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According to his autobiography The Little American is the film that Cecil B. DeMille wanted to make with Mary Pickford. Both were strong supporters of the Allied cause in World War I. But Adolph Zukor wanted a box office draw with a western so A Romance Of The Redwoods was done first. DeMille envisioned The Little American as part of his contribution to the propaganda war effort. And Pickford was well known for her bond tours with her husband Douglas Fairbanks.The Little American has Mary Pickford a daughter of the a US Senator and being courted by two men, German-American Jack Holt who receives orders to return to the Fatherland for an officer's commission in the newly declared war and French diplomat Raymond Hatton similarly ordered home. Pickford's family has a château in France and she travels there to be a nurse. But her ocean liner is torpedoed like the Lusitania and she eventually gets there.But as it turns out the château is in German occupied territory and she's asked to do a little espionage. And who do you think is among the Germans occupying, none other than Holt.As this was a film that DeMille himself labels a contribution to the war effort a lot of it can be dismissed. Pickford was her heroic best as The Little American. Some aspects of the real life Edith Cavell story are incorporated here with a lot more happy ending.As for the German atrocities. They'd have to wait until the next war when Hollywood couldn't make up what they did in real life.

You'd think after over 90 years have passed, this little WWI propaganda would be rendered a creaky, laughable history piece. The Little American, however, remains a powerful work of melodrama, mainly due to the talents of its star, Mary Pickford.Pickford plays Angela Moore, the titular 'Little American', who's the center of a love triangle between a German-American (Jack Holt) and a French-American (Raymond Hatton). WWI breaks out, however, and Angela's suitors are called back to their home countries to serve in their nation's respective armies. Shortly after, Angela leaves for France to visit an aunt, but while en route a German U-boat sinks the ship she's on. She manages to survive though, and makes it to her destination only to discover her aunt has passed and the Germans are close to occupying the town. Being the plucky, kind-hearted gal she is, Angela houses wounded French soldiers in her newly inherited château and even acts as a spy for the French army. Things become even more complex when the Germans occupy the house and Angela encounters her old German beau, who almost forces himself upon her before realizing who she is. He becomes torn by love and duty, but willingly submits to the former once Angela is found out as a spy.Mary Pickford is a joy to watch. She takes a typical plucky young woman role and plays it with such charm that you just fall in love with her. Her style is naturalistic, making her stand out from most other early silent film actors, who tended to utilize broad, exaggerated gestures from the stage. This is the first time I've seen her acting, and I'm definitely planning on seeing more of her work in the future.Unlike Mary's acting, the story itself rarely utilizes subtlety. Angela's patriotic fervor is made obvious from the beginning: she was born on the Fourth of July, and carries a small American flag around with her throughout the majority of the picture. Later on, when Pickford and Hoft caught in the crossfire of a battle, they find refuge beneath a large crucifix, which manages to remain standing even as the rest of the church it was in crumbles to nothing. As is to be expected of propaganda, aside from Pickford's German lover, the Germans are depicted as heartless monsters who rape, murder, and kick puppies at the slightest whim. Due to the charm of Pickford and the great chemistry her character shares with Hoft's, you truly grow to despise the "Huns" as the film progresses; it's mind-blowing to think that during the picture's first release that aspect must have been a great driving force in getting men to run out and sign up for the war.If you're a silent buff, Pickford fan, or interested in WWI, then you should definitely give The Little American a look. It's a well-crafted piece of propaganda sporting not also historical value but a decent story and the charismatic presence of America's Sweetheart.

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.

(SPOILERS IN FIRST PARAGRAPH) This movie's anti-German sentiment seems painfully dated now, but it's a brilliant example of great war-time propaganda. It was made back when Cecil B. DeMille was still a great director. (Ignore all his later Best Picture Academy Awards; he never made a very good sound film.) This movie lacks the comedy of most of Pickford's other films, and really it was DeMille's movie, not Pickford's. The vilification of the Germans can be compared to the way "The Patriot" of 2000 did the same to the British. The only good German in the film was a reluctant villain who had the ironic name of Austreheim. They even had Pickford take an ill-fated trip on a luxury ship that gets torpedoed by a German submarine. So what'll get the Americans more stirred up to war? The sinking of the Lusitania, or watching America's favorite Canadian import sinking in it? All throughout the film DeMille runs his protagonist from one kind of horrible calamity to another, barely escaping death, hypothermia, depravity, rape, execution, and explosions that go off in just the right place to keep her unharmed. The way she is saved from a firing squad is no more believable than the way the humans in "Jurassic Park" were ultimately rescued from the velociraptors. If I was any more gullible to such propaganda I would punish myself for having a part-German ancestry. Was it a good film? Aside from a humorous running gag about Americans abroad thinking they're untouchable – that was apparently a joke even back then – you might not be entertained. You'll find it more than a little melodramatic, and obviously one-sided, but the first thing that came to my mind after watching it is that it was years before Potemkin's false portrayal of a massacre revolutionized the language of cinema as well as a movie's potential for propaganda. It made me wonder: what became of Cecil B. DeMille? Somewhere between the advent of sound and "The Greatest Show on Earth" he seemed to lose his ambition. Ben Hur looked expensive, but not ambitious. In a sentence, this movie is for 1) Film historians, 2) Silent Film Buffs, 3) Mary Pickford fans, or 4) DeMille fans, if such a person exists.