A setup as grim as what you'd see in a Tod Browning film, and maybe if one of those kids had plopped down into the mouth of a gator during their escape, you might think it was one. As frightening as it seems, "baby farms" were real places in the late 19th/early 20th century and all over the world (Google it and be horrified), so the kids working mercilessly, sold, or killed out in the swamp in the film (the latter referenced only) are not exaggerations. But no, this is Mary Pickford, America's Sweetheart after all, so we kind of suspect everything is going to be all right.
I loved the highly atmospheric setting, the performance from the evil old man (Gustav von Seyffertitz), and the escape sequence that had Pickford borrowing a page out of her husband Douglas Fairbanks book by swinging across muddy quicksand, child in her arms. The little baby's curly hair was pretty wild too, making me wonder who was cuter, the baby or Pickford. At age 34 she was still playing a young girl, and quite well too, in addition to producing the film, which still fascinates me.
I disliked all the heavy-handed religious references, of which there were many, trying to explain how God could allow such a place to exist, that it was all part of a plan we can't fathom, and how he tends to each and every sparrow, and eventually these children's prayers as well. The film also drags on a little long after all the action has concluded, for about 15 minutes. Overall, pretty entertaining though.
I loved the highly atmospheric setting, the performance from the evil old man (Gustav von Seyffertitz), and the escape sequence that had Pickford borrowing a page out of her husband Douglas Fairbanks book by swinging across muddy quicksand, child in her arms. The little baby's curly hair was pretty wild too, making me wonder who was cuter, the baby or Pickford. At age 34 she was still playing a young girl, and quite well too, in addition to producing the film, which still fascinates me.
I disliked all the heavy-handed religious references, of which there were many, trying to explain how God could allow such a place to exist, that it was all part of a plan we can't fathom, and how he tends to each and every sparrow, and eventually these children's prayers as well. The film also drags on a little long after all the action has concluded, for about 15 minutes. Overall, pretty entertaining though.