Aladdin's Lantern

The last of Gordon Douglas's two shorts for MGM, alas.

MGM would soon populate every fourth short with a musical extravaganza, but at this stage things still looked creaky and homemade, even if it's unlikely that Spanky could have coaxed all those talented child dancers to come and do an elaborate number for an iffy Arabian Nights play. Meanwhile, Porky and Buckwheat are continually stealing the show (literally and meta-literally) doing their version of "While Strolling Through The Park One Day." Though why is Buckwheat shirtless? It's a little odd.

So it's a fairly fun short, though the laugh factor of Alfalfa's off-key warbling is debatable. And the Gang Member in drag bit was done better in "Pay As You Exit." Recommended, though, just because Porky and Buckwheat are an adorable team.

Aladdin's Lantern (1938)

** (out of 4)

The third film in MGM's Our Gang series is pretty forgettable. Alfalfa is putting on a show, which of course sells out to the local kids. Once the show starts, however, he sees that Porky and Buckwheat keep stealing the spotlight with their take on "While Strolling Through the Park One Day." ALADDIN'S LANTERN is a pretty forgettable effect, which is a shame because the early days of the group managed to pull off several entertaining films dealing with the gang putting on shows for the local kids. There are many problems here but I think the biggest is the rather lazy screenplay, which seems to resort to hoping people remember the earlier, better shorts and perhaps they'll overlook the various flaws here. The biggest flaw is the fact that there's just nothing all that funny going on here. There's a sequence with Alfalfa singing and not knowing (at first) that there's a fire going on under him. I will say that Porky and Buckwheat steal the picture but one wishes Alfalfa would have just gotten knocked out so that they could have finished their song. I'm sure fans of the series will still want to check this out but it's a pretty mediocre entry.

...is a pleasant but undistinguished addition to the series' mini-musicals (which I have never wholeheartedly appreciated). I liked the tap-dance solo to "Your Broadway and My Broadway," the stage effects, and all of Porky and Buckwheat's scenes, but all in all I agree that this film isn't original enough.

Weak entry in the Our Gang films is like several other of the shorts where the gang decides to put on a show. The only real difference is that the budget is clearly bigger and the film looks slightly better.

The plot is that the gang put on the Aladdin tale complete with dancing girls, songs and monkeys. Its so familiar in the way its done that I'm left to wonder if the film uses stock footage from earlier films. Whats worse is that the songs and dancing derail the rest of the film since running a scant 10 minutes the film barely has time to build up any sort of momentum. The only way this is worth seeing it is if you stumble on it or see it as part of a collection.

Rather tepid Our Gang short, with the standard elements (monkey hijinks, Alfalfa song) not amounting to very much. Porky & Buckwheat steal the show (literally) and the flying carpet's not bad, but overall just so-so.