Little Rascals question

The new release is from the Warner Archives and contains the shorts that were produced after Hal Roach sold the series to MGM.  These were the shorts that had the nearly teenage Spanky, Buckwheat, & Alfalfa, along with Froggy & Robert Blake. 

The set that you currently have contained all of the talking Hal Roach shorts albeit many of them edited and not from the best masters.

 The deal is that Hal Roach sold the series to MGM. The Hal Roach era stuff was sold to TV channels as "The Little Rascals." MGM's produced shorts were marketed on TV as Our Gang. Our Gang contains the Froggy and Robert Blake Shorts.

 

What's being offered through Warner Archive is not a copy of the Gold Box, but the final shorts released as part of the series. So don't worry about double dipping.

"Froggy" Laughlin was a character added shortly after MGM acquired the Our Gang series in 1938.  MGM produced the series from 1938 - 1942 (the shorts were released into 1944).  Other MGM changes included the addition of Robert "Mickey Gubitosi" Blake, and the phase-out of Alfalfa, Butch, Porky and Darla; Spanky disappeared after the 1942 releases.

The Warner Archive set is the 52 MGM shorts of 1938 - 1944... light on comedy, and heavy on morals and good citizenship lessons.  There are no duplications to the "gold set."

The "gold set" from RHI/Genius was the 1929 - 1938 Our Gang talkie shorts, produced at the Hal Roach Studios... aka "The Little Rascals," as they became known in TV syndication.

Actually,the shorts were produced through Nobember,1943 and releases continued into the Spring of 1944.

Next question: Are any of these Warner Archive shorts the ones on the Cabin Fever 6-disc series?

That set is tough to find and out of print.
(Of course, I passed them up years ago in the $3 bin at a local grocery store. WTF? .

@TheGreatOz:
No, the Cabin Fever set was comprised of the early Hal Roach talkies, circa 1929-38, along with 4 or 5 silent-era shorts.  Cabin Fever never had rights to the MGM talkies as they've always been owned by MGM. 

I was lucky enough to pickup the Cabin Fever DVDs before they went out of print, as I have volumes 1-21 on VHS.  It's too bad they went out of business before releasing the remaining vols. 11-21 on DVD.  I've got 11-21 archived to DVD off the original VHS tapes, so it's the next best thing I guess.  I'm a little intrigued to get the MGM talkies, but have come to find that my favorite shorts were from the 29-38 era anyway, so not sure if I should spring for them or not.

Looking forward to having these OUR GANG shorts to go with my 2008 LITTLE RASCALS collection from Genius Entertainment.  I grew up watching a syndicated hour of "Little Rascals/Our Gang" comedies every Saturday morning that combined the 2 series, usually with a couple of each during the hour, and it will be a nice nostalgia trip for me having both of them together.  I wholeheartedly agree that the Rascals shorts were far better, and funnier, than the later MGM Our Gang shorts, but my interest in having the Our Gang shorts is primarily one based moreso on nostalgia than anything else.

Ordered my copy this evening, and it's supposed to arrive via Ground on Friday.

Has anybody heard any word as to whether or not the shortcomings on the 2008 Little Rascals Collection from Genius Entertainment will be corrected. I was disappointed in how this release turned out.

I still enjoying that Gold Set.  Really a great deal of fun.  I know there is a silent set in the works as well.  The set with Froggy is also a no brainer for me. 

Very informative thread. 

They really need to put out an offical release of the Pathe-era and the MGM-Silent era.

Thanks for the info Stew. I didn't realize there were more Cabin Fever shorts on VHS.

I guess I'll have to dust off Maltin's book on the Rascals.

I particularly enjoy the 1920s/early 1930s backgrounds...interiors, neighborhoods, cars, old radios, etc. It takes me back to my grandparents' home in the steel mill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA.

I now have the Genius Gold boxed set and the Warner Archive set.

Someone mentioned above that the Genius set was edited.

Now, I remember reading all the complaints about the set upon
its release last year.  However, really, how butchered is the Genius
set?   I know some people had some significant gripes, but there
were also others very happy with the set.

 

On the Genius set, my understanding is that two shorts (Bear Shooters and Washee Ironee) were cut and 14 of them were from 16mm prints.

From memory, BEAR SHOOTERS is supposedly missing a few words of dialogue, so insignificant that you'd never even know (I didn't).

I think the other short is WASHEE IRONEE, where an Asian boy shows the gang how to "washee clothesees" (as he words it) by putting liquid in his mouth and spitting it all over the clothes. This is a more signifcant cut, but overall we're talking only two out of 80 films, or however many there are.

What is more disturbing is that some of the video quality varied from short to short, creating a sometimes "smeary" look on kids' faces as a result of too much DNR. I also had an instance or two where I noticed the audio being slightly out of synch with the action.  I think I recall this in A LAD N' A LAMP.

Overall, I think the Genius set is still worth it, and whatever flaws are present won't be enough to bother most viewers.

A question and a comment....

Question: This is for the old timers and real fans....The banned
Little Rascals shorts that appeared on last Cabin Fever VHS set 
that had a warning introduction by Leonard Maltin -- are they on

the Genius release?

 

Now an important comment....

