A principal purpose of this blog often is to plug new Blu-ray/DVD releases of very old movies, so, as a companion piece to last weekend's post, we plug yet another Blu-ray/DVD release of very old movies. We're fine with this - somebody needs to keep classic movies alive and introduce them to new generations - and Undercrank Productions, our cohorts of long ago at Kit Parker Films and silent comedy expert Dave Glass are among those who have been doing that with panache and style.
Four years ago on this day, this blog paid tribute to the great, timeless comedy of Hal Roach's Rascals a.k.a. Our Gang. The most successful series of "Famous Kid Comedies" by far was created by producer Hal Roach, studio director general Charley Chase, series writer/director and former fireman Robert McGowan and writer Tom McNamara back in 1922.
That said, it is fitting that today's Blu-ray plug-o-rama involves two outstanding Our Gang compilations by Classic Flix.
This Hal Roach Studio fan has the very good Cabin Fever VHS compilations of sound era Our Gangs, hosted by Leonard Maltin, and is delighted to see new restorations of these great classic comedies on Blu-ray. The 1929-1930 titles showcase one of the series' all-time best casts, combining new Our Gang stars with holdovers from the silent era - and, of course, the one, the only Pete The Pup.
Both Blu-ray sets cover what, for this classic movie buff, constitutes the peak of Our Gang: the early sound era, smack dab in the middle of The Great Depression.
Just how we missed The Little Rascals: The ClassicFlix Restorations, Volume 1 [Blu-ray], sourced from the Hal Roach Studio archival 35mm prints, we have no clue! It has been out since June 1.
What's particularly cool about this volume is the participation of Hal Roach Studio stalwarts Edgar "Slow Burn" Kennedy and Max Davidson, who have a field day and play off the gang beautifully.
Volume 1 features the first 11 Our Gang sound shorts, from the 1929-1930 season, mastered from original Hal Roach Studio film elements.
The earliest Our Gang talkies feature the formidable talents of Jackie Cooper, Allen “Farina” Hoskins, Mary Ann Jackson, Bobby “Wheezer" Hutchins, Joe Cobb, Jean Darling, Harry Spear and Norman “Chubby" Chaney.
OUR GANG 2-REELERS ON The Little Rascals: The ClassicFlix Restorations, Volume 1 [Blu-ray]
- 1929
- Small Talk
- Railroadin'
- Lazy Days
- Boxing Gloves
- Bouncing Bsbies
- Moan & Groan, Inc.
- Shivering Shakespeare
- The First Seven Years
- When the Wind Blows
- Bear Shooters
- A Tough Winter
1930
A second set, The Little Rascals - The ClassicFlix Restorations, Volume 2 (Blu-ray) is available for pre-order and will be out later this month, on July 27.
The Little Rascals - The ClassicFlix Restorations, Volume 2 (Blu-ray) comprises 11 classic comedies, featuring Our Gangsters Jackie Cooper, Allen 'Farina' Hoskins, Mary Ann Jackson, Norman 'Chubby' Chaney, Dorothy 'Echo' DeBorba, Matthew 'Stymie' Beard, Donald Haines and Shirley Jean Rickert with key supporting players June Marlowe, Billy Gilbert, Mae Busch and Margaret Mann.
It is 225 minutes of peak Our Gang goodness, and the 1930-1931 season is among my two or three favorites in the series' 22 year history.
OUR GANG 2-REELERS ON The Little Rascals - The ClassicFlix Restorations, Volume 2 (Blu-ray):
- Pups Is Pups
- Teacher's Pet
- School's Out
- Helping Grandma
- Love Business
- Little Daddy
- Bargain Day
- Fly My Kite
- Big Ears
- Shiver My Timbers
- Dogs Is Dogs
Even lazier than usual here at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog, having just completed travel from the Hudson Valley to NYC to JFK airport to SFO airport, with adjustment to the accompanying time zone change and weariness from the 3 hour delay in departure (because LOTS of folks are traveling now), we quote the blurb from the ClassicFlix press releases:
"Hal Roach's Our Gang series is one of the longest running and most prolific in the field of short subjects with 220 one- and two-reel comedies released between 1922 and 1944. The secret to the longevity of the series, as well as its appeal to generations long after its conclusion, is mainly due to Roach’s choice to cast kids who came across as “natural” on the screen—scruffy underdogs that moviegoers could identify with or wish they could be—not glossy “showbiz professionals”.
After producing 88 silent Our Gang shorts, Roach transitioned to sound releasing 80 “talkies” in the series starting with Small Talk in 1929. It took time to fine-tune the adjustment from silent to sound, but soon the studio began firing on all cylinders producing classics like Shivering Shakespeare and The First Seven Years (both 1930).
In Hollywood, the Hal Roach Studio was unofficially known as the "Lot of Fun", employing such mirthmakers as Laurel & Hardy and Charley Chase. But many of the company's most popular comedy shorts starred an aggregation collectively known as "Our Gang", a series whose premise was captivatingly simple: showcase a motley group of scruffy but lovable kids whose antics were easily identifiable to moviegoing audiences.
The series, later re-titled "The Little Rascals" for TV syndication, got its start in 1922 during the silent era, and transitioned to sound by the end of the decade. Early "talkies" in the franchise like Teacher's Pet (1930), School's Out (1930) and Love Business (1931) would prove to be some of their finest -- all of which are included in this volume and continue to entertain subsequent generations of classic movie devotees."
We await these two Blu-ray sets eagerly! In closing, acknowledgements and tips of a top hat worn by Arthur Housman in Laurel & Hardy's Scram go to Dave Lord Heath's excellent Another Nice Mess: The Films Of Laurel & Hardy website, which features an expansive section on the silent and sound Our Gang comedies produced by Hal Roach Studios. Indeed, Another Nice Mess is a treasure trove on all things Hal Roach Studios and one of frequent our go-tos - along with Jerry Beck's outstanding Cartoon Research website - at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog. By all means, if you use Another Nice Mess: The Films Of Laurel & Hardy for research and frame grabs, chip a donation in the website's direction. Also, Robert Demoss has created The Lucky Corner, an excellent website devoted to Our Gang.
Last but not least, there are the two evergreen tomes penned in the 1970's which are still the last word on the series, Leonard Maltin's The Great Movie Shorts: Those Wonderful One- and Two-Reelers of the Thirties and Forties (as well as the its trade paperback reissue as Selected Short Subjects) and The Little Rascals: The Life And Times Of Our Gang, which Leonard co-wrote with Richard W. Bann.
Still unequalled, let alone surpassed is The Little Rascals: The Life And Times Of Our Gang. Leonard Maltin and Richard W. Bann outdid themselves here.
All of us at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog who have often laughed out loud watching Hal Roach's Rascals tip battered top hats worn by Arthur Housman, Raymond Griffith, Max Linder AND W.C. Fields to The Little Rascals: The Life And Times Of Our Gang, which did a beautiful job covering the series.
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