The Little American(1917)

Ok, did some fact checking. Pickford and DeMille made a grand total of two films together, and I watched them in the right order. The Little American is certainly a title more synonymous with Pickford, and the scale of the picture is much more to DeMille's sensibilities. The result is a film that seems grander and better suited to the dynamic duo. Unfortunately for modern audience there is an issue of context. The picture was made towards the later part of 1917, and America had ended its neutrality and entered into the war. As such this film is painfully racist towards Germans, or Prussians as they're referred to here. They rape and pillage without a second's thought, kill women and children for not being loyal enough, and invade the home of a neutral American. This extreme heavy handedness is at times hard to bear, but seen within its timeframe you can't expect much else, especially from a man like DeMille. Included in the much grander production is a recreation of the sinking of an unnamed ship (which is very obviously the Lusitania), and some very deliberate symbolism as a church is bombed leaving nothing standing but a giant crucifix. Enjoyable in its own right, and with the introduction of the German love interest for Pickford it has at least the aura of making it seem like not ALL Germans are evil.