This summer 1917 release was based on The Bird's Christmas Carol, an 1888 children's story by Kate Douglas Wiggins. Although the book is still in print today, Wiggins is better known as the author of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. Ten-year-old Carol Bird (Mary Louise) is the otherworldly heroine of the picture. She is a lonely, crippled little girl, the daughter of wealthy parents (Donald Watson and Ella Gilbert), whose whole life centers on her home, where she is an invalid. Her only friends are her nurse Elfrida (Madeline Eastin), her Uncle Jack (Harold Skinner), and the Ruggles family, who live in the house at the rear of the Birds' property. For Christmas -- Carol's birthday -- she decides that the Ruggles should come to dinner. The widowed Mrs. Ruggles (Mary Talbot) carefully prepares her eight children to enter "s'ciety," Uncle Jack shows up from his travels, and Carol's bed is moved into the dining room for the feast. Obviously, this is a simple film based on a simple tale but it has quite a bit of charm.

~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide