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Sparrows Can't Sing

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5.2/10 • 21

1963-03-261h 34m

ComedyDrama

Charlie returns to the East End after two years at sea to find his house demolished and wife Maggie gone. Everyone else knows she is now shacked up with married bus driver Bert and a toddler, and they all watch with more than a little interest at the trail of mayhem Charlie leaves as he goes about sorting things out.

Directors
Joan Littlewood
Writters
Stephen Lewis
Editors
Oswald Hafenrichter

Top Billed Cast

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  1. James Booth

    James Booth

    Charlie Gooding

  2. Barbara Windsor

    Barbara Windsor

    Maggie Gooding

  3. Roy Kinnear

    Roy Kinnear

    Fred Gooding

  4. Avis Bunnage

    Avis Bunnage

    Bridgie Gooding

  5. Brian Murphy

    Brian Murphy

    Jack

  6. George Sewell

    George Sewell

    Bert

  7. Barbara Ferris

    Barbara Ferris

    Nellie Gooding

  8. Griffith Davies

    Griffith Davies

    Chunky

  9. Murray Melvin

    Murray Melvin

    Georgie

Reviews1

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CinemaSerf Avatar

CinemaSerf

Sep 25, 2022

5/10

Well it all starts rather inauspiciously with Barbara Windsor singing the Lionel Bart penned title song. Good? Well, no - not very. Thereafter we discover that she ("Maggie") used to be married to "Charlie" (James Booth) who has just returned from being at sea. Thing is, their marital house has been demolished and she has moved on to a new life with bus driver "Bert" (George Sewell) and he is determined to get her back. The whole thing has a made for television look to it and though there is a formidable array of British comic acting talent on display, I found the writing to be really weak with the limitations of Miss Windsor as an actress being writ large as she really struggles to carry this (very lightly) comedic enterprise - riddled with innuendo and stereotype - for ninety minutes. It perhaps doesn't help that the narrative centres around life in a fairly pedestrian East End (of London) community and that after a short while there are so many suds you could run a Chinese laundry for a fortnight. It may well have resonated better in 1963 when it offered a plausible depiction of life in a small, tightly knit, community within a big city, but I am afraid now it has lost what potency it had. Cinema nostalgia it probably is if Cockney is your natural dialect. For the rest of us, it's just all rather dull.

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
--
Revenue
--
Keywords
woman director