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Little Rascals Collector's Edition 88 Classic Uncut Episodes

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Offline sandmountainslim

Is anyone familiar with this collection?
http://www.amazon.com/The-Little-Rascals-Collectors-Edition/dp/B005OASMLU/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
I ordered it because all the reviews were good and judging from the description is has all the shorts from the Classic Talkie period of Our Gang shorts.
I haven't watched the Our Gang comedies since I was a kid but I am sure it's worth the money if it's half as funny as I remember. 


Offline Bum

This is what I gather from reading the reviews [the ones that seem legit, that is; from the way they were worded, it seems to me that many of the 5-star reviews of this set were composed by the same person]

You're definitely getting a bootleg set, manufactured straight from a VHS release of these films from 15+ years ago. That's bad in the sense that the video quality may not be top-notch, but good in the sense that all the films will contain all their original MGM/Hal Roach opening titles [something that's not the case with the *official* DVD boxed set release]. The other good thing is that you will get 8 silent shorts as well as the complete Hal Roach-talking shorts [the silent shorts aren't included in the DVD boxed set either].  So as far as CONTENT, you can't beat the price. But like I said, the video quality may not be as good as other DVD releases. And incidentally, if you find these films as funny as you remember and want to pick up where this set leaves off [1938], you can order the 5-disc DVD set from the final six years of the series [AKA The Robert Blake era]:

http://www.amazon.com/Gang-Comedies-Shorts-1938-1942-Discs/dp/B002OGHGSW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1356922660&sr=8-1&keywords=our+gang

Be warned, however: With a handful of exceptions, the quality and humor of these films [which were made by MGM] pales in comparison to the Hal Roach shorts.


Offline sandmountainslim

I look forward to seeing how good the quality is.   As you said it appears they are DVD copies of the Cabin Fever VHS releases which I am pleased to learn because it means they are uncut.   I never knew when I was a kid I was actually watching censored versions on TV so this should be new to me.


Offline healyhouston

These appear to be a bootleg by someone from the Cabin Fever VHS films.


Im so glad that years ago I purchased the Cabin Fever box set on DVD


Offline sandmountainslim

I am surprised that Amazon allows bootlegs to be sold in their marketplace.   From what I have read I still believe I would rather have this set than the official set by Genius entertainment. 


Offline sandmountainslim

Got the set yesterday and they are indeed bootlegs of the Cabin Fever VHS tapes but I was SURPRISED at the video quality and sound as both were very acceptable!  No where near the restored Stooges collection but far better than what I remember seeing on TV as a kid and as a previous poster stated the original title cards are intact.   I am very pleased with the purchase.   The seller threw in a "Best Of Abbott and Costello" DVD for free.  I am not fan of A and C but I may watch it anyway.....just to look for Shemp  ;D


Offline moglia

I am surprised that Amazon allows bootlegs to be sold in their marketplace.   From what I have read I still believe I would rather have this set than the official set by Genius entertainment.


If they are Public Domain then it would not qualify as pirated.  Although I have no idea though if they are PD.


Offline sandmountainslim


If they are Public Domain then it would not qualify as pirated.  Although I have no idea though if they are PD.

The 8 Silent shorts could be PD but not all 80 of the Roach era talkies. 


Offline sandmountainslim

Ok folks.   Now that I have the Roach Era Talkies I am wanting a second group of Our Gang DVD's. 
I can either get a Silent collection with 46 shorts on it or the MGM produced "Final 52" from the post Roach period. 
What would u suggest between the two?


ThumpTheShoes

  • Guest
Ok folks.   Now that I have the Roach Era Talkies I am wanting a second group of Our Gang DVD's. 
I can either get a Silent collection with 46 shorts on it or the MGM produced "Final 52" from the post Roach period. 
What would u suggest between the two?

Go for the silents. Those last MGM shorts are.. a little hard to come to grips with. It's like I want to be enthusiastic about them, but after watching a couple I like, I don't know, they're hard to sit through. To paraphrase Chuck Jones, there's a big difference between "amusing" and "funny", and those shorts are, at best, amusing. At their worst? You'll likely want to switch them off. To me it's kinda like watching an overgrown, clumsy adult dog play with the same toys he did as a puppy. It's awkward and just not cute at all.

Silents, fer sure!



Offline Bum

Funny that ThumpTheShoes mentioned Chuck Jones, because when I was contemplating my own reply, I realized that I was having a tough time coming up with an answer, and the first similar comparison I could come up with involved Warner Brothers Cartoons. If you're a fan of the of Warner Brothers Cartoons and you own the stuff from their best and most well-known era [the '40s and '50's], what should you seek out next? The decade of the 1930's, when the cartoons are in their formative stages [but you can see recognizable signs of the classic stuff that was yet to come], or the 1960's when things were definitely on the decline and eventually became unwatchable? To me the exact same comparisons can be made with Our Gang. If you buy the silents, you're gonna get a bunch of films that you will find totally unrecognizable with what you normally associate with Our Gang, but you'll also see some excellently crafted films in their own right. If you go for the later MGM stuff, you'll be fooled early on; the first handful of films seem no different than the Hal Roach shorts, but things quickly go downhill, and by the time you reach the end of the series in '44, you'll ask the same question that you'd ask if you watch the earliest films: "Is this REALLY Our Gang???"

To me it's a tossup: Both options have their good and bad points. You're familiar with the "Talking Hal Roach '29-'38" era, so......... if you want to see a young Farina and Joe Cobb, buy the silents; if you want to see an older Spanky, Alfalfa, Darla and Buckwheat, buy the MGM films.


Offline sandmountainslim

I believe I will go with the Silents.   I have only seen the 8 silents which are on this collection I bought and I like them pretty well. 
I haven't saw the MGM/Blake shorts since I was a kid and they aired in syndication locally with the Rascal shorts.   I cannot remember the first one so that tells me that they must not have been very good or I would have some vague memory of them.