recommended

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This is a pretty poor Our Gang film--plus it marks the last appearances by Wheezer and Dickie Moore. Wheezer's career pretty much disappeared after this, though Dickie went on to one of the more popular child actors of the mid-1930s. So why do I say this one is poor? Well, aside from the ending, it just isn't very funny and the setup is pretty bad as well.The film begins in a boarding school. However, it's run by an ugly old hag who beats and starves the kids!! It's all WAY overdone--especially giving the nasty old lady a giant whip! Talk about lacking subtlety. There is one bright spot in the place--an old retired captain who loves the kids and vows to one day take them away from this rat hole. What follows is a lengthy school scene where the Captain teaches the kids absolutely nothing of value and it's littered with really, really lame jokes. At the end, however, the old guy strikes it rich and treats all the kids to a wonderful meal...or so he thinks.Overall, pretty bad and worth skipping unless you are a die-hard fan.

Okay, we all know how good most of the Our Gang comedies are, and this this is certainly one of the best. That said, I think it's fascinating how these shorts also serve as historical documents. For example, the actress who plays Cap's wife, Louise Emmons, was born in 1852. The president at the time was Millard Fillmore! This is nine full years before Abe Lincoln was elected! He was probably still splitting logs in 1852. Just imagine sitting with Louise during lunch at the studio commissary and picking her brains.

An OUR GANG Comedy ShortIt's just MUSH AND MILK for the Rascals to eat at the Bleak Hill Boarding School, which is run by a wicked old crone. Her elderly brother, Cap, loves the kids and has promised them a good life if ever his back pension arrives. Spanky, Stymie & the Gang wonder if that day will ever come...This is a very funny little film. Highlights include Stymie & Dickie trying to milk a cow, Spanky's recitation of Mary Had A Little Lamb & Butch's crooning `Just Friends'. That's Cap Leonard as Cap, Louise Emmons as his dreadful wife and - hilariously - James Finlayson as the banker.This was to be the last OUR GANG appearance by Dickie or Wheezer. Richard `Dickie' Moore had been with the Gang for two years and was featured in 7 of their films. He appeared in several other movies before leaving the business in the 1950's. He's now married to actress Jane Powell. Bobby `Wheezer' Hutchins had become a Rascal at the tender age of two, and now, at the ripe old age of eight, had starred in 59 shorts. He made no more films. In 1945 he died in a military plane crash - he was only 19 years old.

I remember seeing this Our Gang short as a child. It was funny then. It's even funnier now seeing it as an adult. This is a great vehicle for the Our Gang kids. A very young Spanky is a stand out. His poetry reading and phone conversation scenes steal the show. The film also makes great use of young Tommy Bond, several years before he took on the role of the gang's arch nemesis Butch. His heartfelt singing could go up against Alfalfa any day. This is a wonderful example of the fine talent and comic timing the Our Gang kids had. It's one of their best shorts.