The Great Film Discussion

[ymymeatemup]

JULY DAYS (1923)

Things I like:
Mickey Daniels. As difficult as it is to pick one Mickey performance over all others (he was, after all, consistently terrific in this series), I'd have to go with this one. Everything he does is both convincing and comical. The look of determination on his face as he marches towards the taunting boys (and his doom), his flustered reaction to the homely girl's attention, the way he cowers to every possible foe - including Farina. It's all good here.
Mary Kornman. Or more precisely, the interaction between her and Mickey, which is just as charming in this short as it is elsewhere. She also earns extra credit for coming to little brother Jackie's defense.
Jackie Condon. His role is a bit more important to the story than usual this time around, and he's quite an appealing presence.
The Imitation Courtship. The entire sequence in which Mickey questions his sister's beau, and then goes through the whole routine with Jackie, plus his ill-fated window serenade, sums up a lot about what made this series work. The kids would mimic some adult activity, but would still come across as genuine children and not as the kind of sickeningly precocious types we'd normally expect from this kind of entertainment.

Things I don't like:
Pretty Much Nothing. This is virtually my favorite among the silent Our Gang episodes, so there's not much of anything negative I can say about it. Surely, there's a few details that are 'okay,' rather than 'good' or 'great,' but I can't find anything that actually stinks up the room.

Grade: A+

[RJH]

Framing Youth (1937) - Alfalfa rehearses for a radio contest in Spanky's Studio, where Buckwheat, Porky, and Darla are employees. Butch drops by and once he gets past all the employees relaying messages, barges into Spanky's office and threatens him with a black eye if he doesn't get Alfalfa to drop out of the contest, which will enable Butch, playing the violin, to win. Spanky captiluates, and convinces Alfalfa's he's lost his voice by wrapping a scarf concealing Porky's frog in it. They listen to the radio broadcast, and when Alfalfa says he's let his friends down, Spanky says it's he who let Alfalfa down, and they race to the radio station just in time to get Alfalfa on stage. With the frog winding up in Alfalfa's shirt and croaking at opportune moments, Alfalfa wins the contest. Butch takes Spanky outside and gives him the black eye he promised, but gets two in return.

There are a lot of clever details in this. Junior opens a gate at the "Studio," Alfalfa arrives in a neat car, and Spanky and Alfalfa keep placing the sign with their name on it above the other. Butch meets Buckwheat first, who raises a gate and then calls Porky sitting next to him (they're the two "offis boys"). When Porky eventually answers his phone, he uses another to call Darla. She then asks Spanky that Mr. Butch is here to see him, and Spanky tells her to tell Butch he isn't in. By this time Butch has lost his patience and barges in. To convey this threat, Butch draws a black eye on a portrait of Spanky. Spanky gets the idea of giving Alfalfa a frog in the throat with the scarf, and then Spanky does a good job displaying the emotions he's going through.

A couple minor things: It seems out of character for Butch to play the violin. If he plays an instrument, a loud brass or woodwind might be more fitting. Here we don't even see if he knows how to hold a violin. I find it disappointing that Buckwheat and Porky, who were in on Spanky's plan, didn't accompany him when he faced Butch at the end of the contest. Why did Spanky follow Butch outside anyway? If Spanky is such a good fighter, why is he always afraid of Butch and why does he promote Alfalfa as the fighter? Well, it makes it a good story this way. An unimportant detail, but thanks to these boards I'm now more attuned to noticing these things: Buckwheat's top shirt button changes from being buttoned to unbuttoned and back several times in Spanky's Studio. These are all minor and this remains a very good film.

[myhomeo]

First, note: The signs reading 'Alfalfa-Singer' and 'Spanky-Manager' are on two separate pieces of wood. The mind boggles at how many times they alternated crossing out, rewriting, and reposting signs before they finally realized it'd simplify things to just agree to do this.

And possible solutions: Perhaps Butch plays the violin because his mother insists on it. It was fairly common back then, if I understand correctly, for kids to be forced to take music lessons.

