"Mary Pickford produced and stars in this absorbing melodrama, as Mama Molly, tomboy guardian to a tribe of abused orphans on a "baby farm" in a Gothic southern swamp. "The Devil's share in the world's creation," the swamp is a truly frightening place, with bottomless bog holes that suck up anything thrown into them in a matter of moments. The baby farm's proprietor, Grimes (Gustave von Seyffertitz), is the embodiment of evil, so mean he ..."
"Mary Pickford is the cinema's true Peter Pan. She played spunky waifs and adolescent spitfires well into adulthood and remains best remembered as the crusading orphan raging against ruthless villains and natural disasters with pluck, courage, and hope. Sparrows is quintessential Pickford, the tale of a ragtag collection of orphans made virtual slaves by a gnarled, swamp-dwelling Simon Legree. As the big sister/mother hen of the grimy br ..."