For $5 you should do yourself a favor and buy this dvd.

I had it as an inclusion of a OUR GANG 8-pack distributed
by GoodTimes video.  I am happy to see it is being sold as
a single release.

It's a really thorough 2-hour documentary on the history of
OUR GANG from the silents, to Hal Roach, through the final
MGM years.

Many of the questions asked in this very thread about which
films belonged to what studio and what characters appeared 
when is fully explained.

In fact, what is so remarkable about this 1990s documentary
is some of the priceless material included here.

For instance, the documentary traces the lives of some of 
the most popular characters (Porky, Alfalfa, Spanky, Buckwheat,
Farina) not only during their OUR GANG years, but what they
did years after and how they died.  

For instance, I had no idea that Alfalfa was in the movie,
It's A Wonderful Life.  It is also brought out through this 
documentary that he was quite a troublemaker on the Our
Gang set --- and wait till you learn exactly what he did!

Yes, the documentary looks at the "curse" and untimely
deaths of many of the OUR GANG actors as well.  For
instance, Froggy was killed in a motor accident at the age
of 16.

Included are RARE never-before-seen clips that I thought
were real gems including one of the Little Rascals (I think it
was Jackie Cooper) motorcar racing on the studio backlot
with Groucho and Harpo Marx.

Another clip showcases a studio promotional reel that 
features Our Gang along with the likes of Laurel and Hardy.

Also included is a 50s reunion of the silent Our Gang stars
as well as commercials featuring Spanky McFarland.

The documentary also thoroughly explains the many 
TV syndication deals over the years as well as the film
revivals of the 70s that sort of became a midnight cult
phenomenon. 

Anyone who is a fan of OUR GANG/THE LITTLE RASCALS
or just curious of how they began and ended should pick up
this DVD.

 

They sure are. And without a commentary trying to make anyone feel guilty, or "too young" to watch 'em!

Thanks for the recomendation!  This sounds very interesting.  I'll be picking it up with the next amazon order that needs a bit of free shipping filler.

Allen,

That makes me happy you enjoyed it.  Any Little Rascals
fan can't do wrong spending $5 for this DVD.  There are
some real gems of material included in that documentary
of promotional and studio backlot footage that I don't think
most people have ever seen.

I like both sets, the first couple discs on the Warner set seem fine to me, not sure why the M-G-M shorts get brushed off as being so inferior.  They have their weaknesses, but I find them all generally entertaining.  Some say the later shorts are not funny, but honestly for me the whole run of Our Gang has never exactly been non-stop laughs (there are some of course, but mostly that's the Three Stooges), but I've always enjoyed the kids.  I also think the flaws in the Genius box are fairly minor and way overblown, the good in that set far outweighs the bad -- a couple of years ago the shorts for either series could hardly even be had by anyone.

I did order that documentary DVD, can't wait to check it out.

 the MGM shorts lack the improv moments or the sense of child endangerment

The MGM shorts are Entertaining,but it's like compairing the L&H Roach films with the MGM and Fox ones.

The MGM shorts while they are very entertaining and the production values are higher due to the MGM sparkle, I think the deterrent to most people is that they get a little preachy.  There always seem to be a value to be learned whether it is don't tell a lie or a good deed is always rewarded.  IMHO the two best of the bunch is Wedding Worries and Little Miss Pinkerton and again the Gang gets a spanking at the end for doing their best to break up a wedding and we learn crime does not pay and that the police should listen to children.

A lot of the earliest MGM shorts seem not far removed from the late one-reelers Roach had been making.  And the first disc of the Our Gang set features some of the funniest instances of Alfalfa crooning.  I guess some people don't like it when he does this and consider it to be one of the "problems" with these films, but I find it laugh-out-loud funny.  His facial expressions and vocal contortions always crack me up.  In Aladdin's Lamp, where they try to revisit the "stage show" format, Alfalfa's effort to sing while seated on a "flying carpet" that is being constantly maneuvered over a burning candle (by a monkey no less) is really funny. 

Better yet is Alfalfa's absolutely hilarious crooning at the end of Practical Jokers, knowing full well that the firecracker in the birthday cake he is holding is about to go off any moment, the words of the song, his expressions and his singing are a riot.  The pay-off with the explosion is severely lacking, but the comedic build-up was priceless.

Then there are a lot of ho-hum to just plain poor shorts, but Roach had his share of those, maybe a lot less, but a few.

The first "season" of MGM Our-Gang shorts have an interesting feel to them - a mix of familiarity and freshness to them. Perhaps the absence of Spanky in the last handful from Roach and the first few at MGM (This was because his contract was up with Roach first, his management negotiated separately with MGM rather than renew with Roach and be part of "the Package" - benefits of being the star!) Gave Alfalfa a chance to shine as the lead, rather than part of the two-kid team of Spanky and Alfalfa. (Although Spanky is always clearly the leader.)

I often wonder what would have happened if Scotty Beckett hadn’t left the gang - would we have seen more of the Development of Spanky-Scotty as the junior version of "Laurel and Hardy". :)
 

The shorts start to change when Porky Leaves and Mickey is introduced.




Edited by DeWilson - 9/24/09 at 3:06am