Little Orphan Annie (1932)

Video Description

I had 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! 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 heart-wrenching kid 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. And May Robson is lovable too, which I know her from Alice (1933) as the Queen of Hearts. 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.