Hide and Shriek

Several of the final shorts by Hal Roach Studios in the Our Gang series lacked Spanky, as he'd been loaned out to RKO for a full-length film. Despite his absence, a couple of these films were still quite good. However, here in "Hide and Shriek", his absence is felt as Alfalfa only has very little kids to help him with his detective agency--kids who really weren't very talented and offered little in the way of chemistry.

This is also a pretty weak film because the plot is VERY contrived. So, even when it has funny moments, the utterly stupid plot overrides everything. Alfalfa starts a detective agency and hires Porky and Buckwheat. Here's where it gets goofy--the three are accidentally deposited in a haunted house at the amusement park(!?!). There, they run about thinking all of this is real. It's really pretty dreadful and it's not a big surprise that this marks the final Hal Roach Our Gang film.