As for why Spanky won the fight, maybe he didn't realize he was a good fighter, or maybe he just got lucky. And why'd he follow Butch outside? He knew perfectly well running away wasn't going to work, so he decided to just get it over with.

[RJH]

Aug 19, 2014 16:48:39 GMT -5 myhomeo said:

First, note: The signs reading 'Alfalfa-Singer' and 'Spanky-Manager' are on two separate pieces of wood. The mind boggles at how many times they alternated crossing out, rewriting, and reposting signs before they finally realized it'd simplify things to just agree to do this.

Using the singular "name" instead of "names" was supposed to imply that there were two separate pieces of wood. Guess I should have said "Each of Spanky and Alfalfa keeps placing the sign with his name on it above the other." Alfalfa's sign says "Crooner," not "Singer." Your other explanations are plausible.

Free Eats (1932) - A rich woman holds a party for the town's poor children in an effort to help her politician husband win an election. A group of crooks including one male wtih an unconvincing female disguise and two midgets dressed as babies are hanging out by a nearby house, and when the gang passes by, the normal-sized adults convince the gang to bring the babies to the party. Stymie hears one of them talking, but none of the rest of the gang believes him. At the party, the midgets act like babies to get held and picked up, and steal just about all of the women's jewelry and at least one man's wallet. The midgets then find out there is a safe inside, and break into that. Along the way, Wheezer and Dorothy hear the midgets speaking, and then the gang gets inside the house. The midgets hold the gang at the point of a fake gun, which is really a cigarette holder, but Spanky just takes the gun away. The gang then wrestles the valuables awayThe police come and conclude the gang has been stealing everything and the midgets revert to baby talk. The police do recognize the larger crooks, one of whom has a stolen watch alarm go off, but are about to send those two away with the gang when Stymie stabs one of the midgets wtih a pin, causing him to speak and threaten Stymie. The gang is then rewarded and all the real crooks are off to jail.

It's good to see Stymie as the most intelligent person in the film. Knowing he is in the right, he never gives up trying to convince everyone else, and is the one clever enough to expose the babies as midgets. There is a lot of stupidity spread among all the adults. The midgets themselves have many stupid episodes, sometimes talking out loud to the kids one at a time, and smoking a cigar at the party. I didn't care for the long sequences of Spanky babbling, and there is one very long one with Breezy listening and occasionally getting in an appropriate comment. Those have nothing to do with the story and grind the action to a halt, significatnly affecting the pace of the film. Another problem is that Spanky is too little to climb up the trellis that the rest of the gang does to get in the house, and then suddenly is there inside. Wheezer has a nice line after learning the truth: "Honest, Brisbane, Stymie's right for the first time in his life!" Billy Gilbert as a crook is the best among the adults, but overall I would have liked to have seen the gang involved in more of the action.

Little Mother (1929) - Since their mother has passed away, Mary Ann does her best to take care of her little brothers Wheezer and Beezer while their father works as a night watchman. Her efforts aren't always successful. The boys eat dried apples and then drink water, causing their stomachs to swell. Mary Ann gets advice from next door nieghbor Joe, but a hot water bottle leaks and she feeds the boys soap flakes instead of baking soda, which makes them blow bubbles. The next day Wheezer and Beezer go out looking for their mother, and end up turning on a fire hydrant which soaks many adults in the area. Then their aunt shows up to take care of them, and since she's the identical twin of the late mother the kids all think she's their real mother, and asks the father to let the kids keep on believing that,

