Vintage original 8x10 in. US single-weight on-set "gag" photograph from the classic teens WWI-themed silent film war drama, THE LITTLE AMERICAN, released in 1917 by Artcraft Pictures Corporation and directed by Cecil B. DeMille. A young American (Mary Pickford) has her ship torpedoed by a German U-boat but makes it back to ancestral home in France, where she witnesses German brutality firsthand. The cast includes Jack Holt, Raymond Hatton, Hobart Bosworth, Walter Long, James Neill, Bob Alexander, Guy Oliver, Edythe Chapman, Lillian Leighton, DeWitt Jennings, and Wallace Beery.
The image features a posed "gag shot" in which the film's director, Cecil B. DeMille, looks confused by what's on the page as the film's technical director, Ian Hay, looks at the viewer in exasperation (al la Oliver Hardy!) while Jeanie Macpherson, the film's screenwriter, watches them. It is in good condition only with a chip on the bottom right corner and a small chip on each left corner; a small chip in the center of the top border; and light signs of random wear in the borders.
The Little American was shot at the Lasky studio in Hollywood and is one of only two films in which Mary Pickford was directed by Cecil B. DeMille (A Romance of the Redwoods (1917) is the other) and they were released a few months apart in the summer of 1917. According to records kept by Cecil B. DeMille and currently housed in the DeMille Collection at Brigham Young University, the film cost $166,949.16 to produced (including Mary Pickford's salary of $86,666.66) and earned gross film rentals of $446,236.88. DeMille, in his autobiography, stated that Ramon Novarro, Wallace Beery and Sam Wood acted in this film (this marked the screen debuts of Beery and Novarro). Other modern sources credit DeMille as film editor and list Gordon Griffith as appearing in the film. Some sources list Colleen Moore as appearing in the film, which is incorrect, as the un-named role for which Moore has been credited is actually played by Lila Lee.