Event

SPARROWS with Mary Pickford

Tuesday, May 25 at 7:30pm

Members $9 / Public $13 (No Refunds)

Join us for a rare opportunity to view one of the greatest of silent films
featuring one of its biggest stars. Produced at the end of Mary Pickford's
silent film career, Sparrows is considered by most to be her finest film. A
departure from the typical sunny Mary Pickford story, Sparrows is rife with
Dickensian undertones. Evil Mr. Grimes keeps a rag tag group of orphans on
his farm deep in the swamps. He forces the children to work, starves and
mistreats them in numerous ways. They are watched over by the eldest, Molly.
Things go awry when a gang in league with Grimes kidnaps a rich infant with
the intent of ransoming her. When the police close in, Grimes panics and plans
to throw the infant into the swamp. Molly has had enough and decides to lead the children out of the Gator-infested swamp (according
to Pickford, who used no stunt double, those are real alligators in the water) to a better life. USA, 1926, 80 min., b/w

Ben Model, silent film accompanist for MoMA for over two decades, composes his own scores and performs in a style
that evokes the silent era and reflects a contemporary audience's appreciation of music www.benmodel.com