The Great Film Discussion

[arno]

Martha Sleeper isn't the bookworm, her part comes a bit later involving the black-eyed gag. According to Lucky Corner the actress you're referring to is Clara Guiol.

[RJH]

Every Man for Himself (1924) - It must be nice to have a complete print. I have two which are missing large pieces, but fortunately their union is close to the whole thing. Unfortunately the quality is bad. For the opening gym scene I can only recognize Farina refereeing a boxing match between Jackie and Joe. Jackie knocks Joe down and Farina counts Joe out. Several other boys are working out with some ingenious homemade equipment obtained surreptitiously. These include a punching bag in the from of a dummy, a bicycle powered shower, and a pinwheel lung tester. The dog (Pal) gets in on the action playing on the rings suspended from the ceiling.

There is an abrupt shift to Mickey, Mary, Sing Joy and Powder-Puff running a shoeshine business. There are more clever contraptions, but they mix up the customers' shoes. Then there is the gag of getting people to look through binoculars set into a fence, with the rims of the lenses covered in black paint or something that leaves black circles around everyone's eyes. Next one kid (Gabe?) takes the boxing gloves away from Farina and Joe, who are duking it out in the next match with Jackie refereeing. It seems the kid's parents want to use them. Mickey goes inside to open the safe, which has a large padlock and a fake combination dial. Inisde the safe is a cigar box with not enough coins and two mice which jump onto Farina and Joe, though Joe's looks like film was run backward to show a mouse jumping up into his shorts. Farina and Joe go into extended sequences of frenetic convulsions to the others' amusement, and Joe gets swatted three times in an effort to get rid of his mouse. Farina eventually fishes his mouse out of his shorts and throws it away, where it or another mouse climbs up Mickey's leg, setting him into a similar sequence. Then the landlord comes and the gang has to give him all their money for the rent.

Then there is a totally unrelated and unnecessary scene with a conman pretending to be blind so as to get donations. Then the gang sees someone step on a bulb of white paint, defacing his shoes, and they get the idea to hide behing a fence and squeeze the bulbs on passersby's shoes to drum up business. Before they get their plan into action there is a scene that goes on far too long with everyone in town looking through the rigged binoculars and getting black circles around their eyes. The gang's plan works for a while, until a policemen gets squrited in the face. The gang now has to clean everyone's shoes for free, but coincidentally a real prize fighter comes along and gives them money to buy new boxing gloves.

It would have fine if the film ended there, but maybe it was considered too short, and a completely disjoint story is added on. Twins move into town, and Sissy encounters Mary. Mickey objects to the attention, and beats him away, but Sissy gets Scrappy to take his place, as the tough brother loves beating kids up. After some back and forth, the twins arrange for the gang to chase Sissy around a block, and Scrappy picks off the gang one by one as they round a corner. Scrappy knocks them all out, and they fall into a big pile. Except Farina is last, and avoids this fate by running into a cactus patch, only to emerge covered with needles. The film ends with the gang "unsticking" him after accepting the twins into the neighbothood.

As said above this film goes all over the place, perhaps more than any other. It is kind of disappointing that the gang can't take advantage of their training and get any good licks on Scrappy. I'd rather see something positive come out of the 4th Ave. Athalatick Club, like the gang beating up bad guys or a rival gang that gave them trouble in the past. The best parts of the film are at the beginning, with all the clever contraptions the gang is known for. It seems like this is building up to something big, but then the film wanders all over and doesn't hit the expected high notes.

A different note: in my opinion this is the most inappropriately titled short. The gang acts as a cohesive team through most of the film, with perhaps just at the end where they don't all try to gang up on Scrappy at once being the exception.

[ymymeatemup]

CHOO-CHOO! (1932)

Things I like:
The Cross-Dressing. In a film without much going for it, at least we get to see Spud in a dress.
The Fireworks. Not a bad finale. The special effects are a bit cartoonish, but they do their job well. One puzzling item, however: The fireworks have already begun to cause mayhem in the train car. And then we see Harry Bernard smoking a cigar. And then it explodes in his face. So, obviously, he found a cigar lying around AFTER the chaos had begun, and it was presumably already lit. If ever there was a candidate for the Darwin Awards...
Otto Fries.  The single most enjoyable character in the film.

