User Reviews

This M-G-M-Hal Roach musical comedy short, Our Gang Follies of 1938, is the one hundred sixty-second entry in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series and the seventy-fourth talkie. It's also the last in the series to run two reels and the only one produced by Roach to have the headline "Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer presents" instead of his name before "presents" as this one was heavily financed by his distributor. Anyway, Spanky has put on a revue at his clubhouse and the headliner is Alfalfa, King of Crooners. But Alf has a swelled head and wants to sing Opera from now on as he keeps singing "I'm the Barber of Seville" to boos. He goes to an Opera house and finds the boss there who's played by Henry Brandon who makes a "promise" to draw a contract-effective in 20 years! Alf comes back to Spanky and tells him his future is set though Spank tells him he'll eventually be on the streets with a cup in his hand! At this point, Alfie dreams it's 20 years later (though he and the other kids haven't aged) and he's a success but his debut in Opera is greeted by food thrown at him! No matter as his boss-Brandon again though now he's aged and made to look like Barnaby from Laurel & Hardy's Babes in Toyland-makes him sing Opera in the streets like Spanky predicted. Spank sees him-after putting a coin in his cup-and invites him to Club Spanky where Darla is the headliner and Buckwheat is a popular bandleader. I'll stop there and just say this was quite an entertainingly bombastic short full of enjoyable musical acts like that of Annabella Logan warbling her swing version of "Loch Lomond" or Georgia Jean LaRue and Phil MacMahon dueting on "That Foolish Feeling" and "There's No Two Ways About It" alongside Spanky and Darla in their numbers. Of course, Alfalfa ends the show with his enjoyably off-key version of Bing Crosby's "Learn to Croon" for a boffo finish. So on that note, Our Gang Follies of 1938 is quite a show for the gang. P.S. This is on Disc 7 of "The Little Rascals: The Complete Collection" of which the intro on it is done by Annie Ross, the grown-up version of Annabella Logan that I just mentioned. She's one of the few survivors from the series today.

Hal Roach still cranking them out; Gordon Douglas directs as the Our Gang comedies get a little longer in length. Remember during the depression era kids with character and talent were highly entertaining. Spanky(George 'Spanky' McFarland)and the gang decide to put on a song and dance show with the headliner being of course Alfalfa(Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer)billed as "King of the Crooners", but as the abrasive voiced star arrives late, he proclaims giving up crooning for the opera. His daydream ends up an elaborate nightclub sequence. The cast will also feature Billie 'Buckwheat' Thomas, Joe Geil, Betsy Gay, Gino Corrado and every young boy's sweetheart Darla Hood.

I'd like to dedicate this one in the memory of Annabelle Logan (later known as Annie Ross), who just passed away. This is one of my favorites from the Alfalfa era of Our Gang. What's ironic is the premise was to make this episode more like the older Our Gang films by being over 20 minutes long. And yet, this is more like what the series would be a bit like when MGM bought the rights to the Our Gang series. But there was still a lot of magic left and Our Gang Follies Of 1938 captures it perfectly. It was written by Jack Jevine and directed by Gordon Douglas and released on December 18, 1937. Plot synopsis: The Gang has planned a big variety show complete with a rendering of the "King of Crooners," Alfalfa (Carl Switzer). Like Our Gang Follies Of 1936, the ecstatic crowd of kids (particularly swooning bespectacled girls in pigtails) rush to the basement. The show begins with the usual fanfare as Buckwheat (Billie Thomas) conducts the orchestra. Spanky (George McFarland) and Darla Hood introduce Alfalfa. Instead of crooning, however, Alfafa tries his hand at opera and sings "I'm the barber of Seville!" The curtain closes and Spanky rebukes Alfafa for trying to be a barber instead of a crooner. Alfalfa quits the show and takes Porky (Eugene Lee) with him somewhere where his voice "will be appreciated." They come across the Cosmopolitan Opera House and a friendly man named Barnaby (Henry Brandon) "signs him up" to sing in 20 years. Meanwhile, Annabelle Logan songs a swing version of The Bonnie Banks O' Loch Lomand (You Take The High Road). Alfalfa soon returns to Spanky and shows him his "contract." Spanky thinks he'll be "singing opera in the streets with a tin cup in hand." Alfalfa takes a nap and dreams he's getting ready to sing on the big stage. An aged Barnaby graciously opens the door for his new "star." Alfalfa's performance is not well-received. He has tomatoes thrown at him as he attempts to seriously sing The Barber Of Seville. Barnaby throws Alfafa off the stage and makes him sing in the streets with a tin cup. Finally, someone throws him a coin. It's Spanky and he has his own club. He invites Alfafa and Porky in. There, Alfafa is greeted by Darla who's wearing "diamonds and everything." "Oh yes, indeed," replies Darla. "I sing and make hundreds and thousands of dollars!" Cab Buckwheat (a parody on Cab Calloway, a Big Band leader famous at that time) plays a swing instrumental. Spanky offers to hire both Porky and Alfafa. Porky accepts on the spot ("Otay!"). But Alfafa still cannot be bothered. "I'm a slave to my art," he snaps pretentiously. So Darla and Spanky work out of a medley of songs The Love Bug, That Foolish Feeling (sung by Georgina Jean LaRue) and There's No Two Ways About It (sung by Tommy Ryan). Alfalfa changes his mind and decides to croon again. But just before he can, Barnaby shows up at Club Spanky and kidnaps Alfalfa. Alfafa wakes up to hear a crowd waiting for him. So he tears up his "contract" and sings Learn To Croon to the adoring crowd. What I liked: This episode teaches a lesson to just be yourself and give your best at whatever you're asked to do. As I said, the episode gave a clue to where the MGM era of Our Gang was heading, as they would often put on a show (albiet trying to take themselves more seriously and looking more pretentious in the process). The songs are well performed and though Alfafa's voice is a bit thin, it fits the purpose. 10 barbers of Seville our 10!

. . . a jewel case insert detailing "The Curse of Our Gang." Though I do not have this in front of me at the moment, the fact that stood out for me as I read it is that most if not all of the primary featured child actors suffered through short, unhappy lives before being snuffed out by grisly freak accidents. You may Pooh-Pooh this DVD "Extra" as sensationalistic material made up by some studio publicity hack (and doubt that this cadre of doomed Real Life famous kids could have inspired the basic plots of TRUTH OR DARE and the FINAL DESTINATION franchise). However, you should watch OUR GANG FOLLIES OF 1938 prior to making YOUR final judgment on this matter. "Alfalfa's" nightmare is enough to give any kid the willies. Seldom has the sadistic manipulation of a child labor force been so well documented as in OUR GANG FOLLIES OF 1938. Many of History's most chilling horror movies, including NOSFERATU, FREAKS, and BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, have depended upon Real Life Monsters to achieve maximum chills. With Alfalfa's adult Mephistopheles standing in as a torture master representing a composite of a Real Life Tinseltown parent, producer, and director, OUR GANG FOLLIES OF 1938 ranks right up there with the aforementioned Horror Flick Elites.

Hal Roach's Our Gang series seemed to work better when it was more illegitimate. Going highbrow caused the long running series to loose it's charm. The MGM influence was detrimental to the innocence of the series, and while having a plot line of Alfalfa longing to be a legitimate opera singer is ripe with possibilities, the presentation is pretentious and aggravating at times. With seven more years to go in themselves, it got progressively more Andy Hardy-ish in its storytelling format, more educational and less fun. There's really little to recommend even though this is one of the more famous episodes. Spanky is certainly more fun to watch than the egotistical Alfalfa and the cloying Darla, but Buckwheat is always fun and Porky is always adorable. This is a needless parody of the Broadway Melody series, and often gets more jeers than cheers.

"Our Gang Follies of 1938", which is actually a 1937 release, is another Rascals 21.5-minute short film. As usual, it has sound and is in black-and-white and the director is Gordon Douglas, one of the most prolific (short film) directors from that era. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this one too much. The kids's singing is unspectacular, although it attempts to be the exact opposite, and the songs certainly are not particularly memorable either. The best moment was probably the brief Annie Ross sequence. You could easily see that she totally belongs to the stage, even at under 10 years old. However, this is not enough to make this one worth a watch. Among the weaker "Our Gang" short films I have seen. Not recommended.