Night 'n' Gales

Alfalfa, Spanky, Porky and Buckwheat are over at Darla's house singing for her parents. Her mother is thrilled--Dad (the sane one) thinks it's dreadful. Unfortunately for Dad, it's raining so hard that the boys are asked to stay the night. And, not surprisingly, they make a mess and drive Dad crazy.

A low-point of the short is Buckwheat and his stomachache. Even for the Buckster, this is REALLY bad acting. You wonder why the director didn't try harder to get a better job of acting here. High-points are watching Darla's dad (Johnny Arthur) getting tortured and there is very little singing in this one (unlike many in these later Our Gang shorts)! The bear scene, while funny was also kind of dumb--making it a bit good, a bit bad. On balance, it's an okay short--worth watching but just not up to the standards of the heyday of the series from 1930-33.

By the way, when Alfalfa hits the man in the face with a shoe, he appears to really be doing it--and quite hard. From what I read about Alfalfa Switzer, he probably did this deliberately. It made for a great scene but must have hurt!