When the Wind Blows

This Hal Roach comedy short, When the Wind Blows, is the ninety-seventh in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series and the ninth talkie. As such, it's also the first to employ a musical score throughout and have plenty of sound effects. At night, Jackie gets spanked by his father for not doing his homework but throws his textbook out the window after his parents and little brother Wheezer go to sleep. When he's pretending to sleep his parents look on him and he overhears them saying how they want what's better in life for him than what they went through. Jackie then goes back outside to retrieve his book but gets locked out and gets mistaken for a prowler when trying to get back in. I'll stop there and just say how hilarious I found the whole thing especially when Edgar Kennedy as the bumbling cop shows up! When I first watched this on TV during the '70s, I don't think they showed the scenes involving Farina since I think I'd remember him if they did. I guess the stereotypes involving his race at the time was why they were cut but I still found the scenes depicted funny despite that. Loved the musical score and James W. Horne did a good job in his lone directorial effort of an Our Gang short. He also helmed my favorite Laurel & Hardy film, Way Out West. Incidentally, he'd eventually become the father-in-law of Jackie Cooper when Cooper married his daughter June in 1944. So on that note, I highly recommend When the Wind Blows.