Sperlinge Gottes

I've blown my nose through many a verifiable 'tear-jerker' but this was my first 'silent' sniffling:

"Sparrows" (1926) was directed by William Beaudine. Winifred Dunn wrote the story.

It was a drama about the very evil Mr. Grimes. He stole and kept poor orphans as "slave labor" on his farm. It's location was deep in a swamp in a southern U.S. state (one with alligators). They were used as his work force to keep the farm work done. Young Molly was the oldest and lovingly cared for the children.

One day Grimes and his crooked cronies kidnapped the small daughter of a wealthy man. (The word 'wealthy' tells you why.) Molly added little Doris to her heart and care. Then she learned that the police were closing in on finding the baby. Grimes had ordered her thrown into the swamp. The children grouped around Molly to save the little one. There was a daring rescue and escape. Molly took all the children with her through the swamp. (Take about edge of the seat and a box of tissues.) Did they make it out? Was there a happily-ever-after ending? I hope you'll get to find out. (I've seen this on Turner Classic Movies twice. It's wee worth your time.)

Cast:

Mary Pickford played Molly; Roy Stewart played Dennis Wayne ;Mary Louise Miller was Doris Wayne (the baby); Gustave von Seyffertitz was Mr. Grimes.

This was Mary Pickford's last film in which she played a young girl. Her fans had trouble letting her grow into adult parts. Since she was already involved in United Artists (founded with Douglas Fairbanks, D.W. Griffith, and Charles Chaplin) she turned to producing. Although she did try directing once: "Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall" (1924)

"Make them laugh, make them cry, and back to laughter. What do people want to go to the theatre for? An emotional exercise... I am a servant of the people. I have never forgotten that." A Quote from Mary Pickford.

"I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts." Will Rogers

United Artists in the mid-1920's stood outside the motion picture industry's block booking system. It owned no theaters and did not have enough films to offer them in blocks. This meant each of the UA producers (Griffith, Fairbanks, Chaplin, and Pickford) had to finance each film individually; not an easy thing with the rising costs of producing long features. While Griffith was digging himself into a big hole (which would ultimately cost him his production company) making epic films and trying to top his early successes, Pickford prudently operated on a smaller scale. The irony being that she produced the type of folksy stuff that Griffith had once done so well and so profitably.

"Sparrows" was her last appearance as a teenager; her choice because even in her thirties she would have been physically believable in these roles for a couple more years. Most often described as "Dickensian" because of its gloomy feel and slightly off-kilter production design, "Sparrows" is the original "Series of Unfortunate Events". It is regarded as the least dated of her pictures (maybe of all silents), fitting because it does not seem at all dated. Even the humor seems contemporary with little Molly misquoting bible verses with stuff like: "Let not thy right cheek know what thy left cheek is getting".

"Sparrows" is also more perennially appealing than any silent film. In fact you have to go all the way until 1933's "It Happened One Night" to actually supplant it. But it is a serious subject as baby farms are a historical fact and wealthy parents had reasons to fear kidnapping. The kidnapping in "Sparrows" has an eerie similarity to that of the Lindbergh baby, which would not take place until seven years "after" the film.

The "look" of the film reflects the German expressionist style and should delight Lemony Snicket fans and anyone who gets off on creepy-strange beauty. Set designer Harry Oliver "aged the tree stumps with blowtorches, and the entire picture has that netherworld quality of a slightly stylized environment that could only be created in a movie studio". Watch for the early scene where the baby farm operator crushes the little doll and drops it into the quicksand where it slowly disappears.

You also see a lot of Pickford's technique in Hal Roach's "Little Rascals". Check out the sequence when Little Splutters is leaving and his imprisoned friends are waving goodbye from inside the barn, by passing their hands through the slats. In fact Spec O'Donnell, who plays nasty stepson Ambrose, would later be a Roach regular. He is responsible for the film's first big laugh when he beans Molly with a turnip while she is trying to get the baby to stop crying. It is totally unexpected and even the baby finds it funny.

