''Little Orphan Annie'' is a 1932 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorshi ...

comedy film directed by John S. Robertson, and written by

Wanda Tuchock Wanda Tuchock (March 20, 1898 – February 10, 1985) was an American advertising copywriter, screenwriter, director, and producer during the early 20th century. She was credited with writing for over thirty films, and was one of the at least th ...

and Tom McNamara. It is based on the comic strip ''

Little Orphan Annie ''Little Orphan Annie'' is a daily American comic strip created by Harold Gray and syndicated by the Tribune Media Services. The strip took its name from the 1885 poem "Little Orphant Annie" by James Whitcomb Riley, and it made its debut on Aug ...

'' by

Harold Gray Harold Lincoln Gray (January 20, 1894 – May 9, 1968) was an American cartoonist, best known as the creator of the newspaper comic strip ''Little Orphan Annie''. Early life Harold Gray was born in Kankakee, Illinois on January 20, 1894, to Este ...

. The film stars

Mitzi Green Mitzi Green (born Elizabeth Keno; October 22, 1920 – May 24, 1969) was an American child actress for Paramount and RKO, in the early "talkies" era. She then acted on Broadway and in other stage works, as well as in films and on television. ...

Buster Phelps Buster Phelps (November 5, 1926 – January 10, 1983) was an American actor. Phelps debuted on film when he was a child. When the mother of another child had booked two simultaneous film sessions for that youngster, she contacted Phelps' mothe ...

May Robson Mary Jeanette Robison (19 April 1858 – 20 October 1942), known professionally as May Robson, was an Australian-born American-based actress whose career spanned 58 years, starting in 1883 when she was 25. A major stage actress of the late 19t ...

, Matt Moore, and

Edgar Kennedy Edgar Livingston Kennedy (April 26, 1890 – November 9, 1948) was an American comedic character actor who appeared in at least 500 films during the silent and sound eras. Professionally, he was known as "Slow Burn", owing to his ability to por ...

. The film was released on November 4, 1932, by

RKO Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheu ...

Plot

As Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks leaves town to find gold, Annie and Sandy find a little boy named Mickey, crying behind a fence. Mickey is upset because his grandmother died, and he is being forced to go to an orphanage. Annie talks to Mickey about her own experience of being in an orphanage, and after she leaves, Mickey sneaks out the orphanage and follows Annie. He then stops to eat an apple from a apple vendor, who then scolds Mickey and Annie. Annie, Mickey, and Sandy seek shelter from the rain back at Annie’s home. Annie then proceeds to make pig’s feet for Mickey, and takes Mickey to bed inside Daddy Warbucks’ bedroom. While asleep, Mickey dreams about a pig, whom is trying to find Mickey because he ate his feet. (Animation by

Max Fleischer Max Fleischer (born Majer Fleischer ; July 19, 1883 – September 25, 1972) was an American animator, inventor, film director and producer, and studio founder and owner. Born in Kraków, Fleischer immigrated to the United States where he became ...

) After a loud clap of thunder wakes Mickey up, he rushes over to Annie, crying about his grandmother. Annie then promises Mickey that she’ll find someone like Mickey’s grandmother first thing tomorrow. The next day, Annie takes Mickey to the Helping Hand Orphanage, where Annie believes they will help Mickey find a new grandmother. Mickey is suffering from a puffed up stomach. Mrs. Bergen then begins to take Mickey to Dr. Griffith’s office. He kicks and screams for Annie to follow him. Dr. Griffith arrived to examine Mickey, and gives him Castor Oil to help his stomach. Mickey doesn’t want to take it until Annie tries it. She takes a spoonful, wincing at the awful taste, which Mickey then proceeds to take the spoonful of Caster Oil. As Annie proceeds to leave, Dr. Griffith, Mrs. Bergen, and Mickey beg her to stay, but Annie refuses. The three chase her around the office, ending with Annie tripping on the Doctor’s chair, spinning around and getting sick. She then agrees to stay at the orphanage. As Annie becomes a helper at the orphanage, Mrs. Stewart arrives to adopt a child. Annie cleans Mickey up to look good for Mrs. Stewart, but one of the orphans slaps Mickey’s cheek with shoe blackening. To Annie’s anger, she tries to clean Mickey’s face, but due to late timing, she takes Mickey with the orphans to introduce themselves to Mrs. Stewart. The orphans begin to walk around her until she halts at Mickey, who still has shoe blackening on his face. Annie explains the incident, and Mrs. Stewart becomes uninterested in adopting Mickey. Annie then starts an argument at Mickey for stressing her, but it’s all an act for Mickey to be adopted. After Annie’s “argument”, Mrs. Stewart adopts Mickey, but Mickey doesn’t say goodbye to Annie, which breaks her heart. She tries to apologize to him, but he leaves. In the evening, Mickey is happily enjoying his new home. After Mrs. Stewart tucks him to bed, he notices Annie sitting in a tree outside his bedroom window. She apologizes to Mickey for earlier, as Mickey tearfully talks to her about how he doesn’t like his new grandmother. Mickey forgives Annie, and brings her and Sandy inside his home, where he shows Annie his collection of toys inside his room. Soon after, Annie and Sandy start to put on a show for Mickey, while he sets score via a music box. Sandy performs tricks while Annie does an impression of

The Marx Brothers The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers' thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute (AFI) ...

. In the dining room, Mrs. Stewart throws a dinner party with some of her friends. Mrs. Stewart’s butler walks to the kitchen to find Mrs. Stewart’s roast beef gone, as Sandy was the one who ate it earlier. While Annie is doing more impressions to entertain Mickey as Mrs. Stewart, Mickey is escorted to bed, putting Sandy in his closet to hide, until Mrs. Stewart finds Annie in the living room. As she kicks Annie and Sandy out, Mickey runs upstairs to his bedroom window, crying to Annie, but before Mrs. Stewart catches him, Mickey falls out the window, badly injuring himself. The next day, feeling very upset from Mickey’s accident, Annie blames herself for letting Mrs. Stewart adopt Mickey, saying if she didn’t adopt him, he wouldn't have gotten hurt. But Mrs. Stewart blames herself, knowing that Mickey and Annie were very close. The two console each other. Luckily, Mickey recovers from the accident with the help of a brace given by Dr. Griffith. On Christmas Day, Mrs. Stewart throws a Christmas party, where Annie and Sandy attend with all the other orphans. As Santa Claus gives out presents to the orphans, Annie walks up to him, Santa asks what Annie would like, and she demands a hug and kiss, ripping Santa’s hat and beard off, revealing that Santa is actually Daddy Warbucks. The two happily share an embrace, and everyone starts to enjoy their Christmas dinner.

Cast

as Annie *

as Mickey *

as Mrs. Stewart * Matt Moore as Dr. Griffith *

as Daddy Warbucks *Kate Drain Lawson as Mrs. Bergen *

Sidney Bracey Sidney Bracey (born Sidney Bracy; 18 December 1877 – 5 August 1942) was an Australian-born American actor. After a stage career in Australia, on Broadway and in Britain, he performed in more than 320 films between 1909 and 1942. Early lif ...

as Butler

References

External links

* 1932 films 1932 comedy films American black-and-white films American comedy films Films based on American comics Films based on comic strips Films directed by John S. Robertson Films with screenplays by Wanda Tuchock Live-action films based on comics RKO Pictures films Films about orphans Films based on Little Orphan Annie 1930s English-language films 1930s American films English-language comedy films {{1930s-comedy-film-stub