Boxing Gloves

This is the fourth Little Rascals sound film. It is very short, at only 17 minutes. Unfortunately, about half the sound track is missing, so that as the film is cut, we go from sound scenes to silent scenes and back and forth like that. Farina is trying to make some money out of staging a boxing match for which he can charge admission. Farina sees Joe and Chubby fighting rather feebly over a girl and decides that they would be good in the ring. The only problem is that 'Joe doesn't get mad and Chubby is scared', so something must be done to get them fighting properly. They agree to go into the ring. But Farina has discovered a secret about Joe which is that Joe is very vain about his hair, which must always be neatly combed. As Joe says: 'There ain't nothing that gets be madder than havin' my hair mussed.' So as the fight proceeds, Farina arranges for Joe to get his hair mussed up, which drive him wild and a savage fight then takes place. Although they wear heavily padded gloves, the kids are doing their own fighting and they whack each other with terrible force over and over again, and nowadays nothing like that would be allowed. But it was 1929 and 'everything goes'. At one point they knock each other out simultaneously. During all of this, Mary Ann keeps trying to sneak in to see the fight and being thrown out, but disguises herself as a boy and even wears a false moustache at one point. She ends up being able to see the fight, and Pete the Dog does as well. (He looks really interested in it.) Some of the regulars do not appear in this film, and a large extra cast of boys appears in the film as the audience and as troublemakers because they are older. All the long shots of the roaring audience of boys have lost their sound. The directorial credit for this film says it was directed by Anthony Mack 'under the supervision of Robert A. McGowan', but as IMDb makes clear, Anthony Mack was a pseudonym for McGowan for numerous Little Rascals films. I must confess myself puzzled as to why it was necessary for McGowan to pretend to be somebody else under the supervision of himself. Perhaps someone cleverer than myself knows the answer to this mystery. This is a rather disappointing Little Rascals film, and seems a bit half-hearted.

This is one of my favorites!Very funny.Joe and Chubby are at odds over the lovely Jean.They won't fight because:Joe can't get mad enough,and Chubby is a scared!Of course fight promoter Farina convinces each one that the other will throw the fight! At that time women weren't allowed at boxing matches,so poor Mary Ann is refused admittance and resorts to a few failed attempts,before finally sneaking in.I read that this was Jackie Cooper's debut with the gang,and it was an auspicious one.His big contribution was to be dragged from ringside by Mary Ann,only to have her take his place dressed in his clothes! Still it's entertaining and the fight scenes are very funny!

"Boxing Gloves" was the third "Our Gang" talkie filmed, but the fourth to be released (following "Lazy Days.") The film marks the debut of Jackie Cooper in the Gang.

Farina and Harry are boxing promoters who have to result to promoting a fight between preschoolers Wheezer and Beezer to fill the card. While they would love to book a match between heavyweights Joe and Chubby, they've been pals for years. Farina and Harry convince the duo to fight, with very funny results.

"Boxing Gloves" is fun to watch, but it is a curiosity. The film, although billed as "All-Talking," is actually part silent/part talkie. There are long gaps during the the heavyweight fight that are entirely silent. Why the director filmed it this way is unknown. One idea I have for why this may have occurred is that sound equipment was extremely sensitive at this time, and the fear could have been that crowd noise could have damaged the equipment. It does seem that when the crowd is at their noisiest, the mikes go silent, so this well could have been the reason.

"Boxing Gloves" is fun, however, and enjoyable to watch. This was the earliest talkie syndicated by King World when "The Little Rascals" came to TV. 6 out of 10.

Another reviewer indicated that this was a curiosity, and it sure was! When I first watched "Boxing Gloves," I turned the sound way up on the tv, thinking that there might be something wrong with the soundtrack. The large stretches without sound during what surely would have been very noisy sequences are very unsettling...some clever director should make use of this technique! A very entertaining episode.

Farina and his partner have started a backyard boxing business, but they can't sell any tickets because they only have babies like Wheezer doing the fighting. So, when they see Joe and Chubby about to have a fight, they take full advantage of this and encourage them to duke it out in their boxing ring. The problem is that Joe and Chubby aren't very tough kids and don't seem to want to fight. And, during the fight they keep avoiding each other--Chubby is afraid and Joe doesn't feel mad enough to fight. Eventually, though, they get the hang of it--thanks to Joe having his hair mussed.

While you won't notice at first that it's one of the Gang's earliest sound films, it becomes apparent during the fight when the sound cuts out for a bit--and it's pretty obvious. It also represents the first appearance in these films by Jackie Cooper--though his part is rather small. As far as the quality of the film goes, it's amazingly limp considering the subject matter. There's barely a laugh and it's certainly not among the better films of this series.