Framing Youth

An OUR GANG Comedy Short. Spanky is manager of the Rascals' new Voice Studio, with Alfalfa as crooner in residence. They have plans on entering Alfalfa in a local talent contest. But Butch plans to win the contest with his violin and he becomes a FRAMING YOUTH by threatening mayhem if Spanky doesn't find some way to keep Alfalfa out of the running.

A pleasant little film. The Studio, with office workers Porky, Buckwheat & Darla is cute. Alfalfa's singing of `Just An Echo In The Valley' is hilarious.

Butch is out to win a talent show. The only way he can do this is by making sure Alfalfa is out of the competition. So Butch decides that threatening Alfalfa's manager, Spanky, with grievous bodily harm is the ticket. In the end, though, Alfalfa sings...with some help from a frog stuck in his collar. Not a fantastic Our Gang offering. The climactic talent show scene runs out of steam quickly. Only a scene toward the beginning in which Darla, Porky, and Buckwheat serve as Spanky's office staff is more like the gang we know and love.

....but I DON'T like hearing singing in Our Gang films. Up until Darla and Alfalfa entered the series late in its lifespan at Hal Roach Studios, the kids NEVER sang or danced. The emphasis was on kids acting like kids. Now, in films like "Framing Youth", the emphasis is on Alfalfa's god-awful singing--something that gets old because he did it so many times in these films. The first time you hear him, it's mildly funny--but this is about the sixth one with him crooning. Fortunatley, in this one there is at least a SLIGHT variation on this familiar theme.

The short begins with a cute bit with a talent agency--with the gang (Darla, Buckwheat, Porky and Spanky) all working with their star, Alfalfa--getting him ready for the big talent contest. Soon, however, the evil Butch enters and threatens Alfalfa--as HE intends to win. Despite this, the Alfalfinator performs...and there will be consequences.

Fortunately, while Alfalfa sings, the frog bit wasn't too bad and was at least mildly funny. Certainly not a great short (especially compared to the earlier films) but quite watchable and cute. I especially liked it when Buckwheat phoned Porky!

This is an excellent example of a piece of media that simply just isn't for me, with the focus heavily weighted towards the charm factor and iconic nature of the characters. There is the occasional joke that did land for me though, like the communications line for their base of operations having a professional look, when it's simply just a way for one person to talk to a chain of people. This might also be a major me problem, but it concludes in a way where it feels as if the main character to root for ends up achieving his main goal, despite both his singing sounding a bit rough and many people in the audience laughing at his performance. Just feels like there's a disconnect and that the ending was going to be achieved regardless of the final results. Probably overanalyzing a bit, but that's genuinely how I felt watching it. I'd still say that this could be an easy recommendation to anyone who enjoys the charm of these characters or ones similar to them.