Boxing Gloves

Sometimes I am shocked how bad (i.e. "Harry, Joe, Wheezer") or how good (i.e. "Farina, Chubby, etc.") some of these young kids are in the acting department. In these early Our Gang shorts, a few got a little famous, though, and no more more than the kid who makes his debut here in a cameo role: Jackie Cooper.

Cooper plays a paying customer to a fight being promoted by Farina and Harry with the boxers being Wheezer and Beezer - two little guys who have no clue what do to in the ring and don't have their heart into it anyway. When Cooper demands his "money" back, Farina asks, "Whad'ya expect? Jack Dempsey and Benny Leonard?" In the next Our Gang short, Cooper is part of the group but I don't think they explained how that happened.

Anyway, the promoters - speaking of Dempsey - need some heavyweight boxers to draw a crowd, so they get Chubby and Joe after Farina spot the two fighting over a girl. He puts their temporary animosity to good (and funny) use! The boxing match between the two heavy kids takes up almost the entire second half of the film is pretty comical. Check out the misspelled signs, too, which are cute.

The odd thing is that the sound goes off a number of times when the camera pans back for a crowd shot. Only the closeups then does the sound return. Since this was 1929 and the beginning of "talkies," crowd noise was obviously too difficult to handle here.

Still, the short provides a number of good slapstick comedy scenes, something you always got with old-time comedies featuring boxing.

Boxing Gloves (1929)

*** (out of 4)

Fat Joe and Chubby agree not to fight over girls and that promise lasts a few seconds until one walks by wanting a soda. Farina sees them fighting and decides to put them in his boxing ring in order to make some money. This is the first of the sound Our Gang shorts that I really liked and this one here benefits from a nice screenplay as well as better technical qualities. It seems the quality of this early sound features finally went over well as there aren't any annoying glitches or performances due to the new technology and this makes for a more pleasant film. The screenplay here also has a narrative for the first time out of the first four shorts and it's a very good one. We get all sorts of nice and funny action with the two fat kids running around having their pants ripped and fighting. The boxing match contains plenty of laughs as the two kids think the other is going to fall down in the second round but the thing just keeps going. Jackie Cooper makes his first appearance here.

This is one of my favorites!Very funny.Joe and Chubby are at odds over the lovely Jean.They won't fight because:Joe can't get mad enough,and Chubby is a scared!Of course fight promoter Farina convinces each one that the other will throw the fight! At that time women weren't allowed at boxing matches,so poor Mary Ann is refused admittance and resorts to a few failed attempts,before finally sneaking in.I read that this was Jackie Cooper's debut with the gang,and it was an auspicious one.His big contribution was to be dragged from ringside by Mary Ann,only to have her take his place dressed in his clothes! Still it's entertaining and the fight scenes are very funny!

Another reviewer indicated that this was a curiosity, and it sure was! When I first watched "Boxing Gloves," I turned the sound way up on the tv, thinking that there might be something wrong with the soundtrack. The large stretches without sound during what surely would have been very noisy sequences are very unsettling...some clever director should make use of this technique! A very entertaining episode.

"Boxing Gloves" was the third "Our Gang" talkie filmed, but the fourth to be released (following "Lazy Days.") The film marks the debut of Jackie Cooper in the Gang.

Farina and Harry are boxing promoters who have to result to promoting a fight between preschoolers Wheezer and Beezer to fill the card. While they would love to book a match between heavyweights Joe and Chubby, they've been pals for years. Farina and Harry convince the duo to fight, with very funny results.

"Boxing Gloves" is fun to watch, but it is a curiosity. The film, although billed as "All-Talking," is actually part silent/part talkie. There are long gaps during the the heavyweight fight that are entirely silent. Why the director filmed it this way is unknown. One idea I have for why this may have occurred is that sound equipment was extremely sensitive at this time, and the fear could have been that crowd noise could have damaged the equipment. It does seem that when the crowd is at their noisiest, the mikes go silent, so this well could have been the reason.

"Boxing Gloves" is fun, however, and enjoyable to watch. This was the earliest talkie syndicated by King World when "The Little Rascals" came to TV. 6 out of 10.