Little Rascals: Best of Our Gang

****Note: This review is for the LEGEND release The Little Rascals: Best of Our Gang, not the 3-D release that Amazon has grouped it under****

I give this only **** four stars because most of these films have already been released on DVD restored from 35mm. There is little new here.

The thought is that kids won't watch B&W films, so lets COLORIZE The Litle Rascals. Purists can watch this in B&W also, which is good since the colorization looks cartoony & unnatural.

I just could not pass up the extras that are included on these DVDs.

BEST OF OUR GANG has

Alfalfa short soundie "The Singing Lesson",

Broadway Highlights short clip of Pete the Pup becoming a member of a entertainment night club,

"You Asked For It" clip of the segment with the OUR GANG REUNION showing the silent stars (Jackie Condon, Joe Cobb, Farina & others) as they are in 1955.

Our Gang clip from "The Stolen Jewels" ( o.k. this is the only clip un necessary as the complete short is widely available ).

Oh, yes.. there are the comedy shorts. These are all from 35mm 1950's RE-ISSUE PRINTS, not the same MGM transfers as the Cabin Fever / Hallmark DVDs. But they are 35mm prints and they look very good. There is a variety of title sections representing almost every company that re-issued these shorts in 35mm, including Official Films which I never knew made 35mm prints.

BEST OF OUR GANG

"FLY MY KITE" Official 'Famous Kids' titles The rascals help Grandma save her property from the evil banker.

"A LAD IN A LAMP" ERKO 'Kids 'n Pets' titles (1st time on DVD?)Spanky & the gang find a 'magic lamp'. Spanky whishes Buckwheat was a monkey and thinks his wish came true when a real monkey comes in (there is always one around in a Little Rascals comedy).

"KID FROM BORNEO" Monogram titles a short that has been long banned from television due to racial jokes & the main character being a wild man from borneo who goes around saying "Yum , Yum , Eat'em Up" while chasing Spanky & the gang. It is unlikely that Hallmark will do an official release of this on their DVD sets, so you might want to consider this if you don't have the old Cabin Fever videos.

"HI! NEIGHBOR" Allied Artists titles The gang gets a new neighbor, who owns a shiny new kiddie firetruck.

"HIDE & SHRIEK" Official 'Famous Kids' titles another classic featured on this disc starring Alfalfa, Buckweat & Porky. Alfalfa plays a sherlock holmes type of detective and hires Buckweat & Porky to investigate some missing candy.

The shorts are offered in both Colorized & original B&W restored versions, but switching back & forth while playing the short is not possible. The bonus material is B&W only.

You probably remember the Cabin Fever tapes from back when you were a kid. After all, where can you find a more wholesome piece of Americana than in the Depression-era antics of Spanky and company? Now that you're grown, you probably want to introduce your kids to Our Gang the same way that your parents introduced them to you, as a part of their socialization as equally wholesome, proud citizens. There's only one problem, I suspect: kids today have no tolerance for "antiquated" black and white cinema. And really, who can blame them? Color, the de facto standard to which they were raised, lends life, vibrancy and realism to anything that it glazes.

Thanks to this DVD, you can now bridge that generation gap by watching this newly colorized version of the Little Rascals' greatest shorts (even on the kids' Playstation if need be!). The drab, depressing black and white of '30s film suddenly comes to life in a full rainbow. And, should you succeed in making your kids into new fans, you'll always have the option of graduating them to the thoughtfully included black and white versions of the colorized material. From what I can tell, there's simply no other DVD that allows you the same flexibility.

Hardcore fans of Our Gang should take note of this disc's special features, which include clips of the gang's twenty year reunion and a hilarious skit where they encounter peer jokesters Laurel and Hardy.

Buy Little Rascals: Best of Our Gang Now

I give this only **** four stars because most of these films have already been released on DVD restored from 35mm. There is little new here.

The thought is that kids won't watch B&W films, so lets COLORIZE The Litle Rascals. Purists can watch this in B&W also, which is good since the colorization looks cartoony & unnatural.

I just could not pass up the extras that are included on these DVDs.

BEST OF OUR GANG has

Alfalfa short soundie "The Singing Lesson",

Broadway Highlights short clip of Pete the Pup becoming a member of a entertainment night club,

"You Asked For It" clip of the segment with the OUR GANG REUNION showing the silent stars (Jackie Condon, Joe Cobb, Farina & others) as they are in 1955.

Our Gang clip from "The Stolen Jewels" ( o.k. this is the only clip un necessary as the complete short is widely available ).

Oh, yes.. there are the comedy shorts. These are all from 35mm 1950's RE-ISSUE PRINTS, not the same MGM transfers as the Cabin Fever / Hallmark DVDs. But they are 35mm prints and they look very good. There is a variety of title sections representing almost every company that re-issued these shorts in 35mm, including Official Films which I never knew made 35mm prints.

BEST OF OUR GANG

"FLY MY KITE" Official 'Famous Kids' titles The rascals help Grandma save her property from the evil banker.

"A LAD IN A LAMP" ERKO 'Kids 'n Pets' titles (1st time on DVD?)Spanky & the gang find a 'magic lamp'. Spanky whishes Buckwheat was a monkey and thinks his wish came true when a real monkey comes in (there is always one around in a Little Rascals comedy).

"KID FROM BORNEO" Monogram titles a short that has been long banned from television due to racial jokes & the main character being a wild man from borneo who goes around saying "Yum , Yum , Eat'em Up" while chasing Spanky & the gang. It is unlikely that Hallmark will do an official release of this on their DVD sets, so you might want to consider this if you don't have the old Cabin Fever videos.

"HI! NEIGHBOR" Allied Artists titles The gang gets a new neighbor, who owns a shiny new kiddie firetruck.

"HIDE & SHRIEK" Official 'Famous Kids' titles another classic featured on this disc starring Alfalfa, Buckweat & Porky. Alfalfa plays a sherlock holmes type of detective and hires Buckweat & Porky to investigate some missing candy.

The shorts are offered in both Colorized & original B&W restored versions, but switching back & forth while playing the short is not possible. The bonus material is B&W only.

Read Best Reviews of Little Rascals: Best of Our Gang Here

I wanted to share what Jamie at Legend Films advised me -

that the 3D Blu-ray will not include a 2D version.

Hope this helps you decide to buy or not to buy.

UPDATE 11/2/12

I received another call from Jamie who advised me that

if you play this in a NON-3D BLU-RAY player, it WILL

play in 2D!

Count me in!

Want Little Rascals: Best of Our Gang Discount?

As a Little Rascals fan, I was mesmerized by how these selected episodes came out in color. It would be nice to see further episodes done likewise. I highly recommend this product to both the fan and the occassional viewer of the Little Rascals

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