Genius Press Release: The Little Rascals: The Complete Collection (1 Viewer)

[Darrell S.]

Every film on Disc Three seems to be flawless and beautiful. Wow. They are all MGM and in sych. There's a little wabbling of images, but that is probably because of over-compression artifacts. But they are beautifully restored. Especially HOOK AND LADDER and THE POOCH. BIRTHDAY BLUES doesn't look so good, but it's probably the best they could do with the source material.

I think what this set boils down to is that I am crazy about these shorts and I appreciate some of the transfers because they are breathtaking, even though some have Blackhawk title cards. The fact that a few are out of synch is very frustrating (A TOUGH WINTER). But I think the set is worth the price because of the shorts that have been restored to such beautiful quality. It is worth the price just to see how good some of these look.

You start watching these films and can't stop, because you are swept up all over again in a world you wish you could be part of. The acting these kids did is so natural, organic. The fact that they are so sassy and naughty, but good-hearted trumps anything else ever done. And for the most part, I think kids like Stymie (my personal favorite) come across as wise, clever, funny and sweet.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

I'm starting to arrive at the same conclusion (though I've only watched the first 15 shorts so far).

Of the first 15 films, only A TOUGH WINTER is really glaringly problematic - and that's because yes, the audio is out of synch. I don't believe I've ever sat through this short before,but turns out it's lousy anyway, IMHO. One of the weakest of the series for me - and besides, there are many visual sections where there isn't dialogue anyway! You can barely make out what Stepin Fetchit is saying due to the deliberately slow way he is speaking, so the mis-matched audio isn't as noticeable and could have been worse. Besides, as I watched the short I didn't even worry about the audio and got used to it quickly. Now, I'm not saying it's a good thing - but it's no deal breaker.

Every so often I could detect a slight "floating" effect with the visuals, for lack of a better term. The artifacting, the digitizing. But if you don't sit there looking for things to purposely worry about, the image is fine, really. I know this sounds like I'm trying to rationalize, but I'd be the first to say this is terrible if it was. I'm starting to think this was worth it, and a good acquisition.

 

[Jon Martin]

I have to agree. The set may not be perfect, but for those who just want to watch the shorts, and may not have the other versions, it is worth picking up.

 

[Jack Cleveland]

Sadly, I returned my set to Amazon unopened. I have two of the four laserdisc box sets, and if they are not complete as released like they were for the laser incarnations, I'll pass.

It makes nosince why they could release everything as originally filmed ten years ago, and now we have Blackhawk title cards. A definite miss, and believe me, I'm disappointed. I'll be looking for the other two laser disc boxes and hope for better things to come.

Jack

 

[Jeff Adkins]

I returned my set also. I just can't live with audio-synch issues. That's a deal breaker for me. I can live with the title cards and scratches, but not audio synch. Also, the fact that they are advertised as uncut (and there is at least one that was cut) wasn't very appealing to me either.

 

[WadeM]

I read on DVDTalk that "Bear Shooters" is also cut, so now there's 2 shorts that are cut. There's dialogue missing.

I don't expect a great restoration from a low-budget company, but I do expect at least what was offered on VHS, and we don't have that here. The picture may be improved on some, or even most of the shorts, but if I have to keep track of what's cut, what's not cut to know if I should watch a VHS tape or a DVD, or worry about audio-synch problems.... it's frustrating.

I never understand how this stuff works, and am glad that I don't work in the movie business. It seems so simple. RHI/Cabin Fever found out over 10 years ago that there were cut prints of these shorts, and they corrected it with subsequent releases. At that point, put the cut prints in a box that says "Don't Use" or "cut" or whatever, and put the uncut print right next to it, labelled as such--or whatever organizational method works for the movie business. RHI/Cabin Fever used the original title prints before, and now RHI/Genius use something else. Why spend so much money or time trying to find & remaster the proper prints in the first place, if you're going to lose them, or not use them, later on? Somehow, it must be a lot harder to organize things than it should be. It shouldn't take a scholar to know whether an uncut print is being used, if the uncut print has already been found, remastered and released earlier on DVD & VHS.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

I've since heard that BEAR SHOOTERS was also cut in the same place on the old VHS Cabin Fever release. It may be just the best we've got for that one film these days. I watched the short myself and I couldn't even notice anything missing. A couple of missing words on 1 short in a set of 80 shorts is really nitpicking, IMO.

