Rating: 
Summary: Childhood memories flood back!
Review: I grew up with TV (the old, fuzzy black & white kind). One of my fondest memories was of watching The Little Rascals after school. When the restored versions showed up on VHS tape, I immediately bought several, but the others soon disappeared from the store shelves. I discovered and bought this double DVD set and LOVED the restored quality of picture and sound! My childhood memories came flooding back to me, and made me hunger for more. I can only hope that the rest of the series will be released also, and soon! Any lovers of The Little Rascals will appreciate the great quality of this set. Don't be misled by earlier cheap releases of The Little Rascals DVD's. This one is THE one to get!
Rating:
Summary: Enjoy for What it is............
Review: I have read the reviews here, and feel a small need (I know it will change nothing as far as the world goes) but I still will share. I grew up watching/loving the Little Rascals. I LOVE them still. I didn't notice who was black, white, who had crap clothes or over sized shoes, I just knew they all had adventures together, and I enjoyed. Personally speaking, I grew up in Jersey, and our whole circle of friends was a melting pot of cultures, colors, languages, likes, dislikes.....It wasn't till I was 14 that I discovered I wasn't of Italian descent, but was English/Irish. We still laugh at that, and I am now 47. Who cares! Yes, people can/are portrayed as subhuman in film, TV etc etc, but as a kid, I never knew that. We were just all "people". It was only when I was older and the News would come on, History Lessons at school, I would hear kids at school, book store chat, and I realized the absolute horror that one human being thought they were better than another based on color or religion. I will never forget that day of extreme realization. As an absolute believer in a Creator that loves all- Acts 10:34 (God is not impartial) and Ps 37:29 (Meek will inherit the earth), till the whole theme of the Bible is realized, I just enjoy "The Little Rascals" for what they are to me. Kids having fun-little adventures.
Our daughter is now 25, married and is every bit loving of all, and all the while growing up, she too enjoyed The Little Rascals.
Rating:
Summary: Baby Boomer with money looking for complete set.
Review: I have the VHS set, there is nothing like DVD format, unless HD DVD comes out. Anyway I have been checking the internet over and over again for the next volumes and can not believe that any industry would not releases this. Don't they know the baby bommers have the money and are ready to buy.
Rating:
Summary: when life was so simple!!I
Review: I truely love 'Little Rascals, Vol. 1&2. It brought back such treasured memories of the simplier times of life and how such was made of the simple things. Things like bubbles from Alfalfa's mouth when he sang. How I wish such simple funny things exhisted with today's modern movies!!
Rating:
Summary: A few bound-to-be-unpopular comments
Review: I'm always seeing Little Rascals fans complaining about the tensions that have come up over the series' racial jokes. I haven't yet come across anyone on the net who has claimed the series is offensive, but I have seen plenty of people on the net angered by the idea of others finding even parts of it offensive, as when AMC decided not to air some of the more controversial shorts. (Note on Ken Giorlando's comment--the old rumor that Bill Cosby denounced the Little Rascals and tried to keep them off the air is false. Go to any website specializing in urban legends if you need further proof.) Yes, the films were funny, and the ones in Vol. 1 & 2 are mostly better than average. Yes, its plots pitted the poor against the rich rather than black against white. And yes, overall it had a very positive, groundbreaking attitude toward blacks and integration, as compared to its contemporaries in the twenties and thirties. It deserves credit for that. Most of the Our Gang films (including all the ones on this DVD) are still pleasant to watch today in this regard, which is more than you can say for most other scenes in mainstream Hollywood films of the era that used blacks in substantial roles. But if anyone honestly believes that a series that includes "A Lad An' A Lamp," "The Kid From Borneo", "Chicken Feed" and every other film making a joke comparing black kids to monkeys was never guilty of some really ugly sentiments, I would like to know why. If anyone truly thinks that it's not creepy when we're told, in all seriousness, that the Wild Man in "The Kid From Borneo" only has the mental capacity of a seven year old, I am curious to hear the rationale. And that's not the worst of it. ("Lodge Night", anyone?) This kind of thing was rare in the films, and none of it appears in the ones collected here, but when it DID happen, it's hard to overlook, and it tends to make people at least look twice at the lesser racial jokes (like those constant offhand comments from Stymie and Farina about their daddy being in jail). I don't want anyone reading this who is unfamiliar with the Little Rascals to get the wrong impression of the series as a whole or this DVD in particular. Everything in my second paragraph is true, and that aspect of the series leaves the stronger impression. But I am really tired of comments that imply Our Gang wasn't racist PERIOD. It just wasn't like that.
