Having seen the original Broadway stage production with Andrea MacArdle back in 1978,this movie version directed by John Huston is a MAJOR disappointment. The movie version should have been a wonderful expansion of  the stage original, but this was not to be. Bordering on disaster, the  movie ANNIE has little to recommend it. A former review posted here by  Carolyn says it all. The movie replaced great songs from the stage  original(NYC,etc) with horrible new ones (DUMB DOG, WE GOT ANNIE, LETS GO  TO THE MOVIES,etc). There is nothing in this film that evokes the 1930s  Great Depression era the movie takes place in (where is the HOOVERVILLE  sequence). The movie in loaded with errors in regard to time and place. For  example, if Warbucks' 5th Ave Mansion is as expansive as shown in the  movie, it would have to located in Central Park; the movie Annie attends is  CAMILLE which never played at Radio City Music Hall and premiered in 1937  (not 1933 when the movie takes place, in fact RC Music Hall opened in late  1932); in the stage version the chracters attend a performance at the ROXY  Theatre which is as it should be; the New York in the movie ANNIE is a  mixture of unconvincing Hollywood sets and poor location shots which have a  1970s look and feel(why so many modern buildings in the background). Annie  as performed by Aileen Quinn is a pint size Ethel Merman who looks strong  enough to take on an army, she exhibits little heart and comes across as a  phony. Most of the other cast members are wasted or under perform thier  roles. Which brings me to the awful finale as presented in the move; the  stage version ends at Christmas while the movie becomes a summer circus;  Miss Hannigan is carried off to jail in the original while in the movie she  is seen drunkinly riding a circus elephant. What were producer Ray Stark  and John Huston trying to do? It baffles me to this day. Watch the ABC  Disney version of ANNIE it is not as good as the stage original but much  better than this awful movie version.