Product Details

• Actors: Ernest Morrison, John Hatton, Anna Mae Bilson, Jackie Condon, Mickey Daniels
• Directors: Robert F. McGowan
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Studio: American Home Entertainment
• VHS Release Date: March 3, 1998
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000006ELJ
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #613,243 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I would rate it about 3 and a half stars, December 20, 2000

By 

Pat Akela (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Our Gang: Best of Spanky [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I think only one of these shorts is really funny (GOIN' FISHIN', which is about a bus trip) but the rest aren't bad and have some good moments, especially THE BIG PREMIERE, which has the Gang making an amateur movie. UNEXPECTED RICHES has them digging for buried treasure and COME BACK MISS PIPPS is about their beloved, unjustly-fired teacher.

There are a few moments of ethnic stereotyping - in RICHES, Buckwheat passes out free watermelon and fried chicken to a black neighborhood, and in PREMIERE he briefly plays Robinson Crusoe's Friday (although dressed like himself, as it's a sloppy production) in the home-movie, but they come across as mild, especially in the context of Our Gang, which in 1942 was providing almost (maybe not even almost) the only Hollywood films that portrayed black and white friends interacting as equals.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Decent, But Not the "Best of" Spanky, March 17, 2004

By 

A.Trendl HungarianBookstore.com "What should ... (Glen Ellyn, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Our Gang: Best of Spanky [VHS] (VHS Tape)

These aren't really the best of Spanky, but they all do have him as the star. The best Spanky shorts date back to the early 1930s. By 1940, George "Spanky" McFarland was 12. Even though his acting here is excellent, the scripts are not as strong, and he lacks the charm he had when he was six.

You'll see Alfafa, Froggy, and Mickey in addition to Spanky.

Any of the "Our Gang" shorts is worth having. With only four of the lesser films and no supporting features, wait for a digital version, with remastered sound and video.

Four short films are on this video.

"The Big Premiere" (1940)
Imitating the premieres of the Hollywood movie set, tries to make their own film, complete with a hilarious attempt at making cement footprints.

"Come Back, Miss Phipps" (1941)
The superintendent fires the kids' teacher when she throws a small birthday party for Mickey (played by Robert Blake of "Baretta" fame). To bring her back, the kids put on a play for the school board explaining what the superintendent did.

"Unexpected Riches" (1942)
When a penny-for-your-weight machine tells the kids they will have unexpected riches, they are conned into helping rich kid Ken dig a hole. Ken was told by his dad to dig, but the kids think there is treasure buried there. They dream of what they'll do with their new found wealth.

"Goin' Fishin'" (1940)
The kids want to go fishing and get up early. They grab a bus, but have all kinds of problems getting on, and have no help from the conductor.

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The Worst of Spanky, December 22, 2005

By 

Scott T. Rivers (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Our Gang: Best of Spanky [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This MGM compilation represents a pale shadow of the classic Hal Roach shorts. When Roach sold the Our Gang series to MGM in 1938, the creative decline became painfully evident. These one-reel travesties lack the charm and spontaneity of the Roach efforts - underscoring MGM's sledgehammer approach to slapstick comedy. Spanky, Alfalfa and company were badly served in these joyless endeavors.