Even Mary Pickford herself doubted the importance of her movies. After she retired in 1933, she began buying all existing prints of her movies with the intention of having them all torched. However, before she died in 1979, she thankfully changed her mind. Watching Sparrows is a revelation. It's an exquisitely crafted melodrama, one of the best of the entire silent era.
Sparrows is a melodrama of Dickensian proportions, created with complete conviction.
The movie's first camera shot is a stunner. It gives us a view looking down on the Grimes farm. The farm is practically surrounded by mud and stagnant swamp water. The farm house, barn, and outbuildings appear on the verge of either collapse or inundation. It seems beyond comprehension that anyone could live in such conditions.