Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jackie Cooper is introduced to the lovely Miss Crabtree, May 8, 2002
Volume 3 in the "Little Rascals" collection is quite different from the first two because the first three episodes focus on Jackie Cooper's infatuation with his new teacher, Miss Crabtree. "Teachers's Pet" (1930) finds the gang upset on the first day of school that their beloved Miss McGillicuddy has been replaced by a new teacher which the horrible name of Miss Crabtree. Of course she is a beautiful young blonde (June Marlowe) who happens to pick up Jack and Wheezer on the way to school. They proudly reveal some of the stunts they have for their new teacher: sneezing powder, red ants and a mouse. Fortunately, Miss Crabtree is not only good looking, she is pretty smart too. "Teachers' Pet" is a different type of "Our Gang" comedy, in that there it relies on the story rather than gadgets and action. This one has Jackie, Farina, Chubby, Wheezer, Echo, and Hercules. A fitting companion piece, "School's Out" (1930) is the next "Our Gang" comedy made but now it is the end of the school year and Jackie is passing around a "partition" for school to stay open all summer. Seems he likes Miss Crabtree a lot, which is why Jackie's crush makes him chase off the stranger who is asking after her. Jackie is not going to let this team get married and run away (but it is only her brother). There is a nice bit here involving a Miss Crabtree trying to give the kids a quiz. jackie, Farina, Chubby and Mary Ann have most of the action in this one.Jackie's love for Miss Crabtree continues to get the better of him in "Love Business" (1931). But now he has some serious competition. Miss Crabtree is now a border at Jackie's house and when Chubby shows up to propose marriage the insanely jealous Jackie sabotages his friends every romantic effort (Chubby had been practicing on a cutout of Greta Garbo). What is interesting here is that Miss Crabtree plays along, actually kissing him when he tells she is pretty; I sure do not remember my teachers being like this. But the fun here is between the romantic rivals, Jackie and Chubby. The final episode, "Spooky Hooky" (1936) offers up an entirely different set of Little Rascals: Buckwheat, Porky, Spanky, Alfalfa, and Von the Dog. However, school is still the common denominator, because the circus is coming to town and Spanky has a plan to get them out of class. Irony abounds, not only in that the plan almost backfires big time, but in that fiction comes true in the end. This is only a one-reeler from Roach Studios and the gang's teacher, Miss Jones (Rosina Lawrence) is not as cute as Miss Crabtree, but it does teach the lesson that honesty is the best policy. So, overall, Volume 3 is another first rate collection of Little Rascal comedies, even if they do try to convince young kids that school is an okay place to be during the day.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Miss Crabtree: The Teacher We Always Wanted, March 22, 2002
Recently, some friends and I were discussing films of the transition period between the silent movies of the mid 20's and the talkies of the late 20's. I posed the following question: Which actor has had the most enduring impact on succeeding generations of audiences? The responses were givens: Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Rudolph Valentino--and Miss Crabtree. None of us was surprised at this last choice; we were somewhat abashed to realize that none us knew the name of the actress who played the sweet blond teacher of the early Little Rascal comedies. Her name, as we later learned, was June Marlowe, a veteran of more than two dozen forgettable silent films.
She made her initial appearance in Teacher's Pet, and was such a hit that producer Hal Roach quickly used her again in two sequals, School's Out, and Love Business. The reason Miss Crabtree made such a impact in 1930 is the same reason that once one sees her (hopefully as a child), then one can never forget the warmth and love that she doled out and received.
In Teacher's Pet, the previous teacher of the Little Rascals, Miss McGillicuddy, has married, leaving an opening for Miss Crabtree to fill. The Rascals,led by a very young Jackie Cooper, are quite sure that any woman named Crabtree must be a real sourpuss. They plot to drive her away with juvenile antics like sneezing powder and itchy ants. As Jackie heads to school, a lovely woman gives him a ride in her big car. Jackie,not realizing that she is the reviled Miss Crabtree, immediately falls in puppy love with her and tells her all the gory details. She drops him off and when he arrives at school, he sees that his recent female acquaintance and Miss Crabtree are one and the same. After some predictable comeuppances on the part of the Rascals, Jackie is shamed and runs out to cry. Miss Crabtree follows him to welcome him back into the fold with cake and ice cream.
Now this may sound like rather light fare to generate an impact that reverberates even today, but as I viewed Teacher's Pet for the first time in decades, I could see that beneath the juvenile mischief of the Rascals and the smiles of Miss Crabtree lay some serious psychological and social subtexts.
As the movie opens, the Rascals are bemoaning the loss of their beloved Miss McGillicuddy. To Jackie and the other Rascals, Miss McGillicuddy gave them warmth and love. Into this loveless void steps Miss Crabtree, who merely by her presence, re-establishes the primacy of the enduring power of love. With her smiles, her laughter, her voice, Miss Crabtree is transfigured into the icon of the loving Madonna, who need do no more than simply be there to reassure the Rascals and the audience, first of the 20's and now of the turn of the century, that love and caring can never disappear from a world filled with angst. It is to this fount of love that audiences have been responding for seven decades.
In School's Out, Miss Crabtree ever so gently faces some serious issues that intrude on the light comedy of the series. Farina complains sadly that his daddy is in jail more than not. Chubby discloses that his father beats him with 'some fluency.' To these all too common social disasters, Miss Crabtree simply envelops the Rascals with her loving persona, assuring them that if she can't change their condition, she can at least make it more bearable. The plot of School's Out is another piece of fluff involving yet a second case of mistaken identity, this time with her brother, who the Rascals fear will marry Miss Crabtree and take her away as Miss McGillicuddy was taken away. Though this plot may be slight, it still fills the screen with the unmistakeable dread of loss of love. Miss Crabtree is the living symbol that reassuring love can never be truly lost, only postponed.
In Love Business, Miss Crabtree makes her final appearance as the object of the attention of the love-struck Jackie Cooper and of Chubby. Both Jackie and Chubby vie for the hand of the lovely Miss Crabtree, only to realize that love comes in more than one flavor, and if one cannot have the taste that one prefers, there are other kinds.
For these three movies, which are available on one cassette, watching them is an emotional experience. Yes, I grant that June Marlowe does not have the depth or range of later more formidable actresses, but in this series she did not need them. What was needed then--and perhaps now--is a gentle reminder that sweetness and kindness are qualities that can never vanish from our consciousness. It can be no coincidence that millions of fans fondly remember Miss Crabtree as the reason that their lives were touched in a way that resonates decades later.
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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Don't buy the older out-of-print DVDs, May 16, 2003
By A Customer
These movies are so weird. First, Chubby is making out with a Greta Garbo cut-out. He glances back at an autographed glamour photo of Ms. Crabtree, imagining that the face is her and exclaiming, "My darling, my dar-ling." What teacher gives out autographed vanity shots to her students? In that same scene, a little girl says she'd like to "rip her pants." Later, Chubby asks Ms. Crabtree, "Don't call me Norman, call me Chubsy-Ubsy." There are other bizarre moments, many of them politically incorrect. From a grown-up perspective, it's just as funny as Family Guy or The Simpsons.Don't buy the original release DVDs off an auction site. This set is first generation DVD, has a long mandatory beginning sequence, seems prone to scratches and the binder always seems to have air pockets in it near the spindle as if ready to pop apart.
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