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Hello, I assume that this is not going to be the new Milestone edition of Mary Pickford's SPARROWS Friday morning that we have been waiting on for three plus years? If it is, you would think Dennis would have said something by now? I haven't heard or read a single thing.

I don't want to sound nieve but one hopes that this could be a new restored version of Sparrows but I would think if they were premiering anything, it would have made it to a primetime slot than some crazy time in the middle of the night.

Does anybody know if this version that is coming on tomorrow is newly restored?

BankofAmericasSweetheart,

I asked the same question yesterday. Only a few threads below yours. Haven't gotten an answer. I'm still waiting. The last time TCM ran SPARROWS was 2006, and it was the Killiam Shows version dating back to about 1970 or 71. I'm hoping for the 2006 Library of Congress restoration and the Jeffrey Mark Silverman Orchestral score. Sadly, no one has said a thing. And the poor re-vamp of the TCM Website has made it even more difficult to get pertinent details.

BankofAmericasSweetheart wrote:I don't want to sound nieve but one hopes that this could be a new restored version of Sparrows but I would think if they were premiering anything, it would have made it to a primetime slot than some crazy time in the middle of the night.

Does anybody know if this version that is coming on tomorrow is newly restored?

Yes

Dennis,

Great! Thanks for letting us know. Hope that TCM has licensed these for a few broadcasts, at a better time than this is airing. Very excited to see the new restoration. It's been about 5 years since I last saw SPARROWS at all.

This is a very nice treat since I have actually never seen Sparrows and been waiting to view it at its most optimal presentation. Unfortunately I wish I could have had the opportunity to see Sparrows shown on the big screen but I may have to view it for the first time on TCM instead. I guess TCM is better than seeing it on some bootleg poor quality dvd print.

Had the wonderful experience of seeing this print last July with
Hugh Munro Neely conducting the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

The packed house gave the film a standing ovation at it's conclusion.

So Dennis, when can we see this available on DVD...?

The good news this morning is that the TCM showing of SPARROWS is indeed the restored version - thank you Dennis! The bad, well, inconvenient news is that TCM's timing was off and POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL was still going when 7:15 rolled around. I've learned that one should never take the TCM schedule too literally.

bobfells wrote:I've learned that one should never take the TCM schedule too literally.

YES! And now I understand that my own incompetance was not to blame when my recording of Dangerous Corner (marvelous film!) ended 10 min. before the surprise ending!

For me the "good news" about Sparrows was that recording it forced me to be watching TCM when Coquette--which I had no intention of viewing or recording--commenced. My passion for Pickford, I confess, is rather subdued, & I'd always assumed her Best Actress was really, in effect, a kind of "Lifetime Achievement" award. Well, I'll not make the case that her performance truly was "best" of '29, but it was so remarkable as to change my entire attitude toward her. How pretty! (Somehow, stupidly, I'd never really noticed.) Is the film "overly" sentimental? Stay out of "foreign countries" if you dislike the local customs.

I've always admired SPARROWS - the nightmare qualities are well realized. The care that Pickford put into each of her productions is quite evident. The death of the child scene is magnified by Rosher creating the tableau of Jesus that dissolves in from the barn door. It's very moving. There are examples just like that through out all of Pickford's films which makes me all the more baffled every time I watch this film and wonder why in the hell did they think that the toy-boats-in-the-bathtub chase would look good in 1926?

I normally hate allegorical scenes in movies, but the scene of Jesus taking the baby is just heart-breaking. I'm so glad to have a beautiful 16mm print of this film.

gjohnson wrote:There are examples just like that through out all of Pickford's films which makes me all the more baffled every time I watch this film and wonder why in the hell did they think that the toy-boats-in-the-bathtub chase would look good in 1926?

Didn't understand this allusion until I watched my recording late tonight; it was of course embarrassing in '26, but similar scenes continued to be shot into the '40s! Almost as silly as the toy boat scenes are the toy train scenes which likewise endured for years.

