MartinHafer
"Baby Peggy, the Elephant in the Room" is a documentary about a very famous child star from the silent era who is pretty much unknown today. Now, thanks to this film and Turner Classic Movies, the world is now getting reacquainted with this fascinating but very sad story.Starting at 19 months, Peggy starred in film after film--and soon began raking in a major star's family. However, she became a thing to her parents--a thing to bring them wealth and her own feelings or needs went ignored. For example, she received almost no education at all during her time in Hollywood. However, after the days of stardom were over (at age 9!), came the grim realization that the money was gone--and the family would not let go of their cash cow. Now, Baby Peggy was sent to vaudeville--where she performed much like a trained dog. How did all this sad exploitation turn out--see the film for yourself! It's not all bad--and, fortunately, we see a vivacious and rather young looking Peggy to tell us herself--at 93 years-young.While I think the film perhaps went too fast through her life AFTER films, it was a very well done film. Much of it is that the narration was kept to a minimum and they just let her speak. Well worth seeing and, following the initial broadcast of this film, TCM showed several Baby Peggy films--making this a great night for silent movie fans.
Michael_Elliott
Baby Peggy, the Elephant in the Room (2012) *** (out of 4) Good, hour long documentary taking a look at the career and life of Diana Serra Cary, better known to silent film buffs as Baby Peggy. The documentary covers Peggy's rise to fame at such a young age before she was pretty much thrown out of Hollywood, lost all her money and had to see her family struggle for years to come. BABY PEGGY, ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM is a pretty good documentary that features the woman herself looking back over her career and commenting on everything from fame to being forgotten to knowing you're the one supporting your entire family. I thought the documentary really did a good job when it comes to detail because not only do we get clips from her movies but we also get some terrific photos, production cards as well as various articles that were written throughout the 20s. It's also interesting hearing from the lady herself as she looks back on her career and in the film tries explaining it to her young granddaughter. As with most child actors, there were some dark times that are covered in fine detail as well as the downside of fame on her family.
AD
