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Post by ymymeatemup on Aug 9, 2013 22:22:18 GMT -5
BARNUM & RINGLING, INC. (1928)
Things I like: Jean Darling. She puts across a pretty good amount of charm for a kid who sticks pins in people. The film would have been better if it had remained focused on her story. The Circus. There's sort of a gleeful feeling as the circus gets underway, and then it's over after about a minute. Too bad. Animals On A Rampage. Or rather, the reactions they get from various people. This sequence is a bit hit-and-miss, but it has some nice moments. The stand-out for me is when the woman discovers Farina in her shower. Also of note is the great way Dorothy Coburn realizes she's sitting on an egg.
Things I don't like: The Zoological Display. Some of the ideas during the 'animals' sequence are mildly amusing, but it seems to go on forever. It's clear that there wasn't enough story to fill out a two-reeler, so they got some extra padding out of this scene. The Sound Effects. This is apparently the earliest Our Gang film for which a soundtrack was prepared, and unfortunately it's not a particularly appealing one. The tunes are serviceable, but the sound effects tend to be a bit crude.
Grade: C
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Post by RJH on Aug 14, 2013 1:09:07 GMT -5
Arbor Day (1936) - This struck me as rather ordinary. Most of the film consists of the school's Arbor Day presentation. Initially, Spanky wants to play hooky, and Alfalfa tries to convince him not to, when the truant officer happens to be passing by. At the school, the kids recite their lines stiffly. In a coincidence, the two shorts in which Hattie McDaniel appears are in alphabetical order. In this one, she has just a bit part where she whispers to Buckwheat the line he forgot, and his response indicates he's happy his mother knew it. Disappointingly, she isn't even seen in the same room; it looks like her scene was filmed elsewhere apart from everyone else. One gag involves the school principal lifting the bucket in which a small tree was planted, only to find the bucket has no bottom as dirt spreads on the stage.
The other major part involves two vaudeville midgets who exchange clothes with some kids, who for some unexplained reason are not at school but do not get the attention of the truant officer, to escape the show they are performing in. The truant officer finds them in a park, and thinking they're real children, carries them to school and makes them sit down and watch the pageant. There is some singing and dancing, and the performance is much more entertaining than those invovling the professional kids in the MGM shorts. Alfalfa's singing is tolerable at first, and then grows annoying. At the end of the singing performance the midgets volunteer to do their own song and dance routine, which quickly becomes inappropriate for an elementary school. As they get scolded and kicked off the stage, their manager arrives to take them back to their show. The short ends with the truant officer getting fired.
Better Movies (1925) - I probably have the usual print that is missing one-third of the footage and all of the intertitles, so this is very confusing and I can't give a proper review. Furthermore, the quality is so bad I can't identify many of the characters at times. mtw12055 explained several things I hadn't understood before. I can try to explain the movie sequences. Farina fans Martha Sleeper like she's an Eqyptian Queen. Joe is tied to the floor under many descending knives, operated by a blind man turning a crank. Just in time, the hero arrives, has the blind man turn another crank instead (ice cream machine or washing machine, I can't tell) while the hero turns the first crank in the opposite direction, and then releases Joe. The characters are dressed up possibly as Chinese. Martha Sleeper examines and then tickles Mickey. Mary is onscreen for a second, and then the action is seen in long shot as the view tilts left and right. An upside down intertitle card shows "EPiSODE 4: tHE EXCAPE iN EGYiPt." I think it's Joe, Mary, and Mickey who escape, the latter two hopping along on toy horses. Upon Joe's arrival, Martha makes a gesture as if to say "Off with his head!" Martha, Johnny, and Farina are riding in some vehicle. It is a bouncy ride, so Farina keeps grabbing onto Johnny's neck to maintain his balance. Johnny objects to this and shoves Farina back. Joe is tied by his neck to something by a pond when a mechanical alligator approaches. Joe saves himself by wedging a stick in the beast's wide open mouth, undoes the thing around his neck, and crawls under a sheet. Farina, having already undergone several costume changes from Egyptian slave to Chinese attendant and back, now emerges from an igloo in a heavy parka to play with a seal, or a dog with hot water bottles that look like flippers. There appear to be huge chunks of footage missing in there.
Some of the gang stars laugh upon seeing their performances on the film. Joe gets a kick out of his "excape," and Johnny laughs at someone else getting hit by a tomato but stops when he gets by one. The best reaction is Farina's when he sees himself sneezing on screen, and then sneezes in the audience.
