Today's Video Link

Here's something else to get that mind of yours off assaults on Free Speech by people who believe in the First Amendment but can always find exceptions when someone says something they don't like. This is a colorized version of The Our Gang Follies of 1938, which represents (I think) a high point in that series. The films which then starred Spanky, Alfalfa, Darla and the others were on the downside by then, having gone from the two-reel format to the one-reel format. Their producer, Hal Roach, was about ready to sell the entire franchise off and get out of the shorts business altogether.

But for some reason, they made this two-reeler — the last-ever Our Gang two-reeler even though the series went on (produced by MGM) until 1944 — and spent a fortune on it. And it looks even more expensive in this colorized version. I like a lot of the Our Gang comedies that preceded this but I don't recall being too fond of any that followed — and this one is loaded with charm and cuteness and funny…