Classic Flix's digitally restored Blu-ray rollout of the Hal Roach Our Gang/Little Rascals shorts contradicts the longstanding legend that these comedy favorites were embargoed (according to rumor, locked away by Bill Cosby himself) over outdated racist humor. Here are the Our Gang performers in their effortlessly charming and often hilarious prime (with MGM's original title cards rarely seen in TV syndication).
Having said that...This set of the talkie-era Our Gang shorts opens with one of the most problematic, "The Kid From Borneo," from 1933. Even before "wokeness" some television stations shunned this entry in their Hal Roach syndicated time slots. Spanky's long-estranged Uncle George, a carnie, arrives with his new sideshow attraction a "Wild Man of Borneo," a stereotypical bone-in-the-nose native straight outta Skull Island exhibited as a fearsome cannibal. Mistaken by the gang for Uncle George (because George is the "black sheep," get it?), the wild man rampages through the house, repeating "Yum yum eat 'em up!" Of course, the wild man is fed on candy, not people, but the children don't know that.
"Borneo" commits the twin offenses of being both offensive and not too funny (though Spanky has some cute lines). The rest of the collection generally goes uphill from there—although know that other shorts, particularly "For Pete's Sake," have a running joke (that also tended to be scissored for TV airings) that Stymie's non-verbal kid sister (sometimes called Marmalade, sometimes—confusingly—Buckwheat), led by her brother on a makeshift leash, often wound up being harmlessly hanged...from door jambs, from tree limbs. The regular lynching-imagery riff, akin to the fate of doomed Kenny on South Park, is breathtaking nowadays.
Defenders will and have declared that otherwise the Little Rascals were desegregated and equitable long before most entertainment institutions, and Stymie is close a leader of the gang in some of these, before marvelously expressive young actor Matthew Beard aged out of the part.
Other highlights here include Tommy Bond, in an orphanage talent show in "Mush and Milk," belting out a torrid torch tune "Just Friends" (later a standard for Frank Sinatra and Bobby Darin), still a laugh-out-loud moment. Two consecutive shorts, "Bedtime Worries" and "Wild Poses," provided sarcastic little Spanky with a short-lived backstory as an affluent Depression-era child, pampered—but never spoiled—by his parents (Emerson Treacey and Gay Seabrook, a comedy duo in the manner of George Burns and Gracie Allen). The children were more often lower/working class or downright penniless, matched against rich kids or stuffy upscale households, in "Hi-Neighbor!" "Washee Ironee" and "Honkey-Donkey."
The set also includes the especially atmospheric Spanky showcase "Mama's Little Pirate," a morality-tale episode in which the gang's discovery of a treasure-filled cave becomes a nightmare with the sudden entrance of a medieval-style giant. Under the makeup, costume and dubbed-in grumbling were Ralph "Tex" Madsen, a 7-foot-six ranch hand who found considerable showbiz exposure as "The World's Tallest Cowboy." Fans have pointed out a simpatico resemblance to The Goonies, much later on.
It is a recommended set for classic and J-oriented library shelves, but buyers should be aware of the racially insensitive parts, worthy at times of Spanky's foil Scotty's world-weary catchphrase "They'll never learn." A side-by-side comparison of the digitally restored vs. unrestored originals comprises the main disc extra.