This is an unusual entry, with no real gang activity. The mood is set to depressing right away, and so the gags that would be comedic in other circumstances don't seem all that appropriate. Beezer's lines consist mostly of "Me too." Mary Ann does a good job showing the exasperation and exhaustion she gets subjected to. Harry is just plain mean in his scene, first telling Wheezer and Beezer they ain't got no mama, and then pointing to a random woman and saying that she is their mama, falsely raising their hopes. Farina and Jean are mere extras in this. Then there are believability issues. The father didn't know his wife had a twin sister? Who didn't attend their wedding or any other family event? Also, the real mother never told her children about their aunt? The mother's passing appears to be fairly recent, and kids Wheezer's and Mary Ann's ages normally know all their aunts and uncles. It doesn't appear that this aunt is someone the family was ashamed of and would have hid her existence from the kids. I'm not crazy about the idea of letting the kids believe in the lie. They'd probably find out the truth eventually, like seeing documents with the aunt's real name on it. Lyle Tayo is very good in her scene at the end as the aunt, so this film can end on a happy note.

[ymymeatemup]

FRAMING YOUTH (1937)

Things I like:
Butch. Everybody turns in top-notch performances in this short, but as usual, Butch takes the cake. Particularly convincing is the way he talks while vandalizing Spanky's portrait.
The Phones. When it comes to the Gang running their own business (albeit without profit, I'd assume), their setup in the voice studio is a standout if only because each kid is crucial to making the situation work. Never is this more absurdly amusing than when Butch's arrival is announced to Spanky via relay.
The Superimpositions. Contrasting with the treacly example used in "All About Hash," the faces-superimposed-over-radio-speaker scene is very tastefully done in this film and adds a cinematic element usually lacking in comedy shorts.
Most Everything Else. Of special note would be the incidental music in the opening scene, and the revelation that Spanky can readily handle Butch.

Things I don't like:
Almost Nothing. Generally speaking, I find it anticlimactic when otherwise flawless episodes like this one end with one of Alfalfa's songs. However, I have to admit that (a.) it's funny how they all agree that Alfalfa is a great singer, even Butch, and (b.) the "yoo hoo" followed by the croaking frog is actually kinda funny. Nevertheless, it's still my least favorite thing that happens in this short.

Grade: A-

[ymymeatemup]

FREE EATS (1932)

Things I like:
The "Fidgets." This has to be the best use of little people in the entire history of the series, the Brasnos notwithstanding. Virtually everything about these two is played for laughs and they never disappoint.  And kudos to Major Mite's silverware routine, which doesn't quite match up to Harpo Marx's version, but then Harpo could hide a lot more merchandise on his person.
Spanky. I can't think of any other film I've seen where the action grounds to a halt so that we can watch a 3-year-old talk about whatever's on his mind. Aside from his confiscation of Tiny Lawrence's gun, he doesn't figure into the plot, and the comedy is largely absent when he's on the screen. Under these circumstances, it's amazing that his appearance in the film is memorable at all, let alone a highlight. The fact that he's unreasonably adorable in this episode is also of note.
Del Henderson. It's difficult to pick the funniest part of this film since it's dominated by gag material, but it doesn't get much better than a grown man wrestling on the ground, trying to extract a hundred dollar bill from what he thinks is a baby.

Things I don't like:
Pretty Much Nothing. Aside from some rough edges in the acting and editing departments, I find this episode to be thoroughly satisfying. The idea is funny, the gags are funny, most of the adults are funny, and the kids are as engaging as ever.

Grade: A

[ymymeatemup]

LITTLE MOTHER (1929)

Things I like:
A Few Things Here And There. The swelling of the stomachs as the twins are in the rocking chair, Wheezer's comment about the "roof of my stummick," the extreme closeups of the kids' faces as they react to Lyle Tayo, Wheezer's reaction to the wet bed - the highlights are there, but they're pretty sparse. Perhaps I could mention the gag with the bubbles coming out of the twins' mouths, but the animation looked better in later episodes like "Hearts Are Thumps." I also kind of like Harry Spear's brief moment in this film, if only because my general impression of him as a crabby little sociopath is borne out by the practical joke he plays on the innocent little twins. In between these short tidbits are long stretches that I find vaguely enjoyable.

