THE LITTLE AMERICAN (1917) DVD - MARY PICKFORD - CECIL B. DeMILLE

Description: America's Sweetheart is torn when she falls in love with both a French and a German soldier during World War I. THE LITTLE AMERICAN - 1917 Mary Pickford stars in this epic tale of love and loss set against the backdrop of World War I, and directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Pickford is Angela Moore, a young American who plans to marry an expatriate German, Karl Van Austreim. As Karl finalizes his plans to become an American citizen, World War I breaks out in Europe, forcing him to return to Germany to enlist. As the war rages, Angela worries about the fate of her love. She travels to Europe on an ocean liner, which is sunk by a U-boat. Barely escaping, Angela is taken captive by German officers, and is shocked to find her beloved Karl among them. The soldier is ordered by his superiors to execute the woman he loves. Karl decides that Angela is more important to him than his duty to his country, and the two star-crossed lovers must now fight their way across war-torn Europe to escape the wrath of the German military. 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. A rare collaboration between "America's Sweetheart", Mary Pickford, and the legendary Cecil B. Demille, The Little American was released three months into America's involvement into World War I. The ship sinking sequence is a frighteningly accurate recreation of the sinking of RMS Lusitania two years prior. DeMille had more than one friend who died on the Lusitania, including Rita Jolivet, the star of his 1915 film The Unafraid. This may explain the severity of the film's anti-German propaganda, which at the time was so controversial that the Chicago Board of Censors initially forbade the film from being shown in that city, fearing that German theater patrons would riot. Screen legend Wallace Beery makes his film debut in an uncredited bit part as a German soldier. Ironically, Ben Alexander, here seen as child playing Pickford's younger brother, would grow up to play one of the soldiers in another great epic of World War I, All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). 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. 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. Mary Pickford ("Born on the Fourth of July" as Angela Moore) is "The Little American" (of French heritage); she falls in love with Jack Holt (as Karl Von Austreim), who had moved to America with his German father and American mother. French-American Raymond Hatton (as Count Jules de Destin of the "Fighting Destins") has fallen in love with Ms. Pickford. The love triangled threesome eventually wind up in France, with the Great War (World War I, in hindsight) complicating their lives considerably.A mostly entertaining, if propagandistically flawed, Cecil B. DeMille film. The torpedoing, and sinking, of a ship carrying Pickford is "Titanic"-like. The war intrigue gets dramatic as Pickford slowly becomes an undercover spy for France, while the Germans occupy her ancestral home. Of course, German lover Holt arrives. It was difficult to believe they took so long to recognize each other as he moved in for the rape, but it was dark; and, prior events had them believe each other dead. The film goes WAY over-the-top in its symbolism. Pickford was, by the way, Canadian - though, few could deny she wasn't a "Little American", for all intents and purposes. FUN to spot "extras" who later became major stars include Wallace Beery, Colleen Moore, and Ramon Novarro - especially, watch for Mr. Novarro exhibiting "star" quality during one of the film's more memorable sequences: Pickford and the wounded soldier saluting each other as he is taken by her on a stretcher. Novarro even gets Mary Pickford to write a letter for him; obviously, he's got a future in pictures. Also future-bound is Ben Alexander, who plays the boy "Bobby"; he becomes a dependable child actor, and grows up to become a Jack Webb partner on "Dragnet" A cute, sweet charming little silent film that once again shows the genius that was Mary Pickford!! Happy Mandatory Mary Pickford Viewing Night!!! This DVD is BRAND NEW....NEVER OPENED...STILL SEALED! Will be shipped VERY SECURELY! PAYMENT THRU PAYPAL THANKS FOR LOOKING! "Mary Pickford.....The best known woman who has ever lived, the woman who was known to more people and loved by more people than any other woman that has been in all history." -Adela Rogers St. Johns, 1981

Price: 9.25 USD

Location: Lake Stevens, Washington

End Time: 2024-09-14T22:47:48.000Z

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