Duel Personalities

Duel Personalities (1939)

*** (out of 4)

Alfalfa and his buddies are walking through a side show when they see a hypnotist at work. Young Alfalfa doesn't believe what he sees so he volunteers to go on stage where he gets hypnotized into thinking he's one of the Three Musketeers. Before he can wake up he challenges Butch to a fight over Darla. DUEL PERSONALITIES is another winner from the MGM series, which there probably wasn't very many of. I think all the credit for this film's success has to go to Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer who does a terrific job and really delivers a fun performance. The highlight of the short is clearly his time on the stage where he gets to re-enact the Three Musketeer story and the actors does such a good job that you can't help but have a smile on your face. This here is especially true when he rushes over the Darla to flirt with her in front of Butch who grows angry about it. These here are certainly the best moments but the finale is also pretty good as Butch and Alfalfa have a little plan that ends up back firing on them. The supporting cast includes Buckwheat and Spanky doing nice work and even Darla comes across as fun here. Fans of the series usually overlook all the MGM shorts but this one here actually works and has some of that magic that made the earlier films so entertaining at times.