Five and Ten Cent Annie

Five and Ten Cent Annie is a 1928 American sound part-talkie comedy film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Louise Fazenda, Clyde Cook and William Demarest.^[1] In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system.

Five and Ten Cent Annie
Directed by	Roy Del Ruth
Written by	Charles R. Condon Joseph Jackson Robert Lord Jack L. Warner
Starring	Louise Fazenda Clyde Cook William Demarest
Cinematography	Norbert Brodine
Edited by	Ralph Dawson
Production company	Warner Brothers
Distributed by	Warner Brothers
Release date	May 28, 1928 (1928-05-28)
Running time	60 minutes
Country	United States
Languages	Sound (Part-Talkie) English Intertitles

Cast

• Louise Fazenda as Annie
• Clyde Cook as Elmer Peck
• William Demarest as Briggs
• Gertrude Astor as Blonde
• Tom Ricketts as Adam Peck
• Douglas Gerrard as Judge
• George Beranger as Orchestra Leader
• Eddie Haffner as Midget
• Flora Finch as Guest
• Sunshine Hart as Guest
• Billy Franey as Guest

Plot

Annie (Louise Fazenda), a spunky salesgirl at the local five-and-dime store, dreams of excitement beyond the counter. She shares a sweet affection with Elmer Peck (Clyde Cook), a shy but earnest street cleaner who secretly adores her. Elmer’s mundane life takes a dramatic turn when he inherits a large fortune from his eccentric Uncle Adam (Tom Ricketts).

Unbeknownst to Elmer, the inheritance comes with a peculiar clause: if Elmer dies without marrying, the entire fortune reverts to Briggs (William Demarest), his uncle’s seemingly loyal servant. Briggs, however, is far from faithful. Determined to claim the money for himself, the scheming valet begins a campaign of sabotage, planting traps and staging accidents to discredit or endanger Elmer. He even brings in a wild cast of accomplices—including a gold-digging blonde vamp (Gertrude Astor), a midget disguised as a baby (Eddie Haffner), and a bungling gang of burlesque bandits—to make Elmer’s life a nonstop circus.

As Elmer’s fortunes rise, so do the stakes. After multiple attempts to derail a romance between Elmer and Annie, Briggs hatches his boldest plan yet: he shanghais Elmer and puts him aboard a ship, hoping to keep him away from Annie long enough to invalidate the marriage clause. But Annie, clever and courageous, disguises herself as a crewman and sneaks aboard the ship.

Just as Briggs prepares to dispose of Elmer for good, Annie signals the Coast Guard. A wild rescue ensues, with boats, brawls, and barrels of slapstick chaos. The Coast Guard storms the vessel and saves Elmer. Briggs is arrested, and his plot collapses in spectacular comedic fashion.

Back on land, Annie and Elmer finally marry, securing the fortune—and more importantly, each other. They walk off into a future full of laughter, far from butlers, bandits, and bogus babies.

Preservation status

• Only a fragment of the film is known to exist at BFI National Film and Television archive, London.^[2]

See also

• List of early sound feature films (1926–1929)
• List of early Warner Bros. sound and talking features
• Paradise for Two, a lost 1927 silent about inheritance
• The Cruise of the Jasper B (1926), a very similar themed film