Is Mary Alice Smith, and offers scenes of joy, tragedy, and more than its share of chills.  Moore stars as Annie, and easily engenders audience sympathy for her travails and that of her poor cat at the brutal hands of her belligerent uncle and aunt.  Adding amazement to such an early film are the effects and makeups used to render Annie's tales of witches, goblins, and giant animal creatures, that appear seamless on the screen, and surely would have unnerved young children back when it was first shown.  It's a remarkable production, and happily available for home viewing in a DVD/Blu-Ray combo pack at Amazon.com.