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

SPANKY, ALFALFA, BUCKWHEAT, DARLA, PETE THE PUP
AND ALL THE FAVORITES FROM “OUR GANG” ARE BACK

THE LITTLE RASCALS:
THE COMPLETE COLLECTION

The Cultural Icons Star in 80 Remastered, Restored, and Uncut Shorts
in an Eight-Disc Anthology in Order of Chronological Release

Bonus Features Include Three Silent Shorts, Three Featurettes, Filmed Introductions and a 12-Page Collectible Photo Booklet

AVAILABLE ON DVD OCTOBER 28


SANTA MONICA, CALIF. (July 28, 2008) – Generations have grown up with them and now Spanky, Alfalfa, Buckwheat, Darla, Froggy, Pete the Pup and the rest of the gang return in their best-loved comedies when Genius Products and RHI Entertainment debuts The Little Rascals: The Complete Collection on DVD October 28. One of the most famous and successful series in cinema history, the collection represents all 80 shorts in chronological release date order created under the supervision of legendary film producer Hal Roach from the dawn of the talkies (1929) until the series was sold to MGM in 1938, an era generally conceded to be the series “golden age.” Each short has been magnificently remastered from the original camera negatives, restored using DVNR technology and available uncut for the first time in years.

The Little Rascals: The Complete Collection also features a wealth of bonus materials including introductions and commentaries by various film historians and authors; interviews with former “Little Rascals” members, the five-part featurette Catching Up With “The Rascals”; the featurette The Story of Hal Roach and “Our Gang;” the featurette “The Rascals” and Racial Issues, a study of racism as part of the Rascals; and three original silent shorts from the Hal Roach “Our Gang” library: Dog Heaven (1927), Spook-Spoofing (1928) and Barnum & Ringling, Inc. (1928). Also included with the set is a collectible photo booklet containing classic images from the series, original movie posters, fun facts, and lobby cards. The preeminent collection is a must-have for all true fans and will be available for $89.95 SRP.

Producer Hal Roach (who also launched Harold Lloyd and Laurel & Hardy into immortality) introduced “The Little Rascals” in 1922. The short films featured ordinary, lower class kids acting like real children, rather than stilted actors and the series immediately gained popularity with film-going audiences. Although originally dubbed “Hal Roach’s Rascals,” the name “Our Gang” caught on in popularity after one of the early short’s titles and became the official name shortly afterward. The series also broke new ground by including boys, girls, whites and blacks interacting as equals.

In 1938, Roach sold the series outright to MGM, stepping away from any active participation in his creation. The studio continued to make “Our Gang” comedies, but without Roach, the series deteriorated in quality and popularity and MGM discontinued production in 1944. In the late ‘40s, Roach exorcized his option to buy back the rights to the 1927–1938 “Our Gang” shorts, repackaged them (without the “Our Gang” name and MGM logo, to which the studio still owned the rights) and launched “The Little Rascals” on television in 1955, where they became, along with “The Three Stooges,” staples of after-school TV, enchanting whole new generations of children for years to come.

In addition to the Academy Award® winning Bored of Education (Best Short Subject/One-Reel, 1937) and Pups Is Pups (1930) which was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2004, The Little Rascals: The Complete Collection includes the shorts Small Talk, Railroadin’, Boxing Gloves, Lazy Days, Bouncing Babies, Moan & Groan, Inc., Shivering Shakespeare (all 1929); The First Seven Years, When the Wind Blows, Bear Shooters, A Tough Winter, Teacher’s Pet, School’s Out (all 1930); Helping Grandma, Love Business, Little Daddy, Bargain Day, Fly My Kite, Big Ears, Shiver My Timbers, Dogs Is Dogs, Readin’ and Writin’ (all 1931); Free Eats, Spanky, Choo-Choo!, The Pooch, Hook and Ladder, Free Wheeling, Birthday Blues, A Lad an’ a Lamp (all 1932); Fish Hooky, Forgotten Babies, The Kid From Borneo, Mush and Milk, Bedtime Worries, Wild Poses (all 1933); Hi’-Neighbor, For Pete’s Sake, The First Round-Up, Honky-Donkey, Mike Fright, Washee Ironee, Mama’s Little Pirate, Shrimps for a Day (all 1934); Anniversary Trouble, Beginner’s Luck, Teacher’s Beau, Sprucin’ Up, The Lucky Corner, Little Papa, Little Sinner, Our Gang Follies of 1936 (all 1935); Divot Diggers, The Pinch Singer, Second Childhood; Arbor Day; Two Too Young; Pay As You Exit, Spooky Hooky (all 1936); Reunion in Rhythm, Glove Taps, Hearts Are Thumps, Three Smart Boys, Rushin’ Ballet; Roamin’ Holiday; Night ‘N’ Gales; Fishy Tales; Framing Youth; The Pigskin Palooka; Mail and Female; Our Gang Follies of 1938 (all 1937); Canned Fishing, Bear Facts, Three Men in a Tub, Came the Brawn; Feed ‘Em and Weep, The Awful Tooth, and Hide and Shriek (all 1938).

