Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

The Little Rascals Volume 5 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 25, 2022

This volume of The Little Rascals moves things squarely into the mid-thirties, with a dozen shorts that span release dates from March 1935 to May 1936. Longtime fans of the series, especially those who have been eating up ClassicFlix's previous volumes in this series, may notice a few subtle changes by this time. Many of the shorts in this volume were directed by Gus Meins, rather than longtime "show runner" Robert F. McGowan, and the cast once again saw some additions and subtractions along the way. Probably the most significant addition is in the form of goofy but immensely lovable Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, though that welcome "hello" is probably matched by an equally sad "goodbye" to Matthew "Stymie" Beard.

Reviews of the previous volumes in this series can be accessed by clicking on the following links:

The Little Rascals Volume 1 Blu-ray review

The Little Rascals Volume 2 Blu-ray review

The Little Rascals Volume 3 Blu-ray review

The Little Rascals Volume 4 Blu-ray review

Details about the twelve shorts in this collection are below, which include some information from ClassicFlix as well as some thoughts of my own.

Anniversary Trouble (Released March 17, 1935) offers the kids as members of the "Ancient and Honery Order of Wood Chucks Club", and perhaps surprisingly, Spanky is made treasurer and put in charge of the group's funds. This is another interesting short for modern day sensibilities since it offers both "pluses" and "minuses" in terms of its handling of racial depictions. On the positive side, Stymie is shown as the leader of the club, which otherwise seems to be comprised of white kids, but later in the story, there's some blackface. Future Gone with the Wind legend Hattie McDaniel is on hand here in a hapless role as Spanky's family maid.

Beginner's Luck (Released April 13, 1935) introduces Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, whose slightly puzzled and/or confused facial expressions may make this worth the price of admission for some fans. The story involves a "talent" contest which Spanky's mother is intent on Spanky winning. (Among the contestants is the wonderful quintet of Hall siblings dubbed The Cabin Kids, who also appear in Teacher's Beau , the short listed directly below.) There's something at least somewhat similar at play both in Our Gang Follies of 1936, which is included on this disc (also see below), as well as in a 1936 feature helmed by Robert F. McGowan called Too Many Parents, which revolves around kids at a military academy and which features performances by several of them, including Alfalfa and (rather incredibly) a very young Cal Tjader (later of jazz vibraphone fame) as a tap dancing tot. That film was Frances Farmer's first starring role.

Teacher's Beau (Released May 4, 1935) offers the final performance of Stymie (aside from one later cameo), in a short that is peculiarly similar to Stymie's first short, Teacher's Pet, included in The Little Rascals Volume 2. The kids' teacher announces a "change" is coming, though it's not what the kids think it is.

Sprucin' Up (Released June 1, 1935) indulges in what some may feel is a bit of gender role stereotyping, when the gang is encouraged to start being tidier because of a new girl in town.

Little Papa (Released September 1, 1935) is a sweet showcase for the always fun Spanky, who is tasked with babysitting his little sister, but who is intent on playing football with the guys instead.

Little Sinner (Released October 26, 1935) offers the familiar Our Gang trope of playing hooky, only this time it's from Sunday school, which leads to potential disaster for Spanky. This short introduces Eugene "Porky" Lee.

Our Gang Follies of 1936 (Released November 30, 1935) is a really fun "variety show" that simply presents a series of really enjoyable performances by both solo "artistes" like Alfalfa, and a number of great ensemble pieces. This short introduces Darla Hood, called Cookie in this particular outing.

The Pinch Singer (Released January 4, 1936) gives Darla a focal moment to shine, though she's ultimately eclipsed by Alfalfa, in another storyline revolving around a talent contest.

Divot Diggers (Released February 8, 1936) was a brief return to Little Rascals directing for the aforementioned Robert F. McGowan, and I am perhaps only slightly joking when I suggest he may have needed a quick break from the aforementioned Too Many Parents and Frances Farmer, since that film and this short were released pretty much in tandem. As the title probably indicates, this involves the supposedly noble sport of golf.

The Lucky Corner (Released March 14, 1936) was evidently released out of actual production order (according to the notes ClassicFlix has included with this release), which accounts for the appearances of both Scotty and Marianne, who had officially already left the series. This revolves around the kids trying to help out with a lemonade stand forced to move from a prime location.

Second Childhood (Released April 11, 1936) is another outing demonstrating that the gang's affinity for crusty elders can extend to women as well as men.

Arbor Day (Released May 2, 1936) kind of hilariously has content revolving around celebrating this now little remembered holiday, albeit with Spanky once again attempting to play hooky and avoid the school's assembly devoted to the day.

The Little Rascals Volume 5 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Little Rascals: The ClassicFlix Restorations, Volume 5 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of ClassicFlix with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.38:1. This continues ClassicFlix's really commendable efforts to revive and restore these shorts, and for the most part these look great. As with virtually all of the preceding volumes in the series, there can certainly be fluctuations in densities, contrast, grain structure and detail levels, but taken as a whole, the remediation of any number of deficits seen in the "before" clips in the restoration comparison included on this disc as a supplement show what really remarkable improvements have been made across the board. Huge signs of damage in some cases have been all but eliminated, and while my hunch is some may quibble with the amount of scrubbing that's been done, there are still abundant fine detail levels to be seen, and such minute aspects like wisps of smoke from a cigar (to cite only one example) can still be easily spotted, which would argue against any really over zealous digital cleaning efforts. Fine detail on any number of elements like some intricately patterned fabrics some of the kids wear is typically excellent.

The Little Rascals Volume 5 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Little Rascals: The ClassicFlix Restorations, Volume 5 features DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono which may not quite match the luster of the video side of things. Once again as with the previous volumes, the recording technologies of the production era have built in limitations, and when added to age related wear and tear including things like noticeable hiss, the result is certainly listenable, but still narrow and shallow sounding quite a bit of the time. The opening fanfare music can be a bit brash at times, but some of the vocal stylings, including the two fantastic performances by the Hall kids, are surprisingly full bodied. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Little Rascals Volume 5 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Restoration Comparison (HD; 4:46) offers some good examples of the sizable improvement from the source elements ClassicFlix has achieved.

Additionally, there are trailers for other releases in The Little Rascals series from ClassicFlix. Per those other releases, this release also contains information on all of the shorts on the inside of the keepcase insert. Also as tends to be the case with ClassicFlix releases, the disc boots to a scene from a short, which can be chapter skipped through. There's also a brief interstitial clip that plays right before the complete set of shorts if Play All is selected, or any individual short if one is selected.

The Little Rascals Volume 5 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I am an unabashed Alfalfa fan, and so his appearance in these shorts was a really wonderful trip down memory lane for me. I frankly either had forgotten or had never seen the two shorts with the Hall siblings, and they kind of blew my mind. Despite the by this point long running aspect of the series, the shorts aggregated in this volume prove how remarkably fresh and funny these kids could still be. Technical merits are generally solid, and The Little Rascals: The ClassicFlix Restorations, Volume 5 comes Recommended.