Things I don't like:
The Degree Of Sentimentality. While I'm partial to many of the sentimental episodes in this series, I just don't find the 'heartwarming' stuff that convincing in this one. It doesn't help, of course, that the ideas behind good parenting are so archaic, such as the father not letting the kids know they're mother is dead, and the aunt not ever wanting them to know that she's not their mother.
Most Of The Humor. I speak of things like the sneezing routine, which is almost never funny in any film, and similar gags that seem like they're in every episode. The big finale with the fire hose seems tacked on and was already done more effectively in "The Fourth Alarm."

Grade: C-

[RJH]

Free Wheeling (1932) Dickie suffers from a stiff neck and is made to wear a back brace by his mother. He wants to get outside and play with the gang, but his mother won't hear of it. Dickie tries to fool his nurse into getting out of a dose of castor oil by switching it wtih syrup, but she switches it back. However, when she leaves the room, Dickie pours the castor oil into a syrup bottle which she pours on her pancakes. Meanwhile, Breezy, Douglas Greer, and Stymie run a taxi. This is powered by a mule from behind, and has such charming features as a boxing glove on an extensor and a bumper that pivots on one end and can swat annoying people out of the way. Breezy drives, and Stymie sits under the hood and operates some controls and is the radio voice. Spanky and Jacquie give chase, but Breezy won't let them ride for free. Stymie's mother calls him to deliver laundry to Dickie's house, so the taxi is used for this purpose. Inside Dickie's house, Stymie overhears a doctor saying that Dickie needs to get out and get some exercise and excitement, like all the other doctors Dickie's mother won't listen to. Dickie's father agrees with the doctors, but doesn't overrule his wife. Stymie offers Dickie some excitement for money, which Dickie has plenty of. Dickie takes off his back brace and sneaks out of the house with Stymie to the taxi. They get started but don't get far because the mule has drunk some rubbing alcohol Breezy left on the ground after cleaning the mule's hooves. When Breezy and Douglas check on the mule, it chases them away. Stymie informs Dickie of this fact, and when Dickie asks where, Stymie twists his neck so Dickie can see out the back window, thereby curing his stiff neck. Spanky and Jacquie got some money by shaking it loose from a monkey, so all three get on board. Stymie hooks the taxi to a truck that gives them a tow uphill, and then the taxi breaks loose, sending the group into free wheeling as there are no brakes. They careen down hills, narrowly miss several vehicles and pedestrians, hit a truck that knocks its bed of tires loose to roll downhill. Eventually Dickie has had enough, so Stymie directs him to steer into a haystack. Dickie's parents catch up and are relieved to find Dickie well and his stiff neck cured by Stymie.

This film is one of the best. The interaction between Stymie and Dickie is outstanding, and it's a shame Dickie Moore was in so few Our Gang shorts (just 8). Spanky and Jacquie enjoy the ride and laugh when the taxi hits things like a flock of chickens or a policeman, and Spanky casually answers "no" when Jacquie asks him if he thinks they're going rather fast. Breezy does a fine job at the taxi driver and boss, and this is among his best roles. The mule-powered taxi is one of the great vehicles with the add-ons, and the kids do a great job imitating how a real taxi service works. There is drama when Stymie climbs onto the hood to remove a large bunch of balloons that got stuck on the windshield, obscuring his and Dickie's view, while the taxi is zooming along at high speed. The resolution with Stymie getting the credit and being the hero overcoming Dickie's overprotective mother is very satisfying.

[ymymeatemup]

FREE WHEELING (1932)

Things I like:
Dickie And The Nurse. This isn't one of the more sentimental episodes, even though we're in the sentimental era of the series, but these two have a good rapport with one another and add an element of heart to what is otherwise a gag-oriented outing.
The Taxi. Another in the long line of pasted-together Our Gang vehicles, this one equipped with a functional boxing glove. Attaching a drunken mule to the vehicle is a good bonus.
The Way Spanky Laughs. He and Jacquie take a back seat to the older kids (both literally and figuratively), but they're still appealing, especially while they're laughing it up in the back of the taxi. Also of note is the scene where they mug the monkey.
The Wild Ride. Even with certain reservations (see below), I find this segment of the film to be a lot of fun.

