pickford's return as a scruffy young girl in "little annie rooney" was a critical success as well as a triumph at the box office, becoming one of the highest grossing films of 1925. this film was a particular achievement for pickford after the lukewarm reception for her last two starring efforts. pickford biographer eileen whitfield wrote, "one watches in amazement as pickford, at thirty-three, fresh from the seductions of "rosita" and the stiff declamations of "dorothy vernon", slips into the body of a twelve-year-old tomboy."