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Post by antifrodis on Aug 15, 2013 2:57:03 GMT -5
Here's a tidbit for you all. According to the intertitles in "Better Movies", Jay R. Smith is referred to as "Turkey-Egg".
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Post by Hard-boiled Harry on Aug 15, 2013 6:20:55 GMT -5
'Turkey Egg' like 'Freckles' seems to have been one of those unofficial nicknames which was applied to a number of kids. I'm sure that I read that the name was also applied at times to both Jackie Hanlon & Bonedust but Douglas Greer is the kid who the name is most associated with.
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Post by mtw12055 on Aug 15, 2013 18:11:02 GMT -5
'Turkey Egg' like 'Freckles' seems to have been one of those unofficial nicknames which was applied to a number of kids. I'm sure that I read that the name was also applied at times to both Jackie Hanlon & Bonedust but Douglas Greer is the kid who the name is most associated with. View AttachmentI didn't know it was applied to Bonedust. Was this his character name in a film, or an off-screen/stage nickname?
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Post by RJH on Aug 15, 2013 23:25:18 GMT -5
Here's a tidbit for you all. According to the intertitles in "Better Movies", Jay R. Smith is referred to as "Turkey-Egg". Do you have more intertitles from "Better Movies"? Those and cutting continuity might go a long way in clarifying this film.
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Post by ymymeatemup on Aug 16, 2013 0:35:46 GMT -5
ARBOR DAY (1936)
Things I like: Maurice Cass. He comes across as a nice old guy who happens to be a bit full of his own intellect, and manages to be one of the most vivid characters in the series with just one appearance. He's as quotable in this film as Johnny Arthur on his best day. Alfalfa's Big Number. Sung by a kid who doesn't yet know it's all in the name of comedy, and that makes all the difference in the world. He's completely innocent here and I quite like him that way. Kathryn Sheldon. We only get a few glimpses of her, but every one of them counts, from coaching the kids through their steps to being overcome with emotion by Alfalfa's performance. Darla. There's something that's just really sweet and lovely about Darla in this film, which she was never able to pull off in later years. The Sheer Realism Of It. Yes, these are child actors, and very capable ones, but the way they perform their pageant is so amateurishly innocent that I'm amazed that the director was able to get these results. This alone makes this short a rarity even among Our Gang films. The Brasnos (and Dick Rush). I preferred the Brasnos in "Shrimps For A Day," but they're still enjoyable to watch in this short. It's funny how their performance is supposed to be so racy, but I guess just about anything with a bit of rhythm would sound that way to the fuddy-duddy running the school. (It's also funny how they're able to take a couple of little kids into a back room and get them out of their clothes without winding up in the Tiny Town Penitentiary.) Rush is perfectly suited to his role as the side show barker. The Opening Title. Pretty nifty putting it on the front door of the school.
Things I don't like: The Phony Backdrop. I'm talking about the one used for the scene in the park. The studio by this time routinely shot exterior scenes on interior sets, but this had to be the least convincing in any Our Gang film.
Grade: A
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Post by antifrodis on Aug 16, 2013 1:26:50 GMT -5
I have a total of five original intertitles for the film. Two of them reference "Jackie and Turkey-Egg". Joe mentions "borrowing" the bird, as it was his "Pop's dinner". Not much to go by. No real additional footage either.
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Post by ymymeatemup on Aug 17, 2013 0:32:30 GMT -5
BETTER MOVIES (1925)
Things I like: The Gang's Movie. Or at least a lot of it. It's all over the map as far as 'genre' goes, so we keep getting to see interesting things along the way. It's also fun to see the film through the hole in the wall of the projection room, and the various kids' reactions to what they're watching. Many of the dilemmas that pop up were revisited in "The Big Premiere" many years later. Jackie & Jay. Among the kids, I get the most enjoyment out of these two. They seem to have been unjustifiably fired from their jobs, so we can hardly blame them for sabotaging the Gang's film.
Things I don't like: Martha Sleeper. Perhaps she's just acting like a young lady imitating her favorite screen stars, or perhaps she's just overacting. I'm not sure. But she comes across badly in this film. You know there's a problem when a bunch of kid actors seem relatively subtle whenever they're in the same shot as you. The Implausibility Factor. The Gang's project in this short seems a bit too over the top to be believable. Not that the Gang's projects are usually believable otherwise, but this time, they seem to violate the general principles described in the Disney documentary "The Plausible Impossible." Saying this, I realize I'm probably not very consistent in this criticism, since I have no problem with the railroad they built for "The Sun Down Limited." The Available Print. This doesn't really count when it comes to how good or bad the short is, but when you've got nothing better than a Mischief Makers print to watch, the film is gonna suffer for it. Of course, the narrated print is even harder to get through, with the little girl exclaiming "skeedily! skeedily!" at every opportunity. Did the producers think the children of 1960 were gonna start saying this? And is that really the way "skeedily" is spelled?
