Little Orphan Annie

"Little Orphan Annie" worked because of Mitzi Green. By 1932 she was already a veteran actor at the ripe old age of twelve. She'd already been in thirteen projects by the time she played Little Orphan Annie. Personally, I'd seen only two and she was good in both.

By the time I was a kid I only knew Little Orphan Annie as Annie. Little did I know she'd been around at least fifty years before I saw her.

"Little Orphan Annie" (1932) was a cute movie. Annie was left by her guardian (perhaps her real father) Daddy Warbucks (Edgar Kennedy) so that he could go make it big and then come back and get her. When he left Annie was left to get by on her own which she was more than capable of. She had to slow her roll when she met another orphan named Michael aka Mickey (Buster Phelps). He was an adorable little kid who grew on her. Still, she couldn't take care of herself and little Mickey, so she helped to get him adopted by Mrs. Stewart (May Robson).

I don't think they could've chosen two better child actors than Mitzi Green and Buster Phelps. They were perfect, and Mitzi was ahead of her time. At twelve-years-old she was better at acting and impressions than many adults. She did an impeccable Groucho Marx from the movie "Horse Feathers." May Robson was swell as the grouchy Mrs. Stewart (a characteristic that she'd have in "You Can't Buy Everything" (1934)), but her best role by far was that as Apple Annie in "Lady for a Day."

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I saw this movie at the kids' matinee at Peoples Theater in Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A., probably early in 1933. (Since it was released in November of 1932, it wouldn't have got to our neighborhood house before '33.) I thought it was great. Of course, at the age of 8, I thought everything was great. I didn't even mind sitting through this to get to the cowboy movie on the other end of the double feature -- the real reason for going to the "show," as we said in those days.

As I recall, the movie depicted the early history of Little Orphan Annie, from her days as a mistreated child in an orphanage to her being taken in by Daddy Warbucks. The comic strip had been running for several years by then, but at my age I was not familiar with the start of it.

It was a kids' movie, pure and simple (or as close as Hollywood ever got to a movie for children), and we identified with the kids getting the best of the mean adults -- or any adults at all.

I have waited 9 YEARS to see this lost gem! And, leapin' lizards!, it was better than I ever could have imagined! I'm 18, as of this review, and when I was 9, I was obsessed with Little Orphan Annie. I was particularly fascinated with the original comics. Like most, I fell in love with Annie through the 1982 and 1999 musical versions, and the film "Annie: A Royal Adventure", which was very close to the comics. Since then I have gotten tired of the musical version though. You say Annie, and people only think of the musical.

So, as a kid, I was very interested in the Annie before the musical. There were two Annie films made before the 1982 version. This 1932 film, and a 1939 film, which I still have yet to find any footage of. Though, I doubt the 1939 version will top this one. I found a Amazon listing for this film on DVD a few weeks ago, and I couldn't believe it. When it finally came, I was trying not to get my hopes up, because I couldn't believe that someone actually found a copy of this lost film after all these years, but it was it! I was so happy. I just LOVED it!

Daddy Warbucks is broke, and he is taking a trip by train so he can find his fortune all the while Annie says at their little home alone with Sandy. On the way back home, she finds a little boy crying for his grandmother who has recently died. He is scared of going to the orphanage, so it's up to Annie to show him that being a "little orphan" isn't so bad. She takes the precious little kid, Mickey, to the orphanage, but when it is revealed that she is home alone, she is put into the orphanage too, of course, she doesn't go with out a fight first.

Little Mickey eventually gets adopted by an older, and very wealthy woman, who learns to adore him. I won't go into anymore of the plot, because I don't want to spoil it, but it is such a sweet, funny, well written, and excitingly simple little film. It's not overly glamorous and un-realistically bubble gum happy like most of the crap from Hollywood of the 30s, but it is very warm and small scale little story.

Mitzi Green is the most perfect Annie! She looks, and acts exactly like her comic strip counterpart. She has that perky 30's way of acting, but it is very endearing and fun to watch. And as for Mickey, they couldn't have found a more precious, and heart-wrenching little boy to play him. This is really more so the story of "Little Orphan Mickey", but that's not a bad thing, because you will feel for him every minute of the film. I mean when he cries, your heart will break! Though, it is too bad Daddy Warbucks wasn't more of a main character, because I love Edgar Kennedy (of The original Little Rascals), and I would have liked to see him play off of the other characters more.

This may be the best, or at least, my favorite "Annie" film, and I'm hoping that more people will realize that Annie is more than just the tired and overdone musical. I'm so happy I can put the 9 years of wondering what this film is like to a rest. It deserves all the love and acknowledgement it can get, as do the original comics that started it all. I have uploaded my DVD RIP on the Internet Archive.