Rating: 
Summary: define 'isthmus'
Review: 'Fly My Kite' is still one of the funniest shorts in the history of comedy. The boxing match with Grandma will have you rolling! And Dirty Dan has some of the silliest lines ever written! Pete does some fabulous acting, and the whole gang gets to whack the hell out of Dan. And don't miss Grandma's quick exit scene! What a hoot!
All the other shorts are great too! 'Reunion in Rhythm' has some hot tunes! It's a toss up between Algebra and Barclay as to who steals the scenes in 'Honkey Donkey'. 'Hook and Ladder' has all those Rube Goldberg inventions that we wanted to make as kids! And Spanky holds his own in 'Beginner's Luck', against some mighty talented troopers (isn't that Ethel Barrymore playing Spanky's grandmother? all the more amusing when the stage director refers to Spanky as 'Barrymore'!)
Well worth the price of admission!
Rating:
Summary: So Racist I Could Hardly Stand It !!
Review: Boy, was this a racist series of films! And absolutely no laughs whatever. Just because the kids seemed to not even notice there were differences in their skin color doesn't mean it wasn't racist. And just because they all treated each other with respect doesn't mean it wasn't brimming over with hate and hostility. And just because the kids, both black and white, are seen as the protaganists and the adults, the antagonists, doesn't mean this series wasn't attempting to exploit kids. How dare Hal Roach include black kids in these films and show them interacting comfortably with white kids, and on equal footing. What nerve. If Hal Roach had left black kids out of these movies, or done a better job being more sensitive to the black cause, we'd have a utopian society by now. Thank goodness reviewers like Dr. David Pilgrim, liberal Professor of Sociology at Ferris State University, and I, have gone out of our way to be offended. He is right about one thing, there is a nitwit among us.Seriously, what a great bunch of movies, for reasons that are obvious. Anyone with any sense realized that ages ago. Good grief.
Rating:
Summary: Our Gang and racism
Review: First of all, to argue that there are no racist elements in the Our Gang comedies is nonsense. The unfortunate fact is there are, but they *must* be taken in the context of the time the shorts were made. To quote OUR GANG: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE LITTLE RASCALS by Leonard Maltin & Richard W. Bann: "Black film historian Donald Bogle, in his excellent 1973 volume TOMS, COONS, MULATTOES, MAMMIES AND BUCKS, sums up the OUR GANG comedies this way:
'The Our Gang series revolved around a group of lower-middle-class American youngsters making their way through childhood in entertaining ups and downs, ins and outs, as black and white together tried figuring out life and play. Thoughout the series the black children spoke in a dialect of the familiar "dats" and "deres" as well as the "I is's", "you is's", and "we was's". On more than one occasion, Farina was seen banqueting on a colored man's favorite dishes - fried chicken and watermelon. In these respects, the adventures and lifestyles of the black children conformed to the accepted notions and attitudes of the day. But for the most part the approach to the relationships of the black children with the whites was almost as if there were no such thing as race at all. Indeed, the charming sense of Our Gang was that all the children were buffoons, forever in scraps and scrapes, forever plagued by setbacks and sidetracks as the set out to have fun, and everyone had his turn at being outwitted.'" I can't put it better than that. There was no maliciousness meant in the content of these shorts - it was comedy and nothing else. So lighten up and deal with the past.
Rating: 
Summary: Little Rascals
Review: Fly My Kite Beginner's Luck Hook And Ladder Teacher's Beau Reunion In Rhythm The First Round-up Hearts Are Thumps Little Rascals and Our Gang Comedies, made us feel as if we could conquer anything. This collection has 2 of my favorite episodes, Teacher's Beau and Fly a Kite. In Fly a Kite the Rascals and Granny use some old paper for a kites tail, and how she flys! Later Granny's mean nephew wants her to go to a home so he can sell all her possessions, home, furnishings and stocks. She's on her way because he has convinced her she is broke. But her greatest regret is not seeing the rascals daily. But, they come to her rescue. They all realize the paper on the kite's tail is valuable stocks. The day is saved. In Teacher's Beau Miss Crabtree is getting married. The rascals don't want to lose her so they sabatage all the food at the party she is giving for her class. The best and most enduring scene is when the rascals eat some food and all the soap they put into it becomes bubbles in their mouths. Again all is well when Miss Crabtree tells them she will return in the autum. Great fun and great memories of childhood. Even the youngest kids will relate and enjoy. I highly recoommend this collection.
Rating:
Summary: But how's the picture?
Review: Hey guys, forget about the trite debate - is the picture clear or fuzzy? Is the sound adequate? Have any of you seen better transfers? Sheesh...
Rating:
Summary: Happy to be ignorant
Review: I am looking forward to all the racial slurs in the future releases. Not only are they hilarious, it shows how bad things were and how attitudes have drastically changed in favor of the politically correct viewpoint. No racism isn't gone. Guess what? Never will be. But it is so cool to see television before politically correct sensorship strangled the creativity and "time stamp" quality that is televisions greatest asset.
Rating:
Summary: What Racism?
Review: I grew up watching the Little Rascals and adore this video. I am far from ignorant and will defend these videos till the end. Racism? What the hell are they talking about. Our Gang comedies were WAY ahead of their time. The fact that we are discussing them still some 75 years later is proof positive. Stymie, Buckwheat, and Farina are staples to the series LONG before african-americans (God forbid I say black) were in ANY TV shows. Tell me, where are the african-american characters in Gilligan's Island, Bewitched, Andy Griffith, My Three Sons, Lost in Space, Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, Charlie's Angels, etc. - or even as recent as Seinfeld & Cheers. What is wrong with you people? These are great shows, absolute classics. The problem with people today as that they don't know how to laugh at themselves. Trust me, even if you have never seen the Little Rascals, this video is worth every penny and then some.
Rating: 
Summary: I sho iz depressed watching these now
Review: I grew up watching the little Rascals in the 80s and I loved it as a kid.
Recently purchased a Little Rascals DVD collectors edition and although I didn't remember the episodes I still liked them for the silliness,and the fact that no matter what race or creed, the kids always hung out and played amongst each other and had each others back in times of need (especially when the Bully BUTCH came around)
But then I suddenly started feeling depressed that their were definitely blatant racism humor:
1.ALL the black kids wore oversized Floppy shoes (see Buckweat, Farina, Stymie)
2.The Black kids were ALWAYS the butt of every joke some more racist than others...For instance, if there were mud pies being thrown the white kid would duck and the black kid would stand up and he gets hit in the face instead...Sometimes Farina had a leading role in more episodes than 1 but it was a leading role to set him up for the BIG RACISM punchline everyone had come to expect with his character. 3.The Black kids always seemed to say dumb things and talked with an abundance of first generation "Slave talk" ie, "I sho iz tyudd".
4.The Black kids eyes were always practically "popping out" of their sockets in an attempt to express everything.
5.The overall portrayal of the popular Black characters: Buckwheat with the bushy hairdo (as if combs weren't a necessity back then) Farina had like 20 braids on the top of his head with 50 barrets in them, Stymie had a bald head with a small hat to make his head look bigger. No doubt when you watch this you should really turn your brain off and take it for what it is and enjoy the nostalgia, thinking too much as I did while watching this will depress you.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Have for those who grew up loving the Little Rascles
Review: I grew up watching the Little Rascles, and now I am able to share the experience with my four children. I enjoyed these films more than I did when I was a child. I laughed so hard at times I couldn't breathe. This set of films are a must have. You will not regret making this purchase.
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!
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