Sparrows

Rating:
Summary: Three features add to something good
Review: It's hard to review something like this because there is a so-so feature, a barely entertaining short, and a great, hilarious short.
The movie Sparrows seems to be two movies -- a comedy and a very dark melodrama. It has comedy, in particular with the ending, and earlier with the action between Pickford and the character of Grimes' son; and it also has episodes of horror -- the settings and the escape scene through the swamp kept me on the edge of my seat better than most other contemporary action movies. Both of these levels work in practice, and the movie would have been much better if it took only one of those directions. As it is, the filmakers decided to take the film in both directions, and the comedy only trivializes the rest of the movie. It's not a bad film, but I recomend it only for collection completists.
Mender of the Nets is a short that'll be forgotten the minute it's over.
The short Willful Peggy, on the other hand, might be the best thing I've seen Pickford in, and it's the reason I gave this DVD four stars. It is the fullest realization of her ability to push the limit of comedy with just the right look on her face and just the right body language. It makes me wonder if there are any other surviving shorts where she plays someone like the "Artless Colleen". This is definitely the best part of the DVD.

Rating:
Summary: Little Mother
Review: Although this movie has its slow moments, Mary is once again successful in holding her audience. It is too bad she couldn't have children. She was great at caring for the orphans in this movie on and off film. The movie is adventurous and fun and one's heart goes out to the children on the screen.

Rating:
Summary: Pickford's Best
Review: Any doubts that may be held about Mary Picford's skill as an actress and the validity of her screen persona can be put to rest after watching "Sparrows". This is an absolutely beautiful film, and if they were handing out Oscars in 1926 Pickford would surely have been a contender.

The plot is faux-Dickens and it would be easy to sneer at the film's overt optimism and dated sentiment. But its a lovely film all around, with just the right blend of comedy, corn and thrills.

A special nod to some of the most beautiful camerawork I have had the pleasure of witnessing.

Rating:
Summary: My first Mary Pickford Movie
Review: I found this a great movie. It was really good. It held my intrest and contrary to some other reviewers that shall remain nameless. So what if the alligators aren't real it's the 20's and a silent pic for christ sake not the terminator!!!
I highly reccomend this movie to any one who is new to silents.

Rating:
Summary: Mary, Mary, your movie's quite scary
Review: Listen, contrary to the above, them ain't real alligators in the swamp chase; I saw it on a theatre screen, and I'm pretty sure I glimpsed their strings.

That said, this movie is scrumdiddlyumptious. It might be sentimental, but it's also macabre and intense enough that I've occasionally seen it referred to as a horror film. The atmosphere is so thick you can almost smell the swamp. I fell for it completely and was gasping through it along with the rest of the audience.

Pickford wasn't the shrinking violet her current image might suggest; as here, she played strongwilled girls who held up under awful conditions, and in real life she was one of the most powerful women in Hollywood's history. Here, she gets a villain & a challenge worthy of her.

Rating:
Summary: One of Pickford's Best
Review: The reason why Sparrows works so well as a film is that there is a genuine sense of threat. This is partly because the sets used for the film, although constructed on the Pickford-Fairbanks backlot, are remarkably convincing. The baby farm, where Mary Pickford and her group of orphans are held prisoner, looks old, rundown and dirty, while the swamp surrounding the farm looks fetid, diseased and fully of dangers. The quicksand, which was actually made from sawdust and cork ground up with water, seems ready to swallow up the unwary. The alligators guarding the swamp are real, but their apparent proximity to Pickford and the children is an illusion brought about through clever splicing of two separate images.

The sense of menace which pervades the film also owes a great deal to the performance of Gustav von Seyffertitz as Grimes the owner of the farm. His limping gait means that he creeps everywhere, becoming a looming presence. His looks can be compared to those of Max Schreck in Nosferatu, but von Seyfferitz's performance is not that of a monster from a horror film. The threat that his acting suggests is more realistic than the threat of a nightmare.

Sparrows is a film with a great deal of suspense mixed with some fine humour and emotion. Pickford, as usual, gives a sympathetic performance. She is feisty, resourceful and courageous.

The black and white print used for this DVD is in very good condition. The only slight query I have is with regard to its length. Sparrows is often listed as being between 81 and 84 minutes in length, yet the print for the Milestone DVD runs 107 minutes. It could be that DVD print includes additional material, alternatively it could be that it runs slower than other prints.

The DVD has as a bonus two Pickford Biograph shorts directed by D.W. Griffith. Both Wilful Peggy and The Mender of Nets are entertaining and considering their age look remarkably fine.