{"id":24726,"date":"2012-03-19T10:13:24","date_gmt":"2012-03-19T17:13:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=24726"},"modified":"2021-02-03T02:45:01","modified_gmt":"2021-02-03T09:45:01","slug":"sparrows-1926","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=24726","title":{"rendered":"Sparrows (1926)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Please come and take us away from the Grimses cause they are awful mean to us.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Sparrows-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Sparrows-Poster-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-24729\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Sparrows-Poster-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Sparrows-Poster-96x128.jpg 96w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Sparrows-Poster.jpg 366w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA teenaged orphan (Mary Pickford) cares for a group of younger children hidden away on a swamp-filled &#8220;baby farm&#8221; run by cruel Mr. Grimes (Gustav von Seyffertitz) and his wife (Charlotte Mineau). When Mr. Grimes takes in the kidnapped baby (Mary Louise Miller) of a millionaire (Roy Stewart), Pickford decides it&#8217;s time to finally help her &#8220;siblings&#8221; try to escape.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Child Abuse<\/li>\n<li>Deep South<\/li>\n<li>Kidnapping<\/li>\n<li>Mary Pickford Films<\/li>\n<li>Orphans<\/li>\n<li>Silent Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nMary Pickford&#8217;s next-to-last silent film represented a return to her earlier success playing heroines much younger than her actual age (which was 34 at the time). <em>Sparrows<\/em> is now widely acclaimed as not only one of Pickford&#8217;s best titles, but as a top-notch &#8220;horror&#8221; film of the silent era, given its wonderfully atmospheric Expressionist sets and its almost fairy tale-like portrayal of a group of innocents seeking escape from their tyrannical oppressor. Interestingly, it was directed by the notorious William &#8220;One-Shot&#8221; Beaudine, whose laughably awful later films (see <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=16467\">here<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=16445\">here<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=16433\">here<\/a>) show absolutely no indication of his earlier success in silent cinema (and to be fair, he simply <u>must<\/u> have done multiple takes when shooting this film &#8212; how could he <em>not<\/em>, when working with a passel of child actors?). Meanwhile, the storyline itself remains fascinating simply as a glimpse of the practice known as <a href=\"http:\/\/pages.uoregon.edu\/adoption\/topics\/babyfarming.html\">&#8220;baby farming&#8221;<\/a> (a term no longer in use, but sadly once quite prevalent).   <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Mary Pickford as &#8220;Mama Molly&#8221;<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Sparrows-Pickford.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Sparrows-Pickford.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24735\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Sparrows-Pickford.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Sparrows-Pickford-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Sparrows-Pickford-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>An interesting depiction of the evils of &#8220;baby farming&#8221;<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Sparrows-Baby-Farming.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Sparrows-Baby-Farming.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24731\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Sparrows-Baby-Farming.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Sparrows-Baby-Farming-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Sparrows-Baby-Farming-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a>\n<\/li>\n<li>Fine art direction and sets<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Sparrows-Sets.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Sparrows-Sets.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24730\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Sparrows-Sets.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Sparrows-Sets-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Sparrows-Sets-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Atmospheric cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Sparrows-Cinematography.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Sparrows-Cinematography.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24732\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Sparrows-Cinematography.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Sparrows-Cinematography-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Sparrows-Cinematography-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, to see Pickford in her final &#8220;child&#8221; role. Listed as a film with Historical Importance and a Personal Recommendation in the back of Peary&#8217;s book. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Historically Relevant<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0017423\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imagesjournal.com\/issue08\/reviews\/sparrows\/\">Images Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/silent-volume.blogspot.com\/2009\/09\/sparrows-1926.html\">Silent Volume Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/326476\/sparrows#articles-reviews?articleId=86468\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.chicagoreader.com\/chicago\/sparrows\/Film?oid=1064255\">Chicago Reader Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Please come and take us away from the Grimses cause they are awful mean to us.&#8221; Synopsis: A teenaged orphan (Mary Pickford) cares for a group of younger children hidden away on a swamp-filled &#8220;baby farm&#8221; run by cruel Mr. Grimes (Gustav von Seyffertitz) and his wife (Charlotte Mineau). When Mr. Grimes takes in the kidnapped baby (Mary Louise Miller) of a millionaire (Roy Stewart), Pickford decides it&#8217;s time to finally help her &#8220;siblings&#8221; try to escape. Genres, Themes, Actors,&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=24726\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24726"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68286,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24726\/revisions\/68286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}