Rating: 
Summary: Why no subtitles?
Review: I'm not surprised that Hallmark doesn't plan to release any more of the series. They didn't even bother to include subtitles in this edition. The sound quality is already poor, and subtitles would help young viewers and non-native speakers understand the dialogue of these motion picture classics. As for the series' putative racism, there is certainly much more racism in today's children's shows--for example, in South Park--though the racism is against white Christians. KB
Rating:
Summary: ONE IS NOT ENOUGH
Review: If your a baby boomer, like me, then you will remember watching Our Gang and The Little Rascals on TV. Watching this brought back SO many wonderful memories that it made me hungry for many more. The images are clear and the audio is clean. I hope the next volume is not far behind.
Rating:
Summary: Little Rascals was a series before it time,its not racist
Review: iglzs, the first reviewer is right on target. As an African American child growing up in the late fifties and early sixties,
the little rascals let me see people of my own race on tv. The shows were hilarious, and that was a bonus, my children 29,26,25,and 14 loved the show. All the childrn on the show were
treated the same. I have read about and studied the history of the show. At one time, Stymie was the highest paid child on the show. You may see a some evidence of the times the shows were made ln , the twenties and the thirties, we cannot go back and change this.We can only learn from them
The show lets people know that all children can get along with each, and so can adults. Nothing is perfect. But, how sad it
would be if we did not have the fabulous shows of the Little Rascals. It is a visual, historical reference that is irreplacable.
Rating: 
Summary: If you defend these videos you are ignorant.
Review: It makes me sick to see people actually defend these videos. People say that they are just a representation of the times. I agree. Those were times where animosity toward Black people was widespread and unhidden. Blacks were getting lynched regularly in the South. They were not allowed to eat or drink in public places, except for those of lesser quality that were made specifically for them. They were not allowed to own property in many parts of the South (which was actually used at one point to keep them from voting). Blacks were seen as less than human. These videos are full representations of that time in history.
For those of you who continue to defend these videos, wake up! The country is still healing from centuries of racism and discrimination. Perpetuating relics from the past like The Little Rascals as authentic and innocent do not help us to purge the hatred that still permeates society. In fact, you are probably the same people that go around saying that racism, sexism, and xenophobia do not exist, hence there is no need for affirmative action programs to help the women and minorities overcome the ethnocentrism of many white males who are in positions of power throughout the nation who would otherwise never even consider hiring a woman or Black person or immigrant.
God forbid you are school teachers or police officers, people who have a responsibility to protect us or educate our children. I better 'home school' my kids!
Rating:
Summary: MORE! MORE! MORE!
Review: It's very disheartening to read a previous review of this DVD and find out that Hallmark does not plan to release the complete Cabin Fever VHS titles on DVD. I do not understand why. As popular as the format is becoming you'd think they'd jump on it, but I guess that's where the power of "ownership" comes in. Or maybe Bill Cosby convinced them that these wonderful shorts are 'racist' and, therefore, should not see the light of day on such a permanent format. Whatever the case, these comedy shorts are perhaps the best and funniest of any other series of the 20th century-the highest quality, that's for sure. Forget the movie from a few years ago that ripped off these originals and show your kids the REAL thing (and give them a taste of the real thing to drink-Coca Cola-instead of all of this new crap). Teach them what true kid comedy is. The price is right. C'mon Hallmark, get on the ball and release the complete Hal Roach set (including the silents). There are fans out there that have the right to these historical classics!
|
