Mon 21 Jul 2025
Archived Movie Review: THE FALLEN SPARROW (1943).
Posted by Steve under Films: Drama/Romance[4] Comments
THE FALLEN SPARROW. RKO Radio Pictures, 1943. John Garfield, Maureen O’Hara, Walter Slezak, Patricia Morison. Based on the novel by Dorothy B. Hughes. Director: Richard Wallace.
John Garfield stars as a former prisoner in the Spanish Civil War, now investigating the murder of a friend on the police force – the same one who helped arrange his escape from Spain (about which he finds he still has more to learn).
This was the age of Nazis and war-torn Europe, and the tone of the movie follows suit. Slezak is immediately suspicious as a refugee well-versed in matters of torture, but Maureen O’Hara’s role as the granddaughter of a deposed prince in a bit more puzzling.
— Reprinted from Movie.File.1, March 1988.
July 22nd, 2025 at 1:31 am
The producers’ first choice for male lead was Randolph Scott, but he had no interest in the project, I would have liked it more.
July 22nd, 2025 at 8:22 pm
An interesting thought.
Myself, I can’t see Scott in the role, but you’ve sure given me something to think about.
He would certainly have made it different film, there’s no doubt about that!
July 22nd, 2025 at 9:40 pm
I do not see it either, but this is just as he is turning exclusively to Westerns, and of course, we know in many he plays a dangerous avenger. My second thought he is as strong an actor as Garfield, but different.
July 26th, 2025 at 10:39 pm
Not as good as the book, and it is fair to say it is overall a disappointment, but I enjoy it for that cast and a decent thriller that should have worked better