Little Orphan Annie

The earliest surviving Colleen Moore vehicle, Little Orphan Annie was based on the famous poem by John Whitcomb Riley. Upon the deaths of her mother and father, Annie (Moore) is sent to an orphanage, where she quickly becomes everyone's favorite. Enchanting her fellow orphans with her tall tales of goblins and elves ("The goblins'll gitcha if ya don't watch out"), Annie performs the same magic with the nine children of a wealthy couple. Eventually adopted by this selfsame couple, our heroine at last enjoys the comfort and luxury she could only dream about in the past. Existing prints of Little Orphan Annie also include rare newsreel footage of author James Whitcomb Riley, who died two years before the film's release.