Customer Reviews

Our Gang Comedies: The Best of Buckwheat [VHS]

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Hal Roach signed his OUR GANG series over to MGM in 1938 (later renaming his own OUR GANG works THE LITTLE RASCALS for TV); he might have reconsidered had he foreseen it taking such a nosedive. A lot of the post-Roach shorts are dire - the writing, acting, almost everything - and the majority are no more than mediocre...but anyone who gets their first exposure to the MGM entries via this tape will probably wonder why they get such constant flak.

They did a dandy job of separating the wheat from the chaff here. MEN IN FRIGHT (the kids' hospital adventure), GOING TO PRESS (their amateur newspaper story) and MIGHTY LAK A GOAT (their mishap with smelly chemicals) are winsomely funny. I don't personally like KIDDIE KURE (their encounter with a hypochondriac) as much, but I have to admit it's pretty good anyway. Buckwheat's role in each is not major, so the video title is a bit misleading, but better to see him supporting in these than starring in DON'T LIE. Overall, these films are a credit to the OUR GANG name, and I commend this and THE BEST OF SPANKY. And not much else, where the Metro period is concerned.

Buckwheat is one of my all time favorite Our Gang comedy children. He is witty and funny and all around cute. This is another must see for all Our Gang comedy lovers at a great price!

I'm a little surprised that this is still available, as it's a VHS tape, and it's from the overall least acclaimed era of Our Gang. It doesn't hold up to the best of the Hal Roach-directed films, and the "Best Of Buckwheat" title is very misleading. (Buckwheat's in these four films, certainly, but he's not the "star" of any of them.)
That said, these are most likely the finest of the MGM Our Gang films. In each case, you get some real laughs, excellent production, and at least some sense of the kids being the focus of the story. They're probably the only ones that feature Froggy or Mickey in likeable roles. Many (most)of the remaining MGMs are unfunny, over-produced, moral-of-the-day junkers only of value to completists. (The companion tapes "Best Of Spanky" and "Best Of Alfalfa" are less enjoyable for this reason.) "Goin' To Press" is my favorite and "Mighty Lak' A Goat" is very good, (you could call these two "The Best Of Froggy"). "Kiddie Kure" is not bad at all, and "Men In Fright" is as close to the Hal Roach style as this era ever got, mainly because it was one of the first filmed after the transition. "Men In Fright" also has the best cast with Spanky, Darla, Alfalfa, Buckwheat, and Porky still on board.
So if you still have a VHS player and have already seen most of the early, classic, Our Gang comedies already, "The Best Of Buckwheat" is a good deal, and at the current price, a heck of a bargain. If anyone ever decides to put the whole MGM set on DVD or Blu-Ray you can see for yourself the range of quality, but here you get just the good stuff.