Things I don't like:
The Rear Screen Projection. Obviously, the filmmakers were limited when it came to what they could do with little kids in a vehicle (not to mention the budget restrictions placed on the studio during this period), but the over-reliance on rear screen projection makes this scene secondary to the similar one in "One Wild Ride."
Dickie's Mom. I realize we're not supposed to like her, but she's unreasonable to the point of being unrealistic. It's a good thing Dickie has a cool dad to offset his mother's case of Munchausen by proxy.

Grade: B+

[RJH]

Glove Taps (1937) - Butch and The Woim are new in town, and to prove he's boss, Butch tells the exiting school class that to save time he'll just lick the toughest one of them. Alfalfa backs into a pen and jumps forward, inadvertantly volunteering. Spanky convinces Butch to give Alfalfa a day to train. Spanky gives instructions from a book, and tries to instill confidence, of which Alfalfa doesn't think he has any. When Buckwheat and Porky arrive at the training facility, the Ajax Athaletic Club, they're carrying a stretcher with a large Alfalfa doll, practicing for the real event. Spanky tells Alfalfa to shadow box, but after a few seconds Alfalfa sits down on the ropes, tired from the ten miles of road work he did pulling Spanky on a wagon. While Alfalfa is sitting there, Porky slugs him from behind a canvas and knocks him to the floor. Alfalfa thinks his shadow hit him. Then comes the sparring match with Buckwheat, whose first punch knocks Alfalfa out and sends him on a dream into la-la-land. Spanky tells Buckwheat to lie down and then convinces Alfalfa he knocked Buckwheat out, thereby instilling the heretofore absent confidence.

In the real fight, Butch tells Woim he'll toy with Alfalfa in the first round and knock him out in the second. Butch doesn't throw any punches, and when Alfalfa does, he misses and stumbles into the ropes, tangling himself up. Buckwheat and Porky barely ring the bell in time. In the second round, Butch has one hand on Alfalfa's forehead while Alfalfa swings wildly but doesn't reach Butch. Butch winks at Woim to let him know this is it. However, Buckwheat and Porky have rigged an amazing device with a boxing glove on a wooden pole mounted on a scaffold-like frame on wheels, and aim it at the shadow cast by Butch's head on the canvas, and knock him out. Alfalfa gives a triumphant though high-pitched Tarzan yell.

This has a lot of entertaining features. Most of them are in the training session, where the boys try to imitate the workouts real boxers go through. Spanky's attempt to give Alfalfa confidence is undercut by Buckwheat and Porky carrying the Alfalfa doll in on a stretcher. In the sparring match there is a good bit of camera work where Alfalfa and Buckwheat are seen from each other's perspective. Then Buckwheat, not yet six, knocking out nine-year-old Alfalfa with one punch is a highlight. Buckwheat must have punched the camera lens, and when the field of view is cleared, he has a great facial expression when he sees what he's done. He and Porky are a great team, shaking their heads at the progress of Alfalfa several times, and then saving the day on multiple occassions. It would be nice if Spanky and Alfalfa gave them some credit. Maybe Alfalfa did find out later because in all of the future episodes, he's terrrified of Butch, which shouldn't be the case if Alfalfa thinks he beat Butch fair and square. It is hard to believe that Alfalfa could think that he knocked out Buckwheat when Alfalfa had to be waken up by Spanky. It's also strange to have a canvas right next to one side of the boxing ring, and where did that device with the boxing glove arm come from? Did nobody notice that Butch fell down without being hit by Alfalfa? This film must mark Darla's smallest part, saying good-bye to Spanky as they left school and getting away first before Butch and Woim confront everyone else. Those things do not detract much from the overall good feeling of the teamwork required to defeat the bully.