Special Features:
· Commentary from Film Historians and Authors
· Interviews with former “Little Rascals” members
· Film Introductions
· Three Original Hal Roach “Our Gang” Silent Shorts
§ Dog Heaven (1927)
§ Spook-Spoofing (1928)
§ Barnum & Ringling, Inc. (1928)
· Featurette: The Story of Hal Roach and Our Gang
· Featurette: “The Rascals” and Racial Issues
· 5-Part Featurette: Catching Up With “The Rascals”
· 12 page collectible photo booklet with trivia, images, and collectible lobby cards

BASICS
Price: $89.95 SRP
Street Date: October 28, 2008
Pre-order Date: September 16, 2008
Genre: Comedy
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Languages: English
Running time: 1332 Minutes
Catalog Number: 81205
UPC: 7-96019-81205-4

Awesome news!!

Well, this is hardly news, though

Using DVNR technology? Let's hope it is used correctly.

I have a question about this set. Perhaps I'm missing something. Does anyone know about the episode Calling All Kids? This one had some interesting political overtones. I don't see it included on the list (or in any other threads I've read on The Little Rascals). Is it because the dates for this particular episode might be later, or perhaps due to some other reason?

Addendum: Okay, this short is from 1943. I believe I have it confused with another one as far as the political overtones are concerned.

I think I have my answer, based on this:

"... the collection represents all 80 shorts in chronological release date order created under the supervision of legendary film producer Hal Roach from the dawn of the talkies (1929) until the series was sold to MGM in 1938, an era generally conceded to be the series “golden age."

Mine has been pre-ordered for several weeks now...and the end of October can't come quick enough.

I love the error in the first paragraph of the press release.



Froggy doesn't appear until the MGM shorts which will not be a part of this set.

^If Froggy's name or picture is on the box there are going to be some ticked off people.

Got this set early and have sampled the first few shorts and considering their age, they look quite good.

Over in the other thread on this here, they're saying for some of the shorts they accidentally used the Blackhawk prints, which even the VHS releases didn't do.

Please someone say it isn't so ....

Here's the DVD talk thread with sceencaps showing over a dozen blackhawk prints

Little Rascals - The Complete Collection 10/28 - Page 2 - DVD Talk Forum

From Bill Hunt's review at the digital bits:

Emphasis mine.

Perhaps the Blackhawk prints were the best available?

Bill Hunt is wrong. The fact that he didn't even notice that some shorts are missing the original title cards ("The Little Rascals" on the title cards should have been the first clue) pretty much negates anything else he might claim in his review.

Cabin Fever VHS/LD/DVD were from the original 35mm negatives with the original title cards. The Blackhawk prints are 16mm. There is no excuse for using old 16mm prints for DVDs in 2008. It's sad that Cabin Fever's releases from 15 years ago trump Genius' lackluster effort. The fact that Maltin is absent from the release should have been the first clue that Genius wasn't serious about delivering a quality release.

I was thinking that was a possibility in the case of some of them too.

Well, I certainly am getting sick of having to type this sentence, but here I go again.

I was really looking forward to getting this, but now I'm not getting this.

Why do companies seem to make mistakes over and over and over?

Is there such a thing as quality control in the world of DVDs? Does anyone double check these things before they're sent out?

Can someone explain what using the Blackhawk prints means?

What is missing?

Joe,

It is frustrating. I too was going to purchase this set, but no longer. The good news, though, is that the HTF provides the necessary information to make informed decisions regarding our purchases. I'm quite thankful for that. Now if we could get some of our more informed posters to start working in various DVD quality control departments, we'd be all set.

I have the Canadian Cabin Fever DVDs of the first 12 volumes (@ 2 volumes per single-layer disc they kinda suck as far as DVD quality goes, but at least the print quality of the films are all they should be), and I was able to back up my Cabin Fever VHS tapes to DVD for the remaining volumes. I may eventually get the Genius (now there's a company misnomer) set for the extras and the chronology, but I know now that I don't have to prioritize it. A real shame!

This is truly disappointing news, but in this case it's not going to stop me. I love these shorts so much and I absolutely despised Cabin Fever's random ordering of the shorts. I had the VHS tapes for years and many of them never had the cellophane removed because I found them a chore to watch. For the time being, I will overlook this terrible error. The error apparently only affects 20% of the shorts and I have yet to hear anything about the actual picture quality of these said shorts. Are they truly worse, or are people assuming based on the fact that they have the Blackhawk title cards?

For a price of less than $.70 per short not counting what I sold my old sets for, this is still a good deal to me. A disappointment certainly, but considering that DVD has been around for 10 years and this is the first true relase of all the shorts, I'm not going to wait around for the re-release.

Hopefully, Genius releases some sort of statement regarding this and if the said shorts are truly based on 16mm sources, they should offer a replacement program.

That's a real shame about the 16mm Blackhawk prints.

In the early 1980's, I worked for a film restoration facility in New Jersey. We were doing a lot of preservation work with the Library of Congress, and I personally handled several nitrate camera negative elements on the Our Gang series. Two were "Moan and Groan Inc." and "A Tough Winter."

The nitrate materials were in excellent shape and we made a composite fine grain safety master as well as one 35mm screening print. The quality was outstanding!

It's a shame those 35mm preservation materials weren't utilized for this release.

Here's what Blackhawk Films was:
Blackhawk Films - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Blackhawk prints would be 16mm instead of 35mm, and as someone pointed out, there are really good 35mm restoration prints of all of these shorts, so why use an inferior 16mm print that hasn't been restored? It was probably just a flatout mistake.

Even if they had been restored, they have different titles -- not the end of the world, obviously, but it's the principle of the thing. If 80% of them have the original titles, I don't want to see the other 20% suddenly saying "Blackhawk Films presents The Little Rascals," or whatever they say.