I'm with you Bruce, although I wouldn't call that moment allegorical since Mary's character uses the Biblical stories throughout the film to appease the kids in her charge and give them hope.

John Inglesant wrote: Didn't understand this allusion until I watched my recording late tonight; it was of course embarrassing in '26, but similar scenes continued to be shot into the '40s! Almost as silly as the toy boat scenes are the toy train scenes which likewise endured for years.

I'm not baffled that models were used in a 1926 production, only that they were used in a top A production by a quality producer such as Pickford.

Did she spend so much recreating a Florida swamp that she couldn't afford to head to a lake and film a couple of boats racing around the shoreline?

so finally saw this film for the first time, and I'm truely amazed how this film looks and how powerful the imagery is. However when I DVR'ed it on TCM, the recording stopped like a few minutes before it was going to end, and I never got to see the full ending. The last scene I saw was when Molly was running into the house where the baby lives. I'm assuming the ending is her reuniting with the baby but I still would have liked to have seen it. Now I have no idea when I'll ever get to see the film again. :(

I hope TCM airs it again someday

I was reading about how Mary said she really did go over alligators but somebody on set said she was lying and that there were no alligators near her or the children. Does anybody know the truth?

BankofAmericasSweetheart,

I got the whole recording. No one seemed to remember that POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL ran a little over schedule back in November. But I recorded a 4 hour block unto the hard-drive, so I didn't miss a thing. Burned the titles later individually. Turned out fine.

I assume the DVD and or Blu-ray might be out by Summer, but who knows? Been saying that for three years now. TCM probably leased SPARROWS for several broadcasts. It might be on Silent Sunday Nights in a few months.

The story is that Pickford got very angry at William Beaudine because he wanted the alligator scenes to be realistic. Although the alligators had their mouths bound shut, she felt that Beaudine made her and the children get too close to the gators. Beaudine never worked for her or Fairbanks again.

I'm delighted to read that the restored SPARROWS has aired on TCM and is finding a wide audience.

The Pordenone Silent Film Festival program book from 2008 addresses the alligator legend. Here's the link:

http://www.cinetecadelfriuli.org/gcm/ed ... go2008.pdf

Scroll down to page 15 for English language text.

silentfilm wrote: The story is that Pickford got very angry at William Beaudine because he wanted the alligator scenes to be realistic. Although the alligators had their mouths bound shut, she felt that Beaudine made her and the children get too close to the gators. Beaudine never worked for her or Fairbanks again.

Those gaping gators didn't look bound to me! Assumed the "crawling across the limb" scene was some kind of split-scene imagery, with invisible gator wranglers taunting them with food, rocks, etc., to display their dentition, as unprovoked gators don't ordinarily loll about with jaws spread wide. Wonder how the hound was enticed to approach them so closely!

John Inglesant wrote:bobfells wrote:
I've learned that one should never take the TCM schedule too literally.


YES! And now I understand that my own incompetance was not to blame when my recording of Dangerous Corner (marvelous film!) ended 10 min. before the surprise ending!

I used to blame myself for not synchronising my recording devices with the correct time, but after many recordings with more than just the last 30 seconds missed, I realized that it was TCM slightly out of whack.

Don't get me wrong, to me criticizing TCM is kind of like taking shots at Alcoholics Anonymous -- it isn't perfect, but it's helped millions . . . Now I just add two minutes automatically to every recording I set up. With the Pickford films, I had all three set to record back to back to back, so I was covered.

Ending on a sweet note:


Publicity photo from the set of "Sparrows." The snipe on the reverse states, "Mary Pickford has had the time of her life working and playing with little Mary Louise Miller, who has an important role in Mary's new photoplay, 'Sparrows' which she has recently completed at the Pickford Fairbanks Studio."

Bruce Calvert wrote:The story is that Pickford got very angry at William Beaudine because he wanted the alligator scenes to be realistic.