Lodge Night (1923) - Joe is the new kid in town, and when he comes to school, he gets an invitation to join the gang's club, called the Cluck Cluck Klams, despite all the girls flocking to him. The meeting is at a barn, but many of the gang have trouble getting there on time. Mickey and Jackie have to practice their music lessons, and Ernie and Farina have to attend Professor Culpepper's lecture, with Ernie operating fans on a rope to keep the lecturer from overheating. Mickey and Jackie manage to genlist the help of some kittens and their father's rocking chair to play their insturments. Ernie shows Farina how to shoot dice, and when they're spotted, the professor confiscates the dice, but soon shakes his hand to emphasize a point in his nonsense talk, and he and his audience quickly start a dice game. Thus all of the make it to the barn ahead of Joe.

Once there, the initiation of Joe begins. He tries to quit a few times but the gang doesn't let him. Eventually he makes it after signing his name in blood when punched in the nose after being told he has to kiss the club Queen. Then car thieves arrive. Ernie and some extras escape with Ernie climbing down an outside wall, Jackie and Farina fall into the theives car, while Mickey, Jack, and Joe get caught and tied up by the theives. A cop who was chasing the crooks also gets tied up. Ernie races back to Culpepper, and they drive to the barn. A dog help untie the tied-up boys, and Ernie, Mickey, and Jack get in Culpepper's car to give chase. The car won't start, so Culpepper gets out to turn the crank. It suddenly does start and runs him over, leaving Ernie at the wheel. They chase after the crooks with the car falling apart along the way. Eventually the thieves' car runs into a fence along a side road, the other car crashes into it, and the police and Culpepper catch up. The gang gets credit for the capture and the $500 reward.

This film could have been very good. Mickey and Jackie work great together at finding a way to get out of practicing the paino and saxophone, where a kitten in the opening caused Jackie some problems initially. They tie strings to piano keys and their father's rocking char to automate the instruments playing. The gang has a setup using a weather vane to announce an initiation meeting as opposed to a regular meeting. The story line is strong, with the club initiation, the thieves using the same barn as a hideout, and the chase with the car falling apart. (I do have a fondness for cars that start with a crank.) There is a flyer stating that sheriff "Big Bob McGowan" is in charge of the reward for catching the thieves. Joe says "I quit" and "I quit again," while the initiation isn't too extreme. In the car chase, Ernie finds that he can't steer, and pieces fall off as he runs off the road, and later overshoots the crooks' car. Jackie and Farina peek out from the back of the stolen car, and duck when the crooks look back. Then the final victory when the gang gets the reward. There really are a lot of things I like about this.

And then come the parts that ruin it. One is more forgiveable: the nonsense lecture by Professor T. Jefferson Culpepper. He speaks a long sqeuence of nonsense words on a nonsense subject to an audience that pretends not to be too bored and disinterested. In this situation, I think of what it was like for black actors in 1923, and there weren't any really good roles. Here I put Joseph Morrison in the same category as Stepin Fetchit, where the only roles in which they could display their acting skills were quite demeaning by modern standards, but it was necessary for actors like them to go through this in order to pave the way for better roles for others in the future. Then the worst part is the choice of the club name and the revolting decision to use white sheets as the club uniform. This cannot be forgiven. The real Klan had been in existence for decades in 1923 and it was well known what it stood for. It is a huge disappointment to see Hal Roach approving this, in such stark contrast to other things he did. A title card acts like they know this is horrible and are apologizing: Farina doesn't know what the club is about but is in favor of anything. Ernie is an officer, the secretary, and the kids themselves act nothing like the real Klan, but that just isn't enough to compensate for that choice.

There is a big continuity error. The lodge meeting takes place at 6 pm, and it is dark both there and in Emancipation Hall. But when the theives and the gang are driving cars, it is broad daylight, with the sun casting strong shadows at times. Another thing: one title card has Jack saying "Give Farina the Z. O. Z." and I have no idea what that means. Mickey then gives the signal for the initiation meeting.

