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United States
6.3 1h 3m

The Little American

"The silent sufferers"

A young American has her ship torpedoed by a German U-boat but makes it back to her ancestral home in France, where she witnesses German brutality firsthand.

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Top Cast

  • Mary Pickford

    Mary Pickford

    Angela Moore

  • Jack Holt

    Jack Holt

    Karl von Austreim

  • Raymond Hatton

    Raymond Hatton

    Count Jules de Destin

  • Hobart Bosworth

    Hobart Bosworth

    German Colonel

  • Walter Long

    Walter Long

    German Captain

  • Wallace Beery

    Wallace Beery

    German Soldier (uncredited)

  • Norman Kerry

    Norman Kerry

    Wounded Soldier (uncredited)

  • Colleen Moore

    Colleen Moore

    Maid (uncredited)

  • Ramon Novarro

    Ramon Novarro

    Wounded Soldier (uncredited)

Overview

A young American has her ship torpedoed by a German U-boat but makes it back to her ancestral home in France, where she witnesses German brutality firsthand.

Rating

6.3 / 10
21 Reviews
0 Popular

1 Reviews

  • CinemaSerf
    CinemaSerf
    7 Feb 20, 2025

    With the Great War ravaging Europe as this film was made, it’s a clear signal of patriotism from star Mary Pickford as she depicts the feisty “Angela”. She’s from wealthy stock and on her birthday is being courted by French “Count Jules” (Raymond Hatton) and by her slight favourite, the Prussian soldier “Karl” (Jack Holt). Before she has to make any choices, though, both head to their respective homes to fight. Shortly thereafter, she decides to travel to her aunt’s home in France only for her liner to be torpedoed and for her to find that when she eventually arrives at her stately pile that the Bosch are intent on billeting there and behaving abominably too. Her American status gives her a degree of protection so long as she stays out of the conflict, and her stiff-necked friend “Karl” is amongst the occupiers, but when their cruelty to the house’s staff and to an elderly gent shock her to the core, she decides that she can no longer stay on the fence. What now ensues sees her bravely attempt to help the Allied forces at great peril not just to her, but to her friend who would try to keep her as alive as his upbringing would permit! That merely invites a trial for espionage and treason and a firing squad for both of them looms… Can they find a way to escape the bullets? This is an effective propaganda tool, this film, illustrating just how ghastly the enemy were; how indiscriminate their violence was inflicted and how generally boorish and superior they were. Pickford and Cecil B. DeMille clearly wanted to ram that point home to domestic audiences and on that front they are quite effective. It really could have done with some more light, but even dingy as it is it delivers quite a potent analysis of uniformed thuggery tempered by conflicted romance and a semblance of human decency. It has it’s zealous moments - from all sides, and in it’s way it is quite a tough film to watch as though not graphic in terms of photography, it is in terms of psychology. It has a clear message to send and is worth a watch, I’d say.

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