Doin' Their Bit

Even taking into account that this "Our Gang" short was meant to be a morale-booster for the home front and nothing more, it's just downright awful. The opening production number, with 15 or so young boys dressed in military uniforms doing a precision tap-dance routine, is not particularly good but turns out to be the best thing in the picture, which rapidly goes downhill from there. Froggy and Spanky do an army-camp "comedy" routine that has nothing whatsoever funny about it--as another reviewer mentioned, Froggy's voice makes it almost impossible to understand the "punchline"--and a young girl who looks to be about five or six years old sings a number in which she keeps repeating dreamily "how I love a man in uniform" that comes perilously close to being creepy. The closing "Miss Liberty" number is so bad, and the kids in it look so bored, that it's downright embarrassing. The "Our Gang" kids have done several cute and interesting little musicals in this series, but this dud is definitely not one of them. Skip it.