The Little Rascals: The Complete Collection

BAD NEWS FOLKS! This not a re-release of the CabinFever transfers. 14 of these are Blackhawk prints, unrestored from 16mm! And two titles have EDITS!Comparing this release to Cabin fever's 1999 DVD release shows that Cabin Fever's has less artifacting. Those are defenately the superior DVD releases! The Little Rascals: Vol 1 - 12 Cabin Fever Box Set (6 discs) The edited titles in this set are BEAR SHOOTERS & WASHEE IRONEE, they were complete in the Cabin Fever DVDs.The old RHI VHS master got used for WASHEE IRONEE, about 11 minutes into the short, when the gang askes a Chinese boy how to wash clothes, you see him drink some water but the close up of him spitting the water on the clothes & saying "Washee, Washee" is MISSING. The shot right after with the gang looking puzzled is also MISSING. We pick up again with a longer shot of the gang spitting the water on the clothes. The reason for this edit is really a mystery. It does not censor anything that we don't see elsewhere in the short, it must have been an editing error when putting reel 1 & reel 2 together.Blackhawk never put their name on any 35mm material that they used. They spliced their titles in to their 16mm negative. The sad part is that we will be deprived of the original title artwork.Here is the list of the 14 titles with the Blackhawk homemovie title cards:Barnum & Ringling Inc., which does NOT have the original Hal Roach Music & Effects soundtrack! This was one of the first Hal Roach silent films to be produced with a Music & effects soundtrack disc for theaters to run with the film. The Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum often runs this short with its original soundtrack. Too bad we get the Blackhawk Gaylord Carter soundtrack here!Boxing GlovesMoan & Groan Inc.Shivering ShakespearA Tough WinterThe Kid From BorneoThe Pinch SingerThree Smart BoysRoamin' HolidayBear FactsCame The BrawnFeed'em & WeepThe Awful ToothHide & Shriek--------Original review-------Not only will we get all of the Hal Roach sound shorts in one package, but a nice surprise will be the inclusion of some silent shorts. A few of these are making their DVD debut!SYNOPSIS:"The Little Rascals: The Complete Collection" spansthe years of 1929-1938. This collection contains all80 of the original sound Hal Roach Our Gang films (later re-issued as The Little Rascals)in their entirety; fully Remastered, Restored andUncut. This amazing 8-disc set contains a collectiblebooklet, loads of nostalgic bonus footage, photos andmuch more! This preeminent collection is a must-havefor fans, both old and new.Members of the gang start out with WHEEZER, FARINA, Mary Ann Jackson, Joe Cobb, Jean Darling, Harry Spear, & Pete (the Pup).DISC 1 (Introduction by Richard Bann):Small Talk (1929) (only 3-reeler running about 25 minutes)***(2-reels running 15 to 21 minutes from here to 1936)***Railroadin' (1929) (CHUBBY joins the gang)Boxing Gloves (1929) (with Jackie Cooper)Lazy Days (1929)Bouncing Babies (1929)Moan and Groan Inc (1929) (with Edgar Kennedy & Max Davidson)Shivering Shakespeare (1930) (with Jackie Cooper & Edgar Kennedy)The First Seven Years (1930) (with Jackie Cooper & Edgar Kennedy)When the Wind Blows (1930) (with Jackie Cooper & Edgar Kennedy)Bear Shooters (1930) ****EDITED**** (with Charlie Hall)DISC 2 (Introduction by Tom Hatten):A Tough Winter (1930) (with Stepin' Fetchit)Pups is Pups (1930) (with Charlie Hall. 1st appearance of Dorothy "ECHO" DeBorba)Teacher's Pet (1930) - Commentary by Richard Bann (w/Jackie Cooper & MISS CRABTREE. 1st STYMIE appearