Aladdin's Lantern

...is a pleasant but undistinguished addition to the series' mini-musicals (which I have never wholeheartedly appreciated). I liked the tap-dance solo to "Your Broadway and My Broadway," the stage effects, and all of Porky and Buckwheat's scenes, but all in all I agree that this film isn't original enough.

Spanky and Alfalfa "co precent Alladin and his Magic Lamp". Porky and Buckwheat start it off with a song. The neighborhood kids show up to watch the chaotic production.

It's Our Gang AKA The Little Rascals as produced by MGM. It's the kids in a 10min short. It's fine. It has its fun. Darla has a bunch of chorus girls. The big gag is Alfalfa getting hot butt. Hot butt is fun.

Rather tepid Our Gang short, with the standard elements (monkey hijinks, Alfalfa song) not amounting to very much. Porky & Buckwheat steal the show (literally) and the flying carpet's not bad, but overall just so-so.

Weak entry in the Our Gang films is like several other of the shorts where the gang decides to put on a show. The only real difference is that the budget is clearly bigger and the film looks slightly better.

The plot is that the gang put on the Aladdin tale complete with dancing girls, songs and monkeys. Its so familiar in the way its done that I'm left to wonder if the film uses stock footage from earlier films. Whats worse is that the songs and dancing derail the rest of the film since running a scant 10 minutes the film barely has time to build up any sort of momentum. The only way this is worth seeing it is if you stumble on it or see it as part of a collection.

The usual overacting of he Our Gang bunch. Spanky and Alfalfa put together a play based on the Aladdin story. But it turns out to be more of a musical review. It was all okay and I did enjoy the skills of the tap dancers, but nothing very dramatic. I guess this was featured in the late part of the Our Gang comedies.