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

[Joe Karlosi]

LAZY DAYS is one of the poorest of all. I think even Leonard Maltin said as much in his great book on OUR GANG. I don't know how many of these you've seen, but they get better and better as they go along. But you'll spot more occasional "rough" stuff like that poor kid getting tortured.

 

[Darrell S.]

Another one that is mean is A LAD AND A LAMP where Spanky wishes Cotton (Stymie's baby brother) was a monkey. Stymie says, "Don't do that. You don't have to sleep with him!" At the end, Cotton and Spanky have pot bellies because they've eaten so much. Spanky belly-bumps Cotton and knocks him down on his bottom where he bumps his head on a door stump and starts crying. He is obviously hurt and they just fade to black and THE END. But, keep watching. They get much better and treat all the kids with much more respect.

 

[Steve...O]

I made the decision to keep this set and am glad I did. Yes, some parts of this release are disappointing if not downright aggrevating, but I agree the pros outweigh the cons.

 

[Tino]

I am absolutely LOVING this set, and while I can understand why some may be unhappy with certain aspects of it, NONE of the aforementioned issues has hindered my enjoyment of it in the least.

Stymie Rules!

 

[Darrell S.]

I agree. I just can't get through these fast enough. As I go through them I am amazed how they've been cleaned up. It looks like they've gone through them and digitally elminated dirt. That may be why in some places it looks like things are moving around. Although, it is sad that some cuts have been made. I'm guessing for politically incorrect reasons?

As for ANNIVERSARY TROUBLE... Ugh! This is one of the most favorite classic episodes and they obviously just pulled this print out of a trash can. It is first of all a BAD Blackhawk 8mm print that is muddy, scratched up with muffled sound. This print looks like it was trampled by a herd of cattle. The only earthly reason I can imagine they used it is because it has Spanky's black-face routine where he pretends to be BUCKWHEAT intact. This was cut from other negatives. I guess they didn't want to insert it into a clean print and have it be a jarring difference in quality. But you can hear the long-debated line of BUCKWHEAT and see his lips form the words: "I's the man!" Scholars have debated this mysterious line for years. Many have claimed he was saying "Ice man!" What's the consensus out there? Anyone have any other ideas what they think it might be?

 

[ahollis]

I was wondering if the use of the Blackhawk films was the fact they were the only surviving uncut prints. These films have gone through a lot of owners and rights holders over past 70 years and they were butchered during the 70's. I would have liked to have seen RHI/Genius at least attache the correct titles, even if they had to use the Blackhawk prints.

I am personally enjoying the set and have been amazed at how some of them look and upset at how others look, but I am glad to have them all on DVD. Come on Warner, release the MGM shorts in a collection also. They are not as good, but I would like to have them. I am waiting for Laughsmith (not holding my breath) for their collection of the silents. I would love to retire my four volume Laserdisc collection.

 

[Darrell S.]

If they used the Blackhawk prints because they were the only surviving uncut prints, then why did they use the cut version of WASHEE IRONEE and BEAR SHOOTERS? I'm just wondering, not disputing anything. There seems to be wild inconsistencies on this set. You get several beautifully-restored shorts, then along comes a horrible mess like ANNIVERSARY TROUBLE or A TOUGH WINTER.

 

[Mark Lx]

Yum Yum Eat Em Up

 

[Ethan Riley]

There are many more scenes of questionable taste in terms of child/animal endangerment. I had never before seen the silent episode, included in this set, in which Pete the Pup tries to hang himself; the actual scene is 10 times more graphic and near-heartbreaking than I'd imagined. It's awful to look at; I have no idea how they managed to shoot that scene without any physical risk to the dog.

The history of Our Gang is full of little on-screen mishaps and misjudgements on the part of the filmmakers. Forgotten Babies scares the !#$#@ out of me each time I see it; first there's that little girl who falls off the chair in the kitchen; lands on her hand practically--yet there it is for all to see. And then they had that baby crawling up and down the stairs. That was scary enough, but then they had Spanky propping the kid up on a pillow and dragging him down the stairs in another scene. ~~Shudder~~!

 

[Joe Karlosi]

And don't forget when Spanky callously plops the kid onto the glue that's on the floor to keep him stuck so he can't get up! The kid kind of whimpers.

 

[Jack Cleveland]

And I would love to buy your four volume laserdisc collection!!

 

[Chas_Michael]

OH! STOP IT!

 

[Brian-W]

Mine will be available shortly

 

[Charles Ellis]

OK, since I will be buying this set (and thank goodness I have the 12 Cabin Fever DVDs), can someone please take the time to give a detailed disc-by-disc description of deleted scenes/dialouge, substandard prints and other problems in the set? That way at least I'll know which ones to watch from Cabin Fever and which from the new set. So- any takers?

 

[Jack Cleveland]

Let me know! I have two of the sets, but want the other two!

Jack

 

[Matthew Brown]

Has anybody who contacted RHI/Genius gotten a response to these issues that have been brought up? I would love to buy this set but if things like the sound sync or garbled audio would be addressed and fixed for a future release I will wait. I know it's not every short that had problems but with my luck, it will be mostly like the ones I enjoy the most.

Matt

 

[PaulP]

Just a heads-up to anyone interested, Amazon has this now for 57% off for a total of just $38.99.

 

[Randy Korstick]

Not surprising that they would be dumping this already given all the problems with the set.

 

[Tim Tucker]

I don't think one has anything to do with the other. Amazon is dropping a lot of prices for holiday sales.

 

[Robert Crawford]

This is one of my favorite releases of the year so I'm not buying that reasoning for the price drop.





Crawdaddy