July Days

July Days (1923)

** (out of 4)

Weaker Our Gang short takes place during your typical summer day as the kids are messing around. The gang decides to start picking on a new kid in town until his sister Mary stands up for him. At first sight Mickey falls in love with her and tries to win her heart. I'll admit that at times I do wonder what made this series so popular that it would last for nearly twenty-years with countless actors stepping into various roles. I'm sure kids ate this stuff up back in the day but this one here is without question one of the weakest from the silent era. I think the biggest problem is the lack of any real ideas because there's really nothing too clever here. The first half has the kids pretty much just standing around not doing too much. Mickey gets a scooter from Mr. Anderson and Jackie eventually tries to steal it from him. They fight. The kids pick on the new kid and they fight. Neither thing is very funny. The second half picks up some as we get a few cute scenes including Mickey questioning his sister's boyfriend on how to pick up women. The "date" that Mickey and Mary goes on has a few cute moments including an incident with his pants but the twenty-minute running time really drags along and there simply aren't enough laughs to keep it moving.

This Hal Roach comedy short, July Days, is the eighteenth in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series. In this one, a blacksmith named "Dad" Anderson, has invented a sailing scooter. Mickey has one and when Joe asks about it, he goes to Anderson to get one, too. The town bully ("Jack-Wants to grow up and be tough-he has a good start."), picks a fight with a girl when Mickey sees it and tells him to stop. The girl flirts with Mickey but he's not interested. When he sees the new girl, however, he's instantly smitten. Her name is Mary and she is introduced when she sees them beating up on her little brother, Jackie. After that, Mickey takes her on a ride and then tries to woo her with a song while dressing in pots and pans posing as a knight. I'll stop there and just say that while there are plenty of hilarious scenes there's also some nice ones like Mickey asking about her sister's preparing a date before he does some of what she and her date do. Nice use of the LeRoy Shield theme at the beginning and end. Really, I highly recommend July Days. Oh, and "Dad" Anderson is played by Richard Daniels, Mickey's father.

In the sixteenth entry of the Our Gang Series, Richard Daniels is making prairie schooners for the kids. Jack Davis is bullying anyone he can get his hand on, and Julia Brown, the new girl in town, gets into a tongue-sticking-out content with Mickey Daniels. It's one of those endless July days, when there's no school, the chores are all done, and the possibilities are endless.

This seems to be Miss Brown's last of three appearances as a member of Our Gang, in one of those idylls in which kids could play in the endless boulevards, with not a care in the world, except how to hitch the goat up to the cart to impress your girl by taking her for a ride. Robert McGowan takes his time with his actors and their gags, and why not? The summer, after all, will never end.

As the kids are all riding about on cool scooters which are sail powered, Mickey gets distracted by Mary, the new girl. He's smitten and tries very hard to impress her. But Mickey is a wimp and even Mary's little brother, Jackie , as well as Farina push Mickey around in this film. To impress her, he has hid friend make him a suit of armor...and somehow this gives Mickey the courage he needs to not only stand up for himself but impress the girl.

This is an unusual Our Gang film because it seems to rely much less on gags and laughs and more on Mickey and his life saga! I didn't mind this...and the short film is well worth seeing.