Things I don't like:
Del Henderson. He's obviously playing a gay stereotype, which did indeed exist in films in those days. I won't quibble with this, since there were stereotypes aplenty in this series, including Stymie's reaction to the word 'watermelon' in this very film. My main gripe with Henderson is the way he simply takes all this abuse from the kids. Of course, he calls them 'brats' before he's gotten to know them, which gives them some justification for giving him a hard time, but the whole thing is taken to such an extreme that we're left feeling no sympathy for anybody. The protagonist is a spineless jerk, and the kids are exactly what he accused them of being: brats.
All That Punching. There's a lot of comic possibility in any bit of slapstick, but it has to be timed just right, and this becomes impossible when it has to be performed by a 3-year-old over and over again without the aid of a funny sound effect.  Most of the time, the actual punching is too timid to justify the broad reaction it gets from the victim.
The Soundtrack. I guess a choice had to be made between having soundtrack music during the train sequence, or having train sound effects. Over the course of the talkie era for this series, it wasn't unusual for music to be missing from the audio background, but it seems that these early McGowan talkies are paced slowly enough that they really need it.
The Rear-Screen Projection. Seldom has this technique looked phonier than it does in the interior train station scene.

Grade: C-

[antifrodis]

Wow! While I don't actively participate in this thread, I do read over the reviews. I was particularly interested in what others thought of "Choo-Choo!". I was totally surprised to see the somewhat negative reviews. I always thought this one was one of the very best of the talkies. Don't get me wrong. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, of which I respect here. I just didn't realize that, across the board, this one wasn't considered one of the greats.

[Mark]

Mar 2, 2014 21:04:42 GMT -5 antifrodis said:

Wow! While I don't actively participate in this thread, I do read over the reviews. I was particularly interested in what others thought of "Choo-Choo!". I was totally surprised to see the somewhat negative reviews. I always thought this one was one of the very best of the talkies. Don't get me wrong. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, of which I respect here. I just didn't realize that, across the board, this one wasn't considered one of the greats.

My thoughts exactly.

[RJH]

I didn't mean to come across as too negative for Choo-Choo!; the previous post most of the highlights that I agreed with, but there were a few things that detracted from the film for me. I don't look out for rear screen projections as that detracts from my viewing experience.

Clown Princes (1939) - Porky's family can't pay the rent, and when Spanky, Alfalfa, and Buckwheat come by and ponder how to help, a van advertising the Bungling Brothers Circus happens by, and we all know what comes next. Spanky presents the freak show, featuring Darla as a hundred-year-old snake charmer, Porky's bodyless head, and Buckwheat as the son of Spanky's Uncle George from "The Kid from Borneo." (Who knew Spanky and Buckwheat were cousins?) The main event features Sapnky and Leonard as acrobats, with Leonard dangling upside-down from a wire harness much of the time, and Darla's distastrous lion tamer act. During the show the evil landord buys a one-cent lemonade, and turns apoplectic when informed by Muggsy, who will do anything for Alfalfa, that the gang could have gotten two cents for that if the goat hadn't drunk from the pitcher that lemonade came from. After the landlord throws the remaining lemonade in his glass at the goat, the goat gives the landlard a head butt and sends him sprawling. The big feature is Alfalfa singing "The Man on the Flying Trapeze" while sitting on a trapeze-like swing that is hoisted in the air by a zebra-painted mule. After a minute a bee stings the mule, stage hands Buckwheat and Porky can't control it, and Alfalfa is jerked around until he crashes through a wall by the ceiling. Fortunately the gang earned enough for the rent, and Alfalfa hopes he doesn't have to repeat the performance.

