A LITTLE PRINCESS
starring Mary Pickford and Zasu Pitts
PHOTOPLAY JOURNAL
December 1917
Mary Pickford's latest photoplay gem is one of he most brilliant of a delectable series, and she not only maintains her own peculiarly individual high standard, but she moves it forward a peg or two. Her newest creation is "The Little Princess" (sic) in which she portrays the role of child life, as Sara Crewe, the heroine of Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett's popular book. Only an extremist in pessimism could avoid being captivated by this charming characterization of hers. As Sara, our little Mary plays the part of a girl who is suddenly plunged from wealth to poverty. She has been reared in India, where her father was a captain in the British army, and when misfortune overtakes her and she becomes a scullery maid in the fashionable boarding school where she has been a favored pupil, she accepts her faith with pathetic stoicism and finds comfort in the companionship of Becky, the little slavey of the institution.
The film abounds in terse, epigrammatic sayings. When the two servants are smelling the exquisite odors of Christmas cooking - of which they cannot partake - Sara says she hasn't eaten well for so long she must be full of hollows.
In the first part of the picture, Sara tells the girls stories of Arabian nights, which are shown on the screen and display lavish Oriental settings.
Sara is not destined to remain a common drudge-girl, however, for though her father has died, his partner arrives with news of tremendous wealth, and when restored to her rightful sphere, she does not forget Becky.