Grade: C
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Post by RJH on Aug 21, 2013 1:05:18 GMT -5
Auto Antics (1939) - I find this above average for the MGM era, with several entertaining moments in the big kidmobile race which reminds me the Wacky Races cartoon. Butch and the Woim are especially mean in this, turning in the gang's "vicious" dog and cheating to knock out some of the other racers. The part about saving Whiskers the dog is rather sappy, and the dogcatcher is hard to believe. If he hates taking dogs to the pound, why is he a dogcatcher?
What I don't like is Darla saying "that's why I hope Spanky and Alfalfa win the race," as opposed to "... Spanky and Alfalfa or Buckwheat and Porky win the race." I want to believe if the younger kids won they'd also use the money to buy Whiskers' license. Their participation should be giving the gang an additional chance to win the money. What is more confusing is Leonard and Mickey [next-day edit] rolling along on a wheeled tray, impossibly moving from back of the pack to among the leaders at one point. They don't have real vehicle like the others.
There is a huge continuity error. Buckwheat and Porky's car falls apart, and Porky gets a ride rolling down the hill in the garbage can side. They are in last place among those who hadn't been knocked out at the time, with no one else in sight. Porky rolls at a much slower speed than the cars, and when he stops, he needs a few seconds to regain his balance after Buckwheat catches up to him. At this point they must be several blocks behind Butch, Woim, Spanky and Alfalfa. They continue on foot, running at a typical speed for their age but much slower than the moving cars. They ought to be something like ten minutes behind, yet they cross the finish line a mere eight seconds after Spanky and Alfalfa do.
It is unsetling to see Leonard and Junior hitch a ride on the mayor's car while still on their wheeled tray. A sudden stop by the mayor's car could well be fatal.
It's interesting to note the five dollar prize is the same amount Farina needed to save Oleander in "Love My Dog" and Stymie needed to save Pete in "The Pooch." With the varying economic conditions during the run of the series one price never changed.
What is sad is that this is Porky's last film, and in my opinion this marks where the series took a sharp nosedive (I know it's the same word mtw12055 used but no other word is as fitting). I liked the majority of the films before this point, and very few afterward. And of the early MGMs I didn't care for, there were still usually several entertaining bits, while many of the later shorts had none.
Big Business (1924) - This is an enjoyable film, wtih the gang trying to run a barbershop and messing everything up. They give horrible haricuts, ruin clothes, and paint bare feet, but go on as if it's no big deal as they imitate a grown-up place of business. Trying to add something to the throrough review above, one gag has Sammy holding his hand out for a tip, and the customer just shakes his hand and leaves, giving rise to the "tightwad lawyers" remark. As is often the case, there are many clever intertitle cards.
The low point would have to be Mango playing with the razor throughout the film. When Sammy scolds Farina for not watching her more closely, Sammy is more concerned that the blade might get dull. The manicure also looks painful with hedge shears possibly pulling fingernails backwards.
Mickey is excellent in this, with his pained facial expressions at how his mother forces him to dress. After Mickey's makeover, his father sees him fighting through his office window, and remarks to a co-worker that he wishes the freckle-faced fighter were his son.
When Jackie and Farina are left alone to manage the shop, Farina brings in several animals as customers that Jackie gives haircuts to.
I don't get at all why Sing Joy and father were in the angry mob. Perhaps since he was around the studio thought he could be used as an extra for that scene?
It appears that my print is missing footage near the end. Why did Farina and Jackie have to bury most of their clothes? In my print, Farina never gets sprayed, and wouldn't Jackie have run out with everybody else when the skunk got inside and did start spraying? For the final scene to make sense, Jackie would have had to stay inside the shop when everyone else ran out, and Farina would then have to had enter the shop. Then perhaps Jackie tried to give the skunk a haircut with Farina helping, and they got sprayed big time.
PS When writing a long message, I sweep it with the mouse and hit control-C to copy it before hitting "send," "submit," or "Create Post." That way if something goes wrong, and it has many times for me, control-V for paste will bring the message back.