Also of note is the dream sequence where Jesus comes to take the baby to heaven. Modern special effects could not improve on what they got using a simple matte exposure process. A similar technique worked so well with the swamp scenes that a legend grew up that Pickford and the children were actually at risk from the live alligators used in the scenes. Probably no silent managed a more genuinely suspenseful sequence than when they are crossing a rotting tree limb which is slowly cracking and dipping toward the water full of hungry alligators.

Gustav von Seyffertitz does great as the evil Mr. Grimes (an early Snidley Whiplash) and is one of the best bad guys to come out of the silent era.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Sparrows (1926)

*** (out of 4)

An evil man, his wife and son are stealing orphans and taking them into the deep swampland where the children are treated as slaves. The latest kid they've kidnapped turns out to be the child of a rich man. Fearing the police, the family plans to kill the kids but the oldest orphan (Mary Pickford) plans a daring escape through the swamp. The villains of this film have to rank as some of the most hated in movie history. Pickford does a wonderful job in her role and director William Beaudine also adds several nice touches. The escape through the swamp is full of suspense as the children must face quicksand as well as alligators. The final act hurts the film but everything leading up to it is very well done. It's interesting to note that Pickford had Beaudine blacklisted in Hollywood because he forced her and the children to risk their lives by acting with real alligators. This here probably explains why a respected director ended up making "B" and "Z" films like Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla.

Although this is Mary Pickford's film, it also presents Von Seyffertitz with the best role of his career. Needing little in the way of make-up, the gaunt actor adds to his frighteningly sinister appearance by flourishing his claw-like hands and limping in awkward yet forceful strides. Child actor, Spec O'Donnell, who usually played comic roles, is also most effective. But it is, of course, Mary herself who focuses most of our attention, not only in the hair-raising scenes in which she is pursued by Grimes but in the many heartrending sequences in which she protects her "sparrows".

William Beaudine later became Hollywood's number one hack, but in silent days—indeed until around the mid-1930s—he was a very polished director who could not only draw great performances from his players but add immeasurably to a film's atmosphere and visual effect. Here, his compositions are indelibly terrifying.

An introduction explains: "The Devil's share in the world's creation was a certain swampland, a masterpiece of horror; and the Lord, appreciating a good job, let it stand." The Devil's swampland is where Mary Pickford (as Molly) lives, with some orphans and a baby. Ms. Pickford has managed to avoid being thrown in the swamp, over the years, and has assumed the role of "Mother" to the young children. They are kept, as "baby farm" slaves, by wicked Gustav von Seyffertitz (as Mr. Grimes). Mr. von Seyffertitz, Charlotte Mineau (as Mrs. Grimes) and Spec O'Donnell (as son Ambrose) make a frightfully wicked family.

Pickford employs too many of the girlish pouts and lip-twisting grimaces to make this one of her best characterizations; playing "Molly" as a young woman of indeterminate age would have been fine (something Pickford would do in her next film, the extraordinary "My Best Girl"). Otherwise, the Pickford persona works. As might be expected, the production is first class. Harry Oliver's swampy set is magnificent. The direction of William Beaudine and photography of Charles Rosher, Hal Mohr, and Karl Struss likewise superb. The too long conclusion is noticeably anti-climatic.

The special effects and editing are still convincing viewers that Pickford and the children were in some kind of danger during the "alligator-infested swamp escape" sequence. In Booten Herndon's "Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks" (1977) Mr. Mohr explains, "There wasn't an alligator within ten miles of Miss Pickford. Do people think we were crazy? I shot that scene myself… It was hard work for all of us, but the only thing those alligators came close to biting was a chunk of horsemeat." Fewer people questioned Pickford's meeting with Jesus Christ, in an earlier scene.

******** Sparrows (5/14/26) William Beaudine ~ Mary Pickford, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Charlotte Mineau, Spec O'Donnell