 

[WadeM]

You're right. It may be the best we have, and that's fine. I don't mean to nitpick (heck, even my Criterion version of The Lady Vanishes is missing some footage), but just make the general point that the VHS tapes used better prints, and it's frustrating when inferior prints are used afterwards, when RHI was involved in both. They already fixed Washee Ironee before, and now they've gone back. Stuff like that I don't understand.

They claimed they used the best available, and maybe that's the case. Maybe something's happened to the other prints in the meantime--who knows? Or maybe, just plain human error.

The Digital Bits gave this set a 'B'. I trust them, so to me, that's probably right.

 

[Darrell S.]

Wow, FISH HOOKY looks great! Some of these prints look like they have been cleaned and restored long the lines of Warner Bros. work on NORTH BY NORTHWEST. I think this may be one of my favorites. Spanky's line at the end is the best tag of any Little Rascals' short: Aw, go ahead and kiss her so I can get some sleep!

 

[MilesH]

Yes, the same review that claimed all the shorts were restored and uncut (obviously copied straight from the press release) and he didn't even notice the Blackhawk title cards (easily noticeable because they say "The Little Rascals" on them). Hardly what I would call a trustworthy review. The other advance review (DVDTalk) likewise failed to mention the major faults of the set. I will give credit to the DVDTalk reviewer for revising his review, something Bill Hunt has yet to do. In both cases, you have to wonder if they actually watched the set before writing their reviews.

Luckily we have the Little Rascals forum for accurate reviews of the set mentioning both its positives and negatives. They were the first to mention the Blackhawk issue.

 

[Darrell S.]

Unfortunately, THE KID FROM BORNEO is a Blackhawk print. It looks pretty good, but tragically the sound is so distorted it sounds like everyone is GARGLING! from beginning to end. It does not sound this bad on ANY previous version.

MUSH AND MILK right after it is an MGM print and looks and sounds perfect! I especially love the old croan who looks like her face was hit by a train! The detail is so clear you can see that it is her actual face and not a mask!

On BEDTIME WORRIES, the sound is awesome. It is so good, you can actually hear the difference between Spanky's Texas accent and his parents Brooklyn accent. I think this is the episode that really began to show off Spanky's acting talent and sassy sarcasm that we all love so much.

 

[Timothy E]

Does anyone know if Bear Shooters has ever been released on DVD, laserdisc, or VHS with all of the cut dialogue intact?

 

[Darrell S.]

Can anyone describe exactly what words were cut from BEAR SHOOTERS and WASHEE IRONEE? Was it dialogue considered inappropriate for censor reasons or was it just lost?

 

[Darrell S.]

I suggest that the pros outweigh the cons on this set by far. So don't act rashly and send your DVD back. Give it a look.

 

[Michael Elliott]

I'm finally going through disc 1 and must say that if people are unhappy with the quality here then don't even bother with any upcoming L&H set. While these shorts are far from perfect they're still a lot better than the majority of those R2 L&H discs.

I just got done with BOXING GLOVES and was wondering if the audio was lost during the boxing match or did the film start out a silent and then switch to sound.

Also, I must say that LAZY DAYS is without a doubt one of the worst comedies I've ever seen. Hearing that baby be tortured the entire film was just ugly and the director or Roach needed a good punch in the face for putting that baby through that mess.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

I agree that LAZY DAYS is one of the worst.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

I don't know what's missing from BEAR SHOOTERS.

With WASHEE IRONEE there's a scene where a Chinese boy teaches the Gang how to clean their clothes after they've gotten mussed up playing football in the mud. He puts water or something in his mouth and spits it out all over the clothes, saying "Washee Clothesees". This was restored on the DVD Cabin Fever version.

 

[Timothy E]

I have not yet seen for myself, but the rumor is that a line of dialogue is cut on Bear Shooters in the new set. Here is the dialogue with the censored line in parentheses:

Farina: "Hot Dog! You going with us, Spud?"

Spud: "Sure I'm going! [I suppose I'll get whipped though. Darnit! I'm going anyhow.]"

Farina: "Come on. Let's get going. Come on, Mule!"

 

[Mark B]

That line is intact on the MGM laserdisc set.

 

[Michael Elliott]

Thanks for the info. As for LAZY DAYS, I really hope they don't get any worse than that one.