LeonLouisRicci Political and Propaganda Picture, this John Garfield Film-Noir has its Pro-War Message Buried Deep in 1940 Pre-War Foreign Intrigue Involving Fascist and Hitler's Henchmen Coming to America to Recover an Important and Symbolic Emblem.It is All Convoluted into a Multi-Character, Twisted Plot that is so Confusing and "Foreign" at Times it sort of Begs for the McGuffin to be Forgotten for a While. But that Never Happens. People Talk about it Relentlessly and as the Viewer Strains for it All to Make Sense the Movie is in Danger of Losing Anyone who was Initially Interested.But Garfield and a Pretty Good Cast Including a Stiff Looking but Stunning Maureen O'Hara and some Great Noir Cinematography and Claustrophobic Sets Keeps Things Engaging. There is some Cutting Edge Talk about Torture and the Psychological Scarring of Garfield Returning from a POW Camp Suffering from Hallucinations and Confusion is Central to the Perplexing Plot, Suspicious Loyalties, and Spy Stuff.Overall the Overwritten and Obscure Talking about so Many Characters keeps this from Excellent Status, but Garfield's Mental Instability and an Underlying Creepy Factor make this an Above Average War Story about Life During Wartime.

sol1218 ***SPOILERS*** Almost incomprehensible plot that has to do with a Nazi spy ring in the heart of New York City masquerading around as a bunch of refugee European society blue-bloods. Emotionaly disturbed and mentally broken Jon "Kit" McKittrick, John Garfield,is back in New York after a stay at a rest home in Arizona. McKittrick is recovering from the horrors of being held prisoner for two years in a Nazi-like prison camp, in Spain. McKittrick finds out ,through an old newspaper clipping, that his old friend and NYPD cop Let. Louie Lepitino had killed himself while he was away recovering in the Arizona rest home. It was Louie who helped get Kit out of the Fascist prison camp in Spain a year earlier. Kit is now sure that Louie's tragic death wasn't an accident, it was murder. Having been captured at the end of the Spanish Civil War were he fought the Spanish Fascists forces of Francisco Franco Kit was put under extreme torture by his captors to find something that he hid from them before he was apprehend. Unknown to the Fascists the item is safely locked up in a secret Libson Portugal bank safe deposit box. With all the sub-plots and double-crossing in the movie "The Fallen Sparrow" you never get a handle to what these cryptic-Nazis, hiding behind the facade of Spanish and French Royality, want from the poor and mentally unbalanced Kit McKittrick. Were given information from Kit,in what looks like a drug induced stupor, that he was involved in the death of a top German general in the Spanish Civil War. This general was a close friend and fellow 1923 Beer Hall putsch veteran of Adolf Hitler himself. It was Hitler who then ordered the Gestapo and Nazi agents to track down every member of this anti-Fascist brigade, responsible for the German Generals death. The Gestapo and it's agents in the US were not only told have them killed but to find the brigade pennant, or official flag, which only Kit knew where it is: In the Libson's bank safe deposit box. Increidably complicated and convoluted plot that you just give up on almost half way through the movie. Kit's all over the place looking for this lame or club footed Nazi doctor, like the one-armed man in the TV show "The Fugitive", who's now the Nazi agent out to get him to talk about where the pennant is and, after getting the information from Kit, then murder him. This Nazi is also the man who Kit remembers back from his time in the Spanish prison from the sounds he made when he walked. Kit never saw him. It later comes out that everything that happened to Kit from the time he left Arizona to when he got to New York was all planned, ahead of time, by this group of pseudo-aristocratic Nazis themselves. Like a boat in a thick fog at sea the movie just limps along making little if any sense at all as it reaches it's totally unbelievable climax. Kit finally finds out not just who was behind the death of policemen Louie Lepitino, it turns out that Louie didn't kill himself like Kit suspected, but the murder of his close friend and Washington insider Ab Parker, Bruce Edwards. I thought that it was a bit egotistical of Kit to think that the German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler himself took such a deep interest in him to the point of forgoing his responsibility of conducting the German military in WWII against the allies. An obsession on Hitler's part which, if you take Kit and the movie "The Fallen Sparrow" seriously,eventually cost him the war.The relationship between Kit and mystery women Toni Donne, Maureen O'Hara,also took a great strain on your thought processing mechanisms. You never for once know just what Toni's role in this half cocked scheme as well as her involvement with these Nazis really is? You get at least three different explanations from her in the movie to just what Toni's role is in all this none of which make any sense at all! The Nazi spies are headed by this off-the-wall torture fixated psycho Dr. Christian Skaas, Walter Slezak. Dr. Skass brain-addled sidekick is the former, or what he thinks he is, French monarch as well as the bluest of European blue-bloods Prince Fracois De Namur played by veteran Jewish Yiddish theater actor Sam Goldenberg.

harry-76 Long before the "method" style "invaded" the acting profession, there were many equally fine performers which came before the mid-'50s "movement."These "predecessors" didn't wear their craft-on-their-sleeve as much; in fact, many (like Tracy, Ryan, and Cagney) behaved so naturally, it was as though they were speaking their own lines. One such earlier talent was John Garfield.A consummate performer, Garfield could seemingly do no wrong--not make one false move. In film after film, he didn't appear to be acting; rather he was just "being" the character. Although "The Fallen Sparrow" isn't one of Garfield's greatest parts or films, he's on target in every scene. Yes, it's called "talent, star quality," and Garfield's got "it." With a respectable "noir" script, and peopled with a solid cast of leads and supporters, "Sparrow" manages to engage the attention and create genuine interest throughout. A good looking, sharp and crisp, black-and-white production design enhances this presentation, which also features the always dependable Maureen O'Hara and Walter Slezak.

dexter-10 Unfortunately, this movie dissolves in a simple detective story with nazi spies as the villains. Most of the acting seems stiff and unnatural. Few of the characters can be as morally good or as evil as they are portrayed. The Spanish Civil War angle is interesting, and the relation of Hitler's Germany to Franco's Spain provides some historical base for the plot. There are disjointed scenes, such as those with a murdered friend's mother pleading for justice and the gypsy dance segment, which are only weakly related to the ideas of dangerous spies in a world about to enter World War Two. There also seems to be a chronic problem with 1943 movies about events of 1940 or earlier in that what transpired in the intervening years tends to mangle both time and history. In the final analysis, this movie asks the question "who done it?" Alas, who cares?If you enjoy Maureen O'Hara you may find this movie more palatable, especially because her later screen personality can be detected here to some degree. The movie is worth a look just to view her performance.