Little Orphant Annie (1918 film)

Little Orphant Annie is a 1918 American silent drama film directed by Colin Campbell and stars Colleen Moore, in her first leading role, as the title character. The film is based on James Whitcomb Rileys popular 1885 poem of the same title. Riley also appears in the film.

The first draft of Little Orphant Annie was written by Gilson Willets and was a more straight forward adaptation of James Whitcomb Riley poem and contained elements of another Riley poem Where Is Mary Alice Smith. The script was apparently extensively rewritten several times and became more of a loose adaptation of Rileys poem. Some outlines have Annie dying in the end and being reunited in heaven The Good World with her mother, where she is wedded to Dave. The surviving version of the film available on DVD has Annie fall ill, only to recover and learn Thomps news was only a bad dream. Only two of the stories Annie tells from the original poem are illustrated.The story is framed with footage of James Whitcomb Riley acting as a narrator of sorts who tells a story. That footage had been filmed by Selig Polyscope Company for an earlier commissioned work by Interstate Historical Pictures Corporation for a film about Indiana. The footage of Riley was most likely in early 1916 before Rileys death in July 1916. Principal photography began in early December 1917 in the San Francisco Bay Area and lasted through mid1918. ........

Source: Wikipedia