[ymymeatemup]

GLOVE TAPS (1937)

Things I like:
Butch. This, of course, wasn't Tommy Bond's debut in the series, but it was the first in which he played Butch, and aside from perhaps "Fishy Tales," I don't think he was ever better.  Honorable mention should go to Sid Kibrick, who could have convincingly played the bully himself, but when Butch first confronts the boys outside the school, it's clear who the real threat is.
Alfalfa.  Every one of the principal players turns in a great performance, but this is one of the quintessential episodes to watch if one wants to see just how funny Alfalfa was capable of being.
Sparring With Buckwheat.  This is one of the most cartoonish moments in the entire series, with terrific point-of-view shots of an over-confident Alfalfa and a surprisingly capable Buckwheat clocking him and then being astonished at his own strength.  This is quickly followed by the icing on the cake, as Alfalfa goes into the kind of absurd dream mode that seems straight out of a Tex Avery cartoon.
The Boxing Match.  This sequence is greatly helped by more point-of-view shots (including a priceless closeup of gum-chewing Butch being totally unfazed by Alfalfa's determined stance), and a hilarious shot of Alfalfa tangled in the ropes.
The Music.  Unlike most episodes from this era, "Glove Taps" is loaded with selections from the newer batch of Leroy Shield recordings.

Things I don't like:
Absolutely Nothing.  As with most Gordon Douglas one-reelers, this one doesn't waste any of its time on anything that doesn't either move the simple plot along, or provide a good, solid laugh.

Grade: A+

[ymymeatemup]

LODGE NIGHT (1923)

Things I like:
The Fly Circus. The entire classroom sequence is enjoyable, but I gotta give props to Mickey's trained fly.
Dust. The most amusing one-word inter-title in series history.
The Kittens. Great idea from Mickey getting the kittens to play his piano while he's gone, as well as the similar setup with Jackie's saxophone. Surely the two of them must have been downright abysmal at their respective instruments for their parents not to notice the difference.
Afro-American Super Philosophical Society. In a film that includes a parody of the KKK, it's amazing that anything else could ever be the most questionable thing in the short, but the blatant stereotyping that takes place during the philosophical meeting takes the cake. This might possibly be the most blatant racial humor I've seen in any film, let alone the Our Gang series. So why is it in my 'like' list, and not in my 'don't like' list? Well, aside from the fascination that goes with viewing something so objectionable that was once considered acceptable, I have to admit that the execution of this unsavory humor is tremendously comical, especially when considering Beanie Walker's inter-titles (both during the speech and accompanying the chaotic game of craps), as well as Joseph Morrison's obvious comic abilities.

Things I don't like:
Surprisingly Not That Much. This doesn't strike me as a particularly good short, but if we could somehow remove the non-PC portions of the film, then there wouldn't be much wrong with it - and it would only take about three minutes to watch! The gags are generally pretty good, the kids are typically engaging, and everything is capped off with a reasonably fun chase sequence.

Grade: C+

[myhomeo]

Re: 'Glove Taps.' All that and y'all don't catch the weirdest part. Butch threatens to beat up Alfalfa. Spanky convinces him to have a boxing match instead and gets a day to 'train' Alfalfa. And somehow in the course of that day they not only do the training but somehow acquire a homemade boxing ring. The gloves, the trunks, okay, they could have borrowed them somewhere. But how'd Spanky put together a boxing ring that quickly? Does he just have one in his backyard in case he comes up with a new scam or something? (It's almost certainly the same ring they use for the wrestling match in 'Came The Brawn.') Did he have the other kids put it together while he was supervising Alfalfa's training? What?

[RJH]

Spanky used the same efficient contractor that set up "Well Nu. 1" of Farina Oil Co. Ink in one day in "The Smile Wins." (Apologies if this response should be in another thread.)

[myhomeo]

Correction: Recently watched the short again and Spanky states the fight will be in the 'Ajax Athletic Club', which is located behind his house. So apparently this was an ongoing concern for him; he already had a homemade gym, complete with boxing ring, set up in his back yard. Which, of course, raises the question... WHAT???.