The still numbers on your 2 photos look something like "MpSn312 and MPSws702,", which might indicate Mary Pickford Sparrows still #312 or something similar. My photo is "P.1237." and is clearly a candid publicity shot, with "P" standing for publicity, I assume. There is also a faint ink stamp also on the reverse of it that appears to read, "CREDIT K.O. RAFSEN(?) Photographer. Mary Pickford Co." But this is the exception, and generally stills don't identify their photographer.

I'm just wondering if there is any consistent way to identify stills, not so much between different film studios, all of which may have had there own unique methods of ID. But is there any reliable way to track down within one studio, who shot what.

Some of these photos are fantastic works of art, yet the still photgraphers, unlike cinematographers, have really remained unknown, outside of the ones who were "discovered" years later like Hurrell, or had their own names on ink stamps on their prints like Bull, Dyar, Fryer, etc. while under contract to the movie studio -- and I'm wondering how a studio allowed an employee to have a personal credit stamp versus some anonymous photographer, also an employee, who did the same job, but was never given name credit on the print?

If you've seen the "1925 MGM Tour" short, you remember the incredible lineups of the stars and directors where their names are listed on the intertitles, but the DP's and the Photogs aren't identified. However, the DP's names are found on virtually every entry in IMDB for example, but just try to track down the names of still photographers, much less who shot what. Is there any way to research these things?

Gene Zonarich wrote:Now I just add two minutes automatically to every recording I set up.

I've been adding a minimum of 5-6 min., & still suffered the "surprise" described previously. As of today, the timing error has been corrected, after 2 or 3 days of 10-min. discrepancies, but henceforth I'm increasing my buffer to 10 min. on the old "better safe than sorry" principle.

John Inglesant wrote:Those gaping gators didn't look bound to me! Assumed the "crawling across the limb" scene was some kind of split-scene imagery, with invisible gator wranglers taunting them with food, rocks, etc., to display their dentition, as unprovoked gators don't ordinarily loll about with jaws spread wide. Wonder how the hound was enticed to approach them so closely!

According to Brownlow in his book, Mary Pickford Rediscovered, the publicity still for the asoociated scene was shot using a split screen, double exposure, as you suggest. I assume they shot the movie scene using the same technique.

My question to all the TCM HD viewers is, how did the film look, compared to the 1999 Milestone DVD release? I'm quite happy with the DVD and wonder if it's worth upgrading for the pending release?

" ...how did the film look, compared to the 1999 Milestone DVD release? I'm quite happy with the DVD and wonder if it's worth upgrading for the pending release?"


The film is really shines in the new Library of Congress transfer.
The stereo score is a great compliment to the film that improves on the Gaylord Carter track from the 1999 DVD.
The added tints and clarity will make this one a necessary upgrade.

Happy to... if they ever put it out.

T0m M wrote:My question to all the TCM HD viewers is, how did the film look, compared to the 1999 Milestone DVD release? I'm quite happy with the DVD and wonder if it's worth upgrading for the pending release?

In addition to Scoundrel's points, this new transfer of Sparrows is at a faster (and in my opinion more appropriate) speed so that it apparently runs 93 minutes while the previous Milestone version ran 107 minutes.

Jeffrey Vance wrote:I'm delighted to read that the restored SPARROWS has aired on TCM and is finding a wide audience.

The Pordenone Silent Film Festival program book from 2008 addresses the alligator legend. Here's the link:

http://www.cinetecadelfriuli.org/gcm/ed ... go2008.pdf

Scroll down to page 15 for English language text.

JeffreyVance,

Wow! Thanks for this link. Some really excellent articles are included.

Will the restored version finally be released on DVD or (preferably) Blu-Ray? I love silent features in high definition. I'll buy everything with Buster Keaton, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks.

ymmv wrote:Will the restored version finally be released on DVD or (preferably) Blu-Ray? I love silent features in high definition. I'll buy everything with Buster Keaton, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks.

Yes.

WHEN...?