Warner Bros. | 1938-44 | 572 mins. | Not Rated
I’m always getting Our Gang and The Little Rascals confused. So when The Our Gang Collection arrived on my doorstep I decided to do a little research into the origin of both franchises. Producer Hal Roach created Our Gang in 1921, believing that a short film series about kids just being themselves might be a success. They were produced at Hal Roach Studios until 1938, when he sold the series to his distributor, MGM. MGM continued to produce the shorts until the public seemed to grow tired of them in 1944.
With television becoming a focal point of American homes by the mid-fifties, Roach saw an opportunity to bring his Our Gang shorts to the small screen. However, since Roach was able to buy back the shorts but MGM still owned the Our Gang moniker, he repackaged the pre-1938 offerings as The Little Rascals. Warner Bros. has compiled these latter Our Gang shorts, filmed between 1938 and 1944, 52 in all, compiled them on a five disc set and made them available on demand from their Web site, WarnerArchive.com.
After the first two theatrical shorts were directed by Roach-era holdover, Gordon Douglas, George Sidney directed most of the shorts for the first year at MGM. Edward L. Cahn picked up the baton in mid-1939 and Herbert Glazer directed most shorts produced after mid-1942. Compared to the Roach shorts, the MGM one-reelers are much more thought out and the young actors were apparently required to adhere closer to the scripts, resulting in some awkward line readings. More importantly, as the series grew older there were more and more adults playing dominant roles, with plots becoming more serious and losing their sense of spontaneity.
Despite the somewhat recycled feel, if you’re an Our Gang/Little Rascals fan, these rarely seen shorts are a must have. From a historical perspective, it’s interesting to watch as the series moves into the 1940’s; the most iconic of the Rascals begin to drop out one-by-one. The first to go is Porky (after 1939’s “Auto Antics”); next is Alfalfa, which really changed the dynamic of things. Once he was gone, Darla and her hot and cold act (which usually involved making Alfalfa jealous by stepping out with Butch) didn’t work anymore and she was quickly shown the door. The mischievous yet lovable Spanky is gone after 1942’s “Unexpected Riches,” which leaves the less-than-memorable Mickey Gubitosi (a.k.a. Robert Blake) as the leader of the gang. Buckwheat stays until the bitter end (though he looks a bit long in the tooth.)
The Our Gang Collection is available for a limited time for $34.99 at WarnerArchive.com. The set comes with a disclaimer: “The Our Gang Collection is intended for the adult collector and is not suitable for children.” These shorts where filmed between 1938 and 1944, so some of the material contained within is undeniably disturbing and could be considered racist to today’s audiences.
The shorts are presented chronologically on the discs as listed below. The first short of each calender year is indicated via parentheses as well as information on casting.
Disc One
1. The Little Ranger (1938)
2. Party Fever
3. Aladdin’s Lantern
4. Men in Fright
5. Football Romeo
6. Practical Jokers
7. Alafalfa’s Aunt (1939)
8. Tiny Troubles
9. Duel Personalities
10. Clown Princes
11. Cousin Wilbur (Scotty Beckett returns to the series after a three year hiatus for first of two appearances as Alfalfa’s “Cousin Wilbur”)
Disc Two
1. Joy Scouts (first appearance of “Mickey”)
2. Dog Daze (Scotty Beckett’s final appearance – as “Wilbur”)
3. Auto Antics (Final appearance of “Porky”)
4. Captain Spanky’s Showboat
5. Dad for a Day (Bit part for Arthur Q. Bryan – the future voice of Elmer Fudd)
6. Time out for Lessons
7. Alfalfa’s Double (1940)
8. The Big Premiere
9. All About Hash (First appearance of Janet Burston – although her character was not named “Janet” and she would not be a series regular for another two years)
10. The New Pupil (First appearance of “Froggy” – although he is called “Harold”)
11. Bubbling Troubles (Final appearance of “Butch”)
Disc Three
1. Good Bad Boys
2. Waldo’s Last Stand (Appropriately titled final appearance of “Waldo”)
3. Goin’ Fishin’
4. Kiddie Kure (Final appearance of “Alfalfa”)
5. Fightin’ Fools (1941) (Final appearance of “Leonard” aka “Percy”)
6. Baby Blues
7. Ye Olde Minstrels
8. 1-2-3 Go!
9. Robot Wrecks
10. Helping Hands
11. Come Back, Miss Pipps
Disc Four
1. Wedding Worries (Final appearance of “Darla”)
2. Melodies Old and New (1942) (“Janet” becomes a series regular)
3. Going to Press
4. Don’t Lie
5. Surprised Parties
6. Doin’ Their Bit
7. Rover’s Big Chance
8. Mighty Lak a Goat
9. Unexpected Riches (Final appearance of “Spanky”)
10. Benjamin Franklin, Jr. (1943) (First appearance of “Dickie” and “Happy”)
11. Family Troubles
Disc Five
1. Calling All Kids
2. Farm Hands
3. Election Daze
4. Little Miss Pinkerton
5. Three Smart Guys
6. Radio Bugs (1944)
7. Dancing Romeo
8. Tale of a Dog
The films look pretty good considering how old they are are. Of course, there are white specks and occasional lines. Nevertheless, the black-and-white contrasts show up in sharp relief, and object definition is excellent. The transfers preserve the original screen ratio, or something close to it at 1.33:1.
The English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono audio has some background hiss but has otherwise very good fidelity without noise reduction artifacts. There are occasionally noticeable changes in average volume level from short to short. No subtitle options or alternate language tracks are present.
No special features are available.
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