Duel Personalities

MGM did lots of things quite well... with 'all the stars in the heavens' they could knock out dramas, weepers, and make their lowliest B picture look like most other studios' A list product. MGM's weaknesses in the 30's were in their musicals (which would soon vastly improve with the creation of the so-called Freed unit and the hiring of the multi-talented Vincent Minnelli) and most noticeably with their comedies. Where MGM really dropped the ball was with their handling of the OUR GANG shorts--- for all it's strengths, the industry's premier studio never brought in any one person to personally supervise the long running series they purchased from Hal Roach in 1937. This lack of interest would result in an agonizingly slow and unfunny decline in these final 51 entries. Most critics agree that the best of the MGM OUR GANGS barely meet the intangible qualities of even the most mediocre Hal Roach productions. DUEL PERSONALITIES, the 9th MGM OUR GANG short, happens to be one of the better ones. Alfalfa falls under the influence of a hypnotist (well played by serial actor John Davidson) who convinces the cow-lick he's D'Artagnan and that he should not allow his girl (Darla, of course) to be stolen away by Butch... so Alfalfa challenges Butch to a duel. Darla overhears how the winner's to be chosen and plays the rivalry to the hilt and turns the table on the boys by ending up with Waldo (Darwood Kaye). Look for Doodles Weaver (Sigourney's uncle) as the goofy assistant. The MGM OUR GANG's are a challenge to rate--- judged against a Roach, this would be a 5, within the dismal context of the MGM shorts, a 9.

Duel Personalities (1939)

*** (out of 4)

Alfalfa and his buddies are walking through a side show when they see a hypnotist at work. Young Alfalfa doesn't believe what he sees so he volunteers to go on stage where he gets hypnotized into thinking he's one of the Three Musketeers. Before he can wake up he challenges Butch to a fight over Darla. DUEL PERSONALITIES is another winner from the MGM series, which there probably wasn't very many of. I think all the credit for this film's success has to go to Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer who does a terrific job and really delivers a fun performance. The highlight of the short is clearly his time on the stage where he gets to re-enact the Three Musketeer story and the actors does such a good job that you can't help but have a smile on your face. This here is especially true when he rushes over the Darla to flirt with her in front of Butch who grows angry about it. These here are certainly the best moments but the finale is also pretty good as Butch and Alfalfa have a little plan that ends up back firing on them. The supporting cast includes Buckwheat and Spanky doing nice work and even Darla comes across as fun here. Fans of the series usually overlook all the MGM shorts but this one here actually works and has some of that magic that made the earlier films so entertaining at times.

This M-G-M comedy short, Duel Personalities, is the one hundred seventy-eighth entry in the "Our Gang" series and the ninetieth talkie. The gang are on their way to see a performance of a hypnotist but are waiting for Alfalfa who's once again brushed off by Darla for Butch. As they watch the show, Alf volunteers to be tested by the hypnotist but before Alf can be snapped back to normal, he confronts Butch and Darla and challenges his rival to a duel. Darla, naturally, is thrilled...Plenty more happens but I'll just now say this was perhaps the most funny of the M-G-M entries which will soon be in very short supply in laughs subsequently. This may also be the peak of the entertainment value of seeing Darla's rivals trying to one-up each other. Don't want to mention any more so on that note, Duel Personalities is well worth a look. P.S. This was the first time the name of the fictional town of Greenpoint was mentioned as Our Gang's residential place.