Reg'lar Fellers

It's a gang of kids in a small town who get involved in scrapes and eventually a couple of crooks who come to rob a rich old lady. Director Arthur Dreifus shows little skill in directing his cast of superannuated child actors, all of whom talk very loudly, as if the sound equipment might not pick up their voices. Although not top-credited, the most famous is Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, in his first role after he left Our Gang.

It's based on Gene Byrne's comic strip, which ran from 1920 through 1949 (although the Reg'lar Fellers had been introduced in Byrne's earlier strips, possibly as far back as 1917). At its peak, the strip was carried in more than 800 newspapers, and was the basis of a summer replacement series for Jack Benny in 1941; Dick and Joyce van Paten were members of the cast. Earlier, Ub Iwerks had done one movie cartoon, the last of his Comicolor series.

Although there are some good performers in this live-action movie, including Roscoe Ates, Sarah Padden and far down the cast list, Marguerite de la Motte, the usual PRC stinginess and lack of care makes this one rather poor on its own. Even if you do want to hear Alfalfa sing.