Search - Our Gang - Follies Of 1938 (Digitally Remastered) [Slim Case] on DVD

Hal Roach's Rascals triple-play

Annie Van Auken | Planet Earth | 04/05/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"DIGIVIEW's slimline cased DVDs feature unrestored public domain films that have no subtitles or extras beyond plot synopses on their back covers. As with all such bargain brands, dubs are "best available source" and can vary from very good to only fair. Audio levels are however some of the highest you'll find, which makes these ideal for laptop PC or portable disc player watching.



The OUR GANG triple play is one of their finer quality offerings. Transfers are very clean and the shorts unedited.



OUR GANG FOLLIES OF 1938

This MGM era short is burned deeply into our collective memory. In it, Alfalfa has dreams of being a great opera star. His constant off-key refrain of "I'm the barber of Se-VILLE! FIG-aro, FIG-aro, FIG-aro!" shows a boy of woeful talents. Carl Switzer wasn't faking his bad singing. He couldn't carry a tune in a valise.

PLOT:

Spanky wants Alfalfa to croon in the gang's variety show, but our cow-licked hero holds out for bigger, more dignified things. He signs a contract with an opera producer that doesn't take effect for 20 years, then has a nightmare of begging for change on the street. A reformed Alfalfa arrives backstage at the childrens' gala just in time to render the Bing Crosby hit, "Learn to Croon," in the squeakiest voice of all time!



TEACHER'S PET (1930)

My favorite Hal Roach Rascals comedy stars Jackie Cooper, 'Farina' Hoskins, 'Chubby' Chaney, 'Stymie' Beard, 'Wheezer' Hutchins, Mary Ann Jackson, Buddy McDonald and June Marlowe (as Miss Crabtree). Here, Buddy gives the kids quiz answers that he cribbed from a minstrel show joke book with hilarious results. Miss C.: "What did Washington say while crossing the Delaware?" Mary Ann: "Boop-boop-a-doop! Boop-boop-a-doop!" Miss C.: "What was Lincoln's Gettysburg Address?" Farina: "Sixteen fo'ty-fo' South Main Street."



BEAR SHOOTERS (1930)

With Leon Janney ('Spud') and the same kids from "Teacher's Pet," minus Buddy and Stymie. Here, Wheezer and Mary Ann coerce big brother Spud into taking them on the gang's camping trip. Wheezer has a bad cough and his throat needs moisturizing with goose grease, of all things. Chubby agrees to "grease Wheezer" but applies limburger cheese by mistake (P.U.!). Two bad guys hiding out in a shack try to scare the kids away. One dresses in a gorilla suit and chases them around, but the gang's bear trap gets the upper hand. The second man is run off by a loose hive of angry bees."