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Post by ymymeatemup on Aug 21, 2013 20:48:48 GMT -5
AUTO ANTICS (1939)
Things I like: The Real World. Yes, this is one of the very rare occasions when we get to see the world outside of MGM studios. The Gang must have been on some sort of work release program that day. Buckwheat & Porky. Pretty much the only thing I enjoy about the big race is watching these two. Not a bad way for Porky to make his exit from the series. The General Idea. That is, the fact that the kids are entering into a go-cart race, and also the fact that they've got a 4th of July firework attached to the wheel of their car. And for that matter, the washing machine motor in Butch's car is also quite a cool idea. All of this sounds like the makings of an enjoyable Our Gang film, almost as though they were still at the Roach studio. However.....
Things I don't like: The Acting. One year into the MGM era, and the rot had already set in. Every line coming out of these kids' mouths sounds phony and contrived. It's interesting, though, that Butch seems to be immune to this development, and would remain so until he left the series several months later. The Flypaper. Or more specifically, all that sticky stuff stuck to Spanky and Alfalfa's faces after they peel off the flypaper. Blecch! Peak Hill. Man, talk about being bereft of ideas. Did they stay up all night coming up with that one?
Grade: D+
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Post by ymymeatemup on Aug 24, 2013 0:10:36 GMT -5
BIG BUSINESS (1924)
Things I like: Mickey Daniels. This wasn't the only time Mickey played a (reluctantly) pampered kid, but it's easily the funniest he's ever looked while playing one. And his facial expressions are spot on at all times. Lyle Tayo & William Gillespie. A mom who's trying to turn her son into a hothouse flower, and a dad who wants a real boy, both well-played by two of the most frequently-seen adults in the series. Mary Kornman. A rare occasion when Mary isn't smitten by Mickey, but her brief scene with him is still very amusing. He is, after all, smitten by her, as usual. I also like the way everything is reflected on the body of the car during this scene. The Commitment Of The Customers. We expect the Our Gang kids to fully immerse themselves in any enterprise, and of course they do so here. But even the rest of the neighborhood joins in on the act in a way not seen in any other Our Gang film. They work all day at grown-up jobs and have whiskers that need shaving, and (sometimes) don't seem to mind the alarming results of their visit to the barber shop (though their mothers obviously feel differently).
Things I don't like: The Flinging Of The Cream. And the landing of said shaving cream all over Mango's head. And the removing of said cream by way of the razor she's been teething on for the last several minutes. This collection of gags has to be the most tasteless in the entire series, or at least on a very short list of such things. The Clipping Of The Nails. Somehow this is supposed to be humorous, but I just wince every time I see the manicurist working on that kid's fingers. I'm wondering if the fingers might possibly be fake, since they don't move much in the closeups. At the very least, I'm hoping the clippers and the file were made out of rubber.
Grade: B
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Post by ymymeatemup on Aug 29, 2013 21:47:23 GMT -5
THE AWFUL TOOTH (1938)
Things I like: The Sports Shop. As somebody that enjoys old-timey stuff, it's always fun to look into the window of the shop at the start of this episode. The Hat Gag. The one where Alfalfa looks at the skull and his hat pokes up. Best sight-gag in the whole short. Pretty Much Nothing Else. While not a terrible short, I do think this is one of the weakest from the Roach studio. So, without further ado...
Things I don't like: The Horror The Horror. There's something disturbing about deriving humor from a dentist scaring the poop out of a young kid. And it gets a bit tiring seeing Alfalfa trying to talk with all that gauze in his mouth. The Reactions The Reactions. That is, of the other three boys, which get a bit overdone. The Naivete Factor. I can see Buckwheat and Porky believing in the tooth fairy, but Alfalfa and Spike both seem firmly past that age. And the idea of having every tooth extracted? Come on, now. It's almost like Edward Cahn time-traveled back to 1938 (I know, it was a short trip) and ghost-directed this one. A Dime?!? Okay, so kids these days probably get a ten-spot under the pillow, the spoiled little booger-eaters that they are. And here we see that in 1938, ten cents was customary. And how much did I get circa in-between? A dime. Which proves once and for all that my parents never quite left the Great Depression.
Grade: D
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Post by RJH on Aug 31, 2013 1:28:31 GMT -5
The Awful Tooth (1938) - The opening scene with the gang looking into the sports store window is promising, but the short quickly becomes unbelievable by Alfalfa's reaction to Buckwheat getting a dime for his lost tooth. Alfalfa is more than three years older than Buckwheat, so must have experience losing baby teeth, yet Alfalfa acts like he's never lost a tooth, or even heard of anyone losing a baby tooth. Then there is no thought of the consequences of suddenly having no teeth.
