This Hal Roach comedy short, Giants vs. Yanks, is the twelfth in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series. Unlike the other ones I just reviewed, I watched this one on an old Goodtimes VHS cassette called "Our Gang Comedy Festival II" from 1989 that I watched previously when I bought it from New Orleans in 1995. The print had alternate beginning credits from another distributor that renamed the series "Those Lovable Scallawags with Their Gangs". As the title implies there is a baseball game in the short but that ends a little too soon as the gang then goes to the home of a wealthy couple that's been taking care of Jackie's little sister. Meanwhile, a doctor there has examined the couple's own baby and, finding out she has a contagious fever, quarantines the house for a week. That's enough time for the kids to wreck havoc all over the house to the couple's long-lasting consternation. Eventually, the doctor reverses his prognosis and the angry parents arrive to take their kids home...While there's plenty of amusing gags like a baby carriage being pulled by a horse, kids breaking glass and vases (with the appropriate sound effects), and a goat running on a treadmill that pulls the bike that turns the clothes dryer around, there's also a bit much repetition in the house wrecking sequence of the parents' horrified reactions. Still, I was mostly amused by the shenanigans. Some scenes might make you cringe like Farina crying after being knocked down by a large pillow and the whole jackknife bit with the toddler and Sunshine Sammy but otherwise it's all in good fun. By the way, instead of the LeRoy Shield score that's standard for many of the "Little Rascals" talkies, what you hear is the stock music that is used for many other silent comedies that are in the public domain. So, in summary, Giant vs. Yanks doesn't live up to its title but is pretty funny nonetheless. P.S. Sunshine Sammy's father, Ernie Morrison, Sr. appears here. Update-9/20/14: I watched a more complete version on YouTube which had the original intertitles and was synchronized with the LeRoy Shield score as performed by the Beau Hunks. This version also had an additional scene of Joe catching a turkey and riding it! Oh, and Ernie Morrison uses his real name here, not "Sunshine Sammy". My rating stays.
