Sparrows
About Sparrows
Molly, played by Mary Pickford, looks after orphans on Mr. Grimes’s baby farm beside a swamp. She tells the children that God watches sparrows and will not forget them. Kidnappers bring in a baby, Doris Wayne, and Grimes means to throw her into the water. Molly holds him off with a pitchfork and leads the children through the swamp. Grimes sinks in the mud. The kidnappers drown after a harbor-patrol boat hits them. Splutters, sold earlier to a hog buyer, tells the police and Doris’s father, Dennis Wayne. Wayne offers Molly a home if she will bring the other children. She accepts only on that condition.
Cast & crew
More about Sparrows
Mary Pickford produced it and plays Molly. William Beaudine directed, with Tom McNamara uncredited. Winifred Dunn wrote the story, C. Gardner Sullivan the adaptation, and George Marion Jr. the titles. Harold McLernon edited. Art director Harry Oliver turned four acres of back lot into the swamp: the ground was scraped, 600 trees were transplanted, and pits were filled with burned cork, sawdust, and muddy water. Hal Mohr said no alligators were within ten miles of Pickford. The jaws used for the effects were tied shut.
Themes
Making
Oliver’s swamp sat on the back lot. Mohr’s account is that the alligators were not loose near Pickford.
Look
Charles Rosher, Karl Struss, and Hal Mohr shot the picture, including Oliver’s four-acre swamp.
Music
Silent, with English titles by George Marion Jr.
Preservation
Milestone Film & Video released the Library of Congress restoration on DVD and Blu-ray on November 6, 2012, in the box Rags and Riches: Mary Pickford Collection. A copy is on Wikimedia Commons as Sparrows (1926).webm.
Notes
- Gustav von Seyffertitz plays Mr. Grimes. Charlotte Mineau plays Mrs. Grimes. Spec O’Donnell plays Ambrose Grimes. Roy Stewart plays Dennis Wayne. Mary Louise Miller plays the baby Doris. Monty O’Grady plays Splutters.
- Lloyd Whitlock plays the kidnapper Joe Bailey.
- Grimes crushes a doll a mother has sent and throws it into the swamp.
- Milestone’s 2012 disc includes a commentary by Jeffrey Vance and Tony Maietta.
Awards
- National Film Registry (2025)
Scenes
- Grimes crushes the doll and throws it into the swamp.
- Molly faces him with a pitchfork when he moves to drown the baby.
- The children cross the swamp. Grimes goes under in the mud.
- Molly tells Dennis Wayne she will come only if the other children come too.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Sparrows (1926).webm)
- Milestone Film & Video Blu-ray and DVD, Rags and Riches: Mary Pickford Collection (November 6, 2012)