Going past that, this is pretty much a mixed bag. It is bizarre that the dentist's chair has straps to hold the patient's hands still, but the straps aren't anchored to anything so Alfalfa can push them off merely by sliding his hands forward. The dentist does a decent job preparing the scary tools, and I can't help but think of Steve Martin as the sadistic dentist in "Little Shop of Horrors." The rest of the gang's facial expressions are befitting the sounds they hear, and a highlight is when Buckwheat, Porky, and Spike all fall down near the end when Alfalfa opens the door the three were leaning on. The monkey seems to be an excuse for those three to get evicted from the dentit's office to the waiting room to set that up. The ending is a bit sappy, but at least the moralizing wasn't heavy-handed and long winded. A final note: the parting gifts were two baseballs and two gloves, one a catcher's mitt. A bat would have been more useful than a second baseball. Of course in those days all baseball bats were made of wood, and would eventual crack from continued use. I guess a bat didn't conveniently fit in the box.
The Big Show (1923) - The gang can't afford to go to the county fair, and can only peek through knotholes in the fence. Mickey, Joe, and Jack Davis shoo Jackie Condon away because he's too little, and a guard comes by to shoo the bigger kids away from the fence. Jackie gets a little revenge by discovering a hole in the fence he can crawl through, but its just a short tunnel whose exit is a few feet away on the adjacent side. He gets the others to crawl through that. Then Ernie and Farina arrive in that wonderful wagon with the wobbly wheels. They find a hole under the fence and sneak in, followed by the other three. Some footage may be missing around here. The mean owner and the assistant for a trained animal show are seen, and the owner goes after the teenager with a whip and tells him to exercise the animals. Then the gang is seen being chased out.
Outside the fairgrounds, the gang sees the assistant walking the horses, and the gang gets him to agree to put on their own show. The show is a big success, attracting apparently all the kids in town. One ride has four kids at the end of two boards spinning around, powered by a dog chasing a cat in a cage. It stops when Ernie closes the cage door so the dog can't see the cat. Farina is made into a cop, and gets the chase Jackie away a few times with a baton. They have a telescope aimed at the "Big Dipper," an ordinary kitchen utensil hanging from a hook, a shooting gallery, and an ugly wild man who gets scared when one of the patrons makes a face. They put on a movie where Andy Samuel does a fine Charlie Chaplin impression. Ernie is Uncle Tom, Mickey is Douglas Fairbanks, Mary is Mary Pickford, Jack is William S. Hart, and someone once thought to be Billy Lord plays Harold Lloyd. Then there is an animal show featuring such exotic creatures as the "North Pole Lion" and the "Afriken Poler Bear." A goat wtih two hats attached to its back serves as a camel just as "Barnum & Ringling, Inc."
Jackie finally sneaks in to get revenge. He sets the dog-powered rotor ride in motion, and opens the cages to all the wild animals. In the mayhen, the trained animals owner and a guard try to restors, and the owner goes after his assistant rather brutally with the whip. The dog then breaks loose to bite the owner in the rear and chase him away.
An enjoyable film overall. I just didn't care for the whipping that seemed excessive. Some of the animals didn't look thrilled at their paint jobs and outfits they had to wear. It was kind of nice to see someone other than Farina being left out of all the fun.
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Post by ymymeatemup on Aug 31, 2013 22:36:12 GMT -5
THE BIG SHOW (1923)
Things I like: The Movie Show. This is clearly the highlight of the film, with at least two impersonations, those of Chaplin and Lloyd, being quite impressive. But the remaining players all succeed in spirit if not accuracy, with Mickey's version of Doug Fairbanks being particularly amusing. The Wild Man. This is part of the tame-animals-as-wild-animals sequence, which is done better in this short than in later attempts. The 'wild man' portion is sort of the exclamation point at the end of it, and one of the funniest bits in the film. The Rides. As usual, the studio provided the kids with an assortment of attractions for their fair that are homemade but operable, and impressive for both reasons. The Real Fair. Shown at the start of the film, this is a slice of Americana that still exists today, but not in such a nostalgic context. I'm always impressed with the ride that sends the car spinning in mid-air. You definitely don't see rides like that these days, no doubt because of safety considerations. Pretty Much Everything Else. Not only is virtually everything in the film entertaining, but there's a certain indefinable appeal to these really early silents - some sort of cross between finding the right kids within the first few months, making them look poor enough that it really drives home the 'make your own fun' idea, and the inevitable enthusiasm that goes along with starting something new.
Things I don't like: Pretty Much Nothing. I could point out minute details that don't do much for me, for instance the goose chasing Farina, but everything moves along briskly enough that they become irrelevant to the overall impression.
Grade: A
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