Sparrows Can't Sing is a 1963 British kitchen sink comedy, the only film that Joan Littlewood directed.

Cockney sailor Charlie comes home from a two-year voyage to find his house in East London demolished and his wife Maggie missing.

The film was made on location during the summer of 1962 in Limehouse, Isle of Dogs, Stepney, around the theatre in Stratford, and at Elstree Studios.

The world premiere was held on 26 February 1963 at the ABC cinema on the Mile End Road, and was attended by the Earl of Snowdon.

One senses a kind of desperation, paralleled by technically uneven sound and lighting, and something outsize about the acting, particularly James Booth's, that a minimal plot can scarcely justify.

Frantic cutting may have spoilt the surface, but Joan Littlewood's first film remains fresh, vigorous and alive beneath.

"[9] Variety wrote: "Joan Littlewood, who at the Theatre Workshop in London's East End, thumbed her nose cockily at most legit convention and brought a breath of fresh air into the general stuffiness, has now tackled her first film.

James Booth is eminently resistible as the sailor searching for wife Barbara Windsor and her bus-driving fancy man, George Sewell.