After a bad start, where Porky is crying, this is a reasonable MGM entry. This is from the period before so many of the films began all that moralizing. The freak show is not up to modern standards of political correctness, but for 1939 it is a pretty good attempt at an imitation of a grown-up circus. It isn't dwelled on for long so I don't find it a big issue. The circus acts are predictable, with Leonard dangling from a wire much like Jean Darling was in "Barnum & Ringling, Inc." Darla claims she has never been so humiliated after her lions/dogs don't cooperate, but she said the same thing in "Aladdin's Lantern." The best scene is probably the landlord with Muggsy, the lemonade, and the goat. I found Alfalfa's singing much less annoying than usual. That may be in part because I like that song and music, and he does a good job with his voice showing alarm when his trapeze is jerked all over the place.

[ymymeatemup]

EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF (1924)

Things I like:
The Twins. Well, not the twins themselves necessarily, but the entire final sequence involving mistaken identity. This seems to be the closest thing we've got to a plot in this film, and easily the most fun to watch.
The Book Worm. The one real highlight during the early part of the film is when she walks away with her nose in a book, completely oblivious to the fact that she's received somebody else's shoes, and that they're on the wrong feet.
Not Much Else. Not that I particularly dislike this episode, but there just isn't enough that stands out for me. The contraption that shines the customers' shoes is typically clever, and the gags are fairly consistent with those seen in other films, but for the most part, everything prior to the twins' arrival just strikes me as average at best.

Things I don't like:
The Disjointedness Of It All. It's quite clear that this episode is nothing but a repository for unfinished story ideas. The Gang runs their own gymnasium, but they also run their own shoe-shine business. There's also a running gag involving rings around peoples' eyes. When the twins come on the scene, it's almost as though we've jumped to some other episode. All of this randomness makes it difficult to really connect with the story, mainly because there isn't one. It's possible, though, that the lack of inter-titles in the earlier part of the film undermines its effectiveness, since the latter, more entertaining, part has them intact.

Grade: C

[ymymeatemup]

CLOWN PRINCES (1939)

Things I like:
Clarence Wilson. It's one of the saving graces of the MGM era that Wilson occasionally turns up in these shorts. He's the perfect cantankerous old coot to go up against the mischievous little ragamuffins of the Gang. (That is, if you're willing to overlook the fact that they were now virtuous and somewhat tidy and actually getting kinda tall.)
Muggsy. Possibly her best appearance in this series. She delivers her dialogue in a way that's consistently amusing, and her infatuation with Alfalfa is matched only by his priceless look of exasperation.
Spanky & Leonard. An unexpected surprise, since Leonard virtually NEVER gets to do anything special in this series. You can just see it in his face when he first trots out there. "It's about me this time!" The act, of course, is not exactly streamlined, but that's kind of the point. It's funny how the kids ooh and aah even though the fakery is so obvious.
Porky's Head. Possibly the single funniest moment in the film. Porky's body would have been proud. The remaining sideshows, while not as funny, still help to establish a fun spirit that's too often missing from other MGM episodes.

Things I don't like:
Darla's Act. I'm not sure what's worse about this scene - the badly written dialogue, or the way it sounds coming out of Darla's mouth.
Alfalfa's Act. "The Man On The Flying Trapeze" is a song that I associate with several things that make me happy. It's the title and the featured song of one of my favorite Popeye cartoons. It's the song that's featured in my favorite scene in "It Happened One Night." And, though the song never turns up in it, and the connection is never revealed, it's the title of one of my favorite W.C. Fields movies. Somehow, seeing an absurdly mustachioed and cross-eyed Alfalfa straining his way through this song doesn't live up to the standards set by these other examples.
Poor, Poor Porky. Luckily, Porky's crying scene is very brief, and actually, it's understandable why he would be crying, but it is nevertheless a harbinger of things to come when we start off an episode this way.

Grade: C+

[ymymeatemup]

FAIR AND MUDDY (1928)

Things I like:
The Two Spinsters. Visually, these two are quite comical, since one is short and rotund and the other is tall and spindly. They hate kids, which makes living next to an orphanage a misery for them. However, to receive an inheritance, they must have a child in the household, so they have to pretend to reeeealllllly love the orphans. Their sudden change of attitude is one of the more amusing things in the film. Possibly the most startlingly funny moment is when one of the spinsters kicks her little dog across the room.
The Road Trip. This is very similar to the situation in "One Terrible Day." The kids do everything they can to convince the old maids to give up on the idea of adopting any of them, and succeed with flying colors. Most of the humor in this short takes place during this journey. As in the earlier film, the chauffeur is a hapless victim in all of this, though we shouldn't feel too sorry for him - when he finally quits his job, he pushes Farina to the ground as he walks away.

Things I don't like:
The Mudfight. Or at least most of it. The mud has clearly been manufactured by the studio to be as thick and goopy as possible, and the humor in this sequence is largely one-dimensional. The best bits are when various innocent pedestrians walk into the line of fire.
The Bees. Just prior to the mudfight, the kids find a beehive and assume it's a football. What follows is mostly the standard twitching and jumping around that goes along with any scene featuring animated bees. The best parts are when whole streams of bees fly into the clothing of the spinsters.

Grade: C+

[ymymeatemup]

COME BACK, MISS PIPPS (1941)

Things I like:
Clarence Wilson. Nobody does cranky like this guy. I also find it touching when he softens up at the end of the episode.
Sara Haden. I would have liked to have seen more of her in this series, as she's utterly believable as the kids' kindly schoolteacher.
The Kids. I'm shocked to admit this, but I find the various kids in this film to be quite appealing. Not Roach-era appealing, mind you, but reasonably likable.
The Story. If there's one thing that MGM was usually capable of doing, it was hammering together a coherent story with a logical flow from beginning to end. This is one of the best examples of this in their version of Our Gang.
What's Not There. I speak of things such as morality lessons, wartime patriotism, lame humor, corny musical numbers and the like. The absence of these things makes for a relatively satisfying Our Gang episode. Not that this film is entirely free of corn - the style and 'feel' of it are patently MGM - but if all of the MGMs were like this one, there wouldn't be much to complain about in regard to Our Gang's decline.

Things I don't like:
Certain Plausibility Issues. Okay, we get it. Mr. Pratt's a thoroughly miserable human being. But honestly, Spanky, aren't you laying it on thick with that whip? What's worse, though, is those phony school board members. In the scene where it's just them and Mr. Pratt and Miss Pipps, they totally cave in to Pratt's demands to fire Pipps. Then, when all the parents are around, they act all indignant over Pratt's behaviour, as though it wasn't obvious enough in the earlier scene. And, of course, there's the ending bit where Pratt has switched jobs with the school custodian, which is just ridiculous.
Isthmus Be The Most Disappointing Punchline Ever. Paging Mr. Collum....paging Mr. Collum.....you're desperately needed at the MGM studio.....

Grade: B

[ymymeatemup]

FAST COMPANY (1924)

Things I like:
Joe's Parents. Or more specifically, the way the furniture bounces into the air every time Joe's dad falls to the ground after being hit in the head. This type of humor isn't politically correct anymore, but the gag's still quite clever, and was never repeated in this series.
The Fainting Woman. I speak, of course, of the woman who faints when Farina emerges from behind her shower curtain. One of the best-timed gags ever.
The General Mayhem. If there's one thing that defines the early silent era of Our Gang, it's their knack for throwing everything into total chaos, and this happens multiple times in this episode. The final bit of craziness, in which they're all dressed as cannibals, adds an element of absurdity that makes for a good climax.  (And by 'climax,' I mean the film's, not mine.)

Things I don't like:
Pretty Much Nothing. I really can't think of anything notable to say against this episode. In some ways, it's typical of this era for the series, but that's actually one of its strong points. The action is virtually non-stop and perfectly suited to silent film comedy. It's also worth noting that the year-long gap that separated the first bit of filming from the eventual final shooting doesn't seem to have affected the quality of this short in the least - a minor miracle, I'd say.

Grade: A-

[RJH]

Come Back, Miss Pipps (1941) - The plot has already been described in great detail. This is above average for MGM, though Pratt and Swanson take a good deal of limelight away from the kids. One good line is when Swanson keeps Miss Pipps away from the play, and as they pass the lit schoolhouse in a carraige, he remarks that exterminators are getting rid of the biggest rat the school has ever seen. One detail I didn't care for was the kids spelling of "notice" as "notis" for advertising what's going on at the school. If none of the gang saw such a bad spelling error, maybe Miss Pipps isn't doing such a great job. It struck me as unrealistic that the school board caved in to Pratt so readily, not even offering Miss Pipps a sceond chance, and then to turn around so completely after seeing the play. Spanky's whip seemed way over the top, but the rest of the play was okay, with Spanky clearly getting into his role. I still prefer Uh-huh's definition of "isthmus," but that wouldn't work in this play. I wonder what qualifications Swanson had to get elected chairman of the school board. The ending is a little sappy, with Pratt apparently changing so much so quickly, but we don't know the length of time between Mickey's and his birthdays.

Fast Company (1924) - The gang has some interesting starts to their day, with Mickey getting waken up by a dog pulling on a rope around Mickey's foot, and Joe's parents fighting and causing all the furniture to bounce around when the father hits the floor. Joe is bounced out of bed in this sequence. This time Jack and Jackie are brothers so only their last name is mentioned in a title card. Jack squirts Jackie with water from a pump, and similarly Farina gets teased by a neighborhood kid who turns a hose on and off that Farina tries to get a drink from.

Mickey can't join the gang to go swimming because he has to make deliveries, but runs into a kid who wants to trade places with him. Little Rondamere wants to drive Mickey's goat, and Mickey wants to see the inside of a hotel. The gang runs into Rondamere driving the goat, and when they learn the story want to see the hotel with Mickey. They all cause a lot of mayhem in the lobby, with a monkey adding to the chaos by throwing small explosive smoke bombs. The gang is eventually chased out, but only go around the corner under Mickey's room. Ernie jumps to catch the fire escpae ladder and they all climb up. We see them entering Mickey's room one at a time, which is to be expected, but what is unexpected is that the last one in is the goat. A bystanding woman informs a cop of this entry, and when the cop climbs the ladder, the gang, now with Mickey, bolts from the room and Mickey locks the door behind them, buying some time (a hotel room that can't be unlocked from the inside?)

The gang runs around the hotel, and meet up with Mary and Lassie Lou for a short while. Then they run in the Cocoanut Grove, something I've never seen in a hotel but I guess I don't travel very much. The girls disappear at this point, and the boys have found cannibal-type grass skirts and face/body paint that they got on very quickly. For some reason Joe is the only one to keep his street clothes, and he starts getting cooked in a pot, but is replaced by Farina. They do a lot of horsing around, and coconut milk gets splattered by dripping and being blown out a tuba by Mickey, and then by Joe hitting coconuts with a hammer. Joe then hits Ernie's head with the hammer, and they are about to fight, when Mickey offers what I think must be a peace pipe. Probably inspired by Indian (at that time, now Native American) movies, all the boys agree to a truce by smoking the pipe. They then get chased out of the Cocoanut Grove and cause more trouble. Most notable is Ernie hiding in a laundry sack and scaring a maid, and Farina hiding in a bathtub and scaring a woman about to take a bath or shower. As the gang gets captured and thrown out, they feel the effects of smoking. Farina is caught last and isn't given a chance to retrieve his regular clothes like all the others, and joins the gang on a bench in the grass skirt and a top consisting of two large shells, which may indicate he was supposed to be a girl in this film. Then two smokers come by and sits on the ends of the bench. The gang can't stand any more smoke, and stagger off. My print ends abruptly with Farina still on the bench, but I have to presume he follows Ernie home, still clad in the cannibal grass skirt.

This is pretty typical for the early Our Gang films, which is a good thing. There are some standard gags, like wrecking a hotel or mansion, and trading places with someone. But then their acting out their imaginations as jungle cannibals is a unique touch to this film. The action is non-stop, and maintains a high level of energy throughout. I do wish there could be a better quality print avaiable.

Fair and Muddy (1928) - I'd love to be able to review this, but I've only seen a handful of stills, either here or on E-bay. The film apparently does exist somewhere. Is there a chance the general public will ever get a chance to view this?

[RJH]

Cousin Wilbur (1939) - Alfalfa's Cousin Wilbur is visiting for a week, and Alfalfa's mother tells Alfalfa to introduce to the gang. Alfalfa is afraid that the erudite and sissy-looking Wilbur will embarrass him. Upon finding out that the All-4-One Club has only four members, Wilbur suggests they form a benevolent socity that offers insurance. Alfalfa examines the prospective clients with phony medical tests, and they all pass, although Leonard sounds hollow. This works for a short while, but Butch and the Woim want in on the action. When they are turned down, they give black eyes to all the new members in order to bankrupt the club. Distraught, Alfalfa orders to Wilbur to go home. As Wilbur passes a fence, he is grabbed by Butch and Woim, and surprisingly beats them up, causing them to run to the club and beg for insurance to protect them from Wilbur. Alfalfa is now suddenly proud of his family, but Spanky interjects a mention of Alfalfa's Aunt Penelope, seen in "Alfalfa'a Aunt" a few months before.

The short is decent, and was made before the sharp downturn later in 1939. The interaction between Alfalfa and Wilbur is good, especially Alfalfa's reaction to having show Wilbur around. It's rare to attempt continuity between films as is done at the end. If "Alfalfa's Aunt" is supposed to have happened, then Leonard and Junior should already have been members of the club. Philip Hurlic's character's part is a low point. He refuses to buy insurance since no one could tell whether he had a black eye,but there was insurance for other things like busted fingers and spankings. At least he doesn't go through the fake physical and later get beat up like all the other guys the gang tries to recruit. This film does have a lot in common with the first "Our Gang" film where the new kid (Pat) emerges victorious from a fight behind a fence with the whole gang at that time. Pat is never seen again, and Wilbur would show up just once more in "Dog Daze."

[ymymeatemup]

COUSIN WILBUR (1939)

Things I like:
Butch. He always improves whatever episode he's in, but he's particularly good in the scene where he first gets a load of Wilbur.
The General Idea Of It. Story-wise, this is a fairly entertaining short. Having the Gang sell insurance is a bit of an off-beat idea, but it's executed quite well, and like most of these MGMs, it's not boring even when it's underwhelming. It does seem a bit implausible, though, that Butch and Woim beg for insurance rather than simply agreeing to stop sabotaging the Gang's business.

Things I don't like:
Wilbur. The Depression was basically over by this time, so obviously we weren't going to see Scotty walk back into the Gang's lives wearing the raggedy clothes of yesteryear. But they could have thought of something better than turning him into a cross between Waldo and every Fauntleroy type that had populated the series over the years. Not that there isn't a certain natural charm in the performance, but it's the actor's charm and not the character's, and there's just as much of that other element that causes Wilbur to give Alfalfa those condescending looks from time to time.
Alfalfa. Actually, he has some good moments here and there, briefly. But I don't think his doctor routine is funny at all, and the way he loses his temper with Wilbur is a bit overacted.

Grade: C

[ymymeatemup]

DAD FOR A DAY (1939)

Things I like:
The Picnic. There's something genuinely endearing about the interaction between Mickey and Mr. Henry as they take part in the activities at the picnic. MGM had a habit of being unnecessarily cloying when injecting sentimentality into this series (a glaring example of which shows up in this very film), so it's a minor miracle that this scene works as well as it does.
The Quest For A Father. Considering the degree to which the humor in this series had been waning, it's notable that the scenes of the Gang going out to find Mickey a father are actually amusing, particularly in their bit with Mary Treen.
The Story. MGM almost always provided coherent stories for this series (even when the results were abysmal), and this is one of the most succinctly told.

Things I don't like:
Mickey's Big Scene. I speak, of course, of the buckets of tears and the garbled of dialogue during the Gang's big meeting. This just might be the most overacted performance in the entire history of the series and is easily the worst thing about this short while simultaneously being one of the most unintentionally funny things I've ever seen. The number of facial expressions Mickey pulls off in mere seconds puts me in freeze-frame heaven.

Grade: C+