Canadian actress Mary Pickford plays lead in "The Little American"--one of the most blatant examples of anti-German propaganda made during WWI.The film begins with Mary being courted by a German guy (Jack Holt). However, before they can marry, he's called back to serve in the German army, as WWI has just begun (incidentally, the US stayed out of the war for more than 2 1/2 years). Shortly after this, Mary is called to France, as a rich relative has requested she come there. On the way, the passenger ship she is on is torpedoed--much like the famous Lusitania case (her ship is called the 'Veritania'--subtle, huh?). It's ridiculous today to see German soldiers (including Holt) toasting to the sinking of a passenger ship, but back in 1917, the public ate this up and believed it to be true (now we know these accounts were fabricated by the British government).Despite her boat being torpedoed, plucky Mary makes it to France where she learns that she's just inherited the Aunt's estate. However, soon the Germans come and attack her in her new home. Despite telling them she's an American (who were at the time Neutral), they attack with the ferocity of hungry dogs going after a pork chop! Now the Germans occupy her home and the Germans ignore her pleas to spare the French civilians. Instead, she's made a virtual slave in her own home--waiting on the Germans as they destroy her home. In one of those coincidences that can only happen in a movie, Holt is naturally there as well but does nothing to help her or her new people. In the meantime, the Germans start executing civilians and behaving horribly.As a result of the German atrocities, Mary feels she has no choice but to aid the French army--directing fire upon her estate. She knows it might mean death for her, but she is now committed to the Allied cause. When she is captured, "America's Sweetheart" (a title bestowed on the actress) is threatened with execution!! At this point, Holt announces he'd rather die with her than serve the accursed Kaiser! But, in a scene once again only found in movies, the two are saved at the instant before the Germans open fire on them!! The final scenes show the Germans reducing a church to rubble all around a lone crucifix! Wow, subtle it ain't!! At the time this was made, I am sure it was super-effective in galvanizing people behind the Allied war effort. Even though in 1916 almost all Americans were in favor of continued neutrality, by April 1917 (when the US entered the war), Americans went war-crazy--eating up films like this, growing Victory Gardens, volunteering to fight, beating up German-Americans and getting jobs in munitions plants. All this for a war that had no real good guys or bad guys--just millions and millions dead. Because this movie made this seem GOOD, it left me a bit unsettled. However, it is well made and effective.

Little American, The (1917) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Cecil B. DeMille would eventually become known for his over the top films but I guess you can follow this type of film-making back to 1917 and this picture. The film starts off in America where Angela Moore (Mary Pickford) is being courted by both a German (Jack Holt) and a Frenchman (Raymond Hatton). When WW1 breaks out both men head off to fight for their different countries and soon Mary, now in France, comes under attack by German troops and Holt will have to decide to save her or stand up for his evil country. This film is so over the top in its patriotism that at times it becomes quite laughable. At the start of the film, when Pickford's character is introduced, we learn that she was born on the Fourth of July. When we first see her there's a big American flag waving behind her as she gives that lovely smile towards the camera. Overall this film is a mixed bag full of some great stuff but also containing a lot of weak stuff. The good stuff includes a strong performance by both Pickford and Holt who settle into their roles quite well. Apparently Pickford hated working for DeMille but that doesn't really show as she delivers her strong performance. The battle scenes, for the most part, are pretty good as well. The most interesting aspect of the film is how they show the evils being done by the German's at the time and this includes showing them raping some women as well as killing elderly men. The weak stuff is all the propaganda running throughout the film. I know this was common for the day but this film takes it to a whole new level. Another silly sequence is when Pickford's U-Boat is hit by a German torpedo. The special effects here are so bad that you can tell the boat seems to be a plastic one floating in a tub. The scenes towards the end where Pickford runs into Jesus on the cross doesn't contain the magic that DeMille was going for either. In the end, this is a mixed bag but fans of DeMille and Pickford would probably want to check it out but D.W. Griffith's Hearts of the World is much better.

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". ******* The Little American (7/12/17) Cecil B. DeMille ~ Mary Pickford, Jack Holt, Raymond Hatton

"The Little American" is of course "America's Sweetheart", Mary Pickford. Produced and directed by Cecil B. De Mille, it tells the story of Angela Moore (Pickford) and her relationships with German-American Karl Von Austriem (Jack Holt) and French-American Count Jules de Destin (Raymond Hatton) during World War I. In a real propaganda move, there's an opening shot of Pickford standing before the American flag and giving the salute while smiling and winking at the audience. Pure De Mille.Prior to the outbreak of the war, both men are courting Angela with Austriem having the evident upper hand. Then, war is declared and Austriem and de Destin go off to Europe to join their respective country's forces.Angela, to be near the man she loves decides to sail for France however, en route her ship the Veritania (read: Lusitania) is sunk by a German submarine (in a sequence using less than convincing miniatures). Austrien receives a letter telling him that Angela is sailing to France on the doomed ship. Distraught, Austriem becomes one of the barbaric German soldiers drinking and carousing their way across France. De Destin meanwhile is wounded and loses an arm.Angela survives the sinking of the Veritania and goes to the château of her aunt who has conveniently just died making Angela the new owner. She turns the château into a hospital for wounded French soldiers and decides not to flee the oncoming Germans, to nurse the wounded.Before leaving the château, the French place a secret telephone from which the army can be alerted as to the location of the German guns. The Germans move in to the château and ravage the place, having their way with the female servants. With them is Austriem who in a drunken stupor tries to rape Angela in a darkened room before discovering that it is Angela and she is alive.Angela meanwhile is telephoning information to de Destin regarding the placements of German guns. She is subsequently arrested and despite Austriem's intervention on her behalf, both get sentenced to die. Just as they are about to be shot............................Evidently their were two versions of this film produced. I assume the original version was completed before America's entrance into the war in 1917. In that version, available in the DVD set: "Cecil B. De Mille: The Classics Collection" Angela with the help of de Destin, secures Austriem's release as a prisoner of war and returns home with him. In the version described in Ringgold & Bodeen's "The Films of Cecil B. De Mille", Austriem dies and she returns to America with de Destin, Obviously, little Mary couldn't be seen fraternizing with the enemy, hence the second version.Pickford was now Hollywood's first superstar and was commanding a salary of $10,000 per week. It was around this time that she married male superstar Douglas Fairbanks. The two would soon form United Artists along with Charlie Chaplin and D.W. Griffith and produce their own films.Also in the film in various smaller roles are Hobart Bosworth, Walter Long and Wallace Beery as German soldiers, Colleen Moore as one of the château maids and Ramon Novarro as a wounded French soldier.De Mille's last film with Ms. Pickford.