Tired Business Men

I thought I had seen just about every one of the Our Gang shorts, from the early, plotless ones before they figured out what they were doing, to the last obnoxious MGM offerings. I was delighted to find one new to me in a fuzzy but pleasantly amber-toned copy. Fat boy Joe Cobb wants to join the kid's club, but their initiation is rougher than a fraternity hazing, and he gets kicked out. He vows his vengeance, so the Gang threatens to cut off his appendix. Joe's father is a cop, so he convinces them he can use his whistle to summon a horde of policemen and bluffs his way into leadership and tormenting them as they had him.

It's one of the shorts in which Our Gang has duplicated a private club to the best of their ability, using old junk and animal-powered contraptions. While it's not my favorite variety of the Gang's adventures -- those are the ones in which the kids fill up two reels with random bits of kids doing kid's stuff -- it does showcase series mastermind Bob McGowan's charming ability to remember how we thought when we were kids and were so anxious to be adults. Alas, now that I am, I never realized how good I had it!

The story begins with Joe moving into the neighborhood. The kids there have a cool clubhouse with bowling, pool and more....and naturally Joe wants to join. But the kids are jerks and they put him through a brutal hazing...and then don't let him join after they torment him. So, to get back at them, Joe comes up with a plan...to let them know his father's a cop and pretend that he'll lcok up the kids whenever Joe wants...all Joe needs to do is blow the police whistle and the police will come and arrest them! Fortunately for Joe, they believe him!! What's next? See the film.

The fact the kids are mean jerks isn't that unusual for a silent Our Gang comedy. These kids were NOT the nice, bland ones of the later comedies...they often WERE jerks which is why these early films are far superior to the bland ones made from 1938 to 1942 by MGM. Most enjoyable to see Joe dispensing justice to these kids...that is until a real robber arrives! What's next? See the film.

This is a violent and clever film. I appreciate that the kids are jerks and it makes this one worth seeing.