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Poster for Sally of the Sawdust

Sally of the Sawdust

D.W. Griffith's circus comedy.

1925 · 1h 44m · N/A Comedy
Directed by D.W. Griffith

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Overview

Judge Foster throws his daughter out because she married a circus man. She leaves her baby girl with Prof. McGargle before she dies. Years later Sally is a dancer with whom Peyton, a son of Judge Foster's friend, falls in love. When Sally is arrested McGargle proves her real parentage.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
80%
Tomatometer
Rotten

D.W. Griffith is down to common picture making in this one.

Variety Staff, Variety
Fresh

Griffith stresses the story's melodrama, making Fields an unusually sentimental figure, though the star still manages to showcase some of his juggling routines and even kick a dog.

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader
Fresh

Sally is minor Griffith, but it demonstrates that, whatever the ostensible genre, he remained (and, pace Steven Spielberg, remains) the master manipulator of human emotion.

J. Hoberman, Village Voice
Fresh

Just about the most amusing comedy that you will recall this year.

TIME Magazine
Fresh

Its interest would be no more than historical were it not also the movie that launched WC Fields. His show-stopping performance as Eustace McGargle, conman and sideshow juggler, contains the seeds of all his later glories.

Time Out

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