Shivering Shakespeare

This installment was a disappointment. The dialogue suffers from very poor sound quality. Normally that wouldn't detract, but this episode is almost all talk. Some of the gags seem a bit corny even by 1930 standards. On the other hand, the performances are typically good. Chubby proves once again that he was one of the most wooden actors of his time-- which only adds to his appeal, of course. The pie fight sequence is the highlight of the film. I enjoyed the slow-motion shots, which must have been a bit experimental in their day. Definitely not the greatest "Our Gang" short.

This is the seventh Little Rascals sound film, 20 minutes long. Shakespeare does not actually feature in the film, which is entirely devoted to a school play of QUO VADIS staged at the school attended by the Little Rascals. (The fact that Wheezer is only four years old and could not yet be at school is conveniently set aside, and there he is declaiming the lines of an ancient Roman.) Pete the Dog is of course in attendance, and howls at an appropriate moment. The chief Rascals in the action of this film are Chubby, who plays the Emperor Nero, Farina who plays a sorcerer 'from darkest Africa', and Mary Ann, who plays a Christian girl who is going to be thrown to the lions. For those who do not know, QUO VADIS was at this time an extremely famous book. It is a novel written by the Polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz (pronounced 'Syen-kyay-vitch'), who won the Nobel Prize for Literature for writing it. It is set in Rome at the time of Nero, and is a very powerful and dramatic work. Sienkiewicz was a brilliant author, and is still a literary hero to Poles today, who all have to read him in school (though not this novel, instead they read his many Polish historical novels). QUO VADIS was what we call 'a runaway international best-seller' which sold millions of copies. One reason for its success was its description of the early Christians, who were being persecuted by Nero, since until the 1970s, Christianity was still very important to everyone in the 'mass market'. If it were published today, few people would buy it, I expect, despite its being very good. No one cares about early Christians anymore, at least not in films. QUO VADIS was made into a famous Hollywood epic film in 1951 with Peter Ustinov playing Nero. I remember asking Peter, whom my wife and I knew very well, what it was like playing Nero. He said he had to remember to keep squinting up his eyes, because Nero was notoriously near-sighted. He felt ambivalent about giving the thumbs-down to the gladiators in the Colisseum, since although it made him feel powerful, it also made him feel guilty at the same time. The costumes worn by the kids in the school play are extremely lavish, well above the budget of any actual school play. Everything imaginable that could go wrong with the production does go wrong. Comic situations abound, and not only the Rascals but all the parents and adults attending the performance throw custard pieces in each other's face, so that a very congenial total chaos results.

I'm an Our Gang/Little Rascals fan, and I enjoy this episode immensely, I never tire of it. "Shivering Shakespeare" is about the kids acting in an adaptation of "Quo Vadis" made by Mrs Kennedy, who is conveniently hiding behind the curtains to help out the kids with the classic and a bit too complicated dialogue. The best thing about this episode is watching the kids act as kids; they have a natural grace that is fortunately not ruined by the fact that they are kid actors; you would say that they are just being themselves and practically unaware of the cameras.

Some of the best gags have Chubby as a protagonist -not having learned his dialogue well, he has taken notes on his robe, only to find out he's put on the robe inside out. There's also the gang of the kids who aren't in a play and have decided to turn it into a pie-throwing fest. 'Farina' is also at his best, scolding the teacher for "talking too much" when she's helping the kids with the forgotten dialogue. Very enjoyable is also Mary Ann Jackson, the leading lady, cheeky and adorable!

"Shivering Shakespeare" could be considered the first classic of the "Our Gang" talkie era. By now, Hal Roach Studios began to hit their stride in making talking pictures, and "Shakespeare" is the happy result.

The Gang is appearing in a version of Quo Vadis produced by Kennedy the Cop's wife. The kids don't find the play very fun to be in and are distracted by people in the theatre and cannot remember their lines. Among the funniest bits are Kennedy the Cop as the giant, who pulls off his makeup to fight an overzealous man in a bull costume; and the terrible dancing girl (played by director Bob McGowan's daughter.)

Several filmographies mention that "Shakespeare" has the first pie fight in a talkie. This may be true, seeing as they tried different speeds with the film during the fight. Buster Keaton's brother Harry is at the receiving end of one of the pies. Very funny and an early Gang talkie classic. 9 out of 10.

Shivering Shakespeare (1930)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Kennedy the Cop's wife puts on a play of "Quo Vadis" and wouldn't you know that she casts the gang to major parts. The first night of the play kicks off and naturally the kids begin to forget their lines and more bad stuff happens, which all leads to a big pie fight. Once again it seems the screenwriter didn't even try to make this thing funny. I'm sitting and watching this short and kept asking myself where it was trying to gain comedy from. From the forgotten lines? This didn't work. From the curtains falling at the wrong time? Perhaps this was suppose to be funny but it's not. Is the pie fight suppose to be funny? Well, I guess it is but I've yet to watch one that has made me laugh. I'm only familiar with the later day shorts and some of the silents but I'm finding those so much better than these early sound ones. Hopefully I'll run into some better ones soon.