The Old Wallop

This Hal Roach comedy short, The Old Wallop, is the sixty-eighth in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series. If anyone reading this review is familiar with that beginning sentence, you might have read my comments on most of the other Our Gang shorts I reviewed under my previous username tavm. Anyway, in this one toddler Wheezer likes to punch anyone who comes in contact with him and they're not harmless little ones, that's for sure! (In the later talkie entry Choo-Choo!, Spanky did the same thing but I don't think it was as harmful!) One by one, gang members are offered decreasing amounts of dough to watch him for an hour but it doesn't even last a minute with many of them. Farina is the last of the kids to do so before some adults get the unfortunate treatment. Eventually, Farina wanders to a construction site where a crane with one of the floor parts takes him up several feet. So the gang now has to try to rescue him. I found the whole thing funny and a bit thrilling. Hope the kids weren't too traumatized if what was depicted really happened. So that's a high recommendation of The Old Wallop. P. S. This was the second Our Gang short distributed by a new studio after producer Hal Roach let his previous option with the Pathe Exchange lapse. (The first one, Yale vs. Harvard, is still considered lost and if you want to know why Roach broke with Pathe, read my review of The Smile Wins.) Here's what Hal told Leonard Maltin and Richard W. Bann, authors of the book "The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang", about his decision concerning a new distributor: "I was in New York when I first realized that Pathe was going to have serious management troubles. So I talked to Paramount and Metro, and I liked the deal with Metro much better than the deal with Paramount. Nick Schneck, at the time, was the head of Loew's Theatre Circuit, and also the president of M-G-M, so I made the deal with him because they wanted our pictures for their theatres." And what did Roach say about the other M-G-M boss, Louis B. Mayer? "Well, Louie Mayer and I were friendly for years, but he never forgave me for not coming to him first and making the deal with him!" That agreement would last eleven years but that's another story...

Several times a year I have to begin one of these reviews by noting that the movie I am reviewing, despite insistence by some noted authority to the contrary, is available, has been available for some time and with any luck will be available for the foreseeable future. In this particular case, you can look at this one on YouTube, with a fine score compiled from Leroy Shield cues. A copy of the movie turned up in the 1970s on a French show-at-home version (in a 9.5 mm. format), missing the first minute and the English language titles. However, since Roach filed a cutting continuity with the Library of Congress for copyright purposes, a fan found it perfectly feasible to recreate the original titles and make the result available. So go take a look, even though people are still going to insist that there ain't no such animal as The Old Wallop.

It's a typically fine example of Our Gang from the period. In this one, Wheezer has a leading role. He is still a baby at this point, but he likes to hit people on the nose, and his folks encourage him to do so. This takes up the first half. The second half involves the Gang wandering off (as they frequently did) and climbing atop a construction site while the builders have gone to lunch (which happened less frequently, but still...). This sort of thrill comedy was a well-run standard at Roach, and it's fine to see the kids get in on the gag.

In case you are wondering HOW folks could review this lost film, it's because it's NO LONGER LOST and can be found on YouTube.

The plot to "The Old Wallop" really makes no sense at all and is a pretty bad one compared to most of the silent Our Gang comedies. It seems that Jackie's baby brother, Wheezer, is a homicidal maniac and loves punching people in the face. As for the parents, they think it's cute and allow him to viciously attack Jackie. Not surprisingly, the kid spares no one and throughout the film he punches several other kids as well as adults.

Who thought this was a funny gimmick for a comedy?! Instead of laughing, I was rather horrified to watch Wheezer act like a little monster...and his parents enjoying this! Huh??!! Fortunately, after a while they abandon the punching plot...but they replace it with the kids playing around a highrise being built and it's pretty horrifying as well! I think this sort of thing worked much better with adults, such as Laurel & Hardy in "Liberty" and Harold Lloyd in "Safety Last". With kids, however, it just felt rather wrong. Now I know they really DIDN'T endanger the kids....but it sure seemed that way. It just makes you think they don't make 'em like they used to....and in this case that's not such a bad thing! A frightful film that lacks the humor to make it work....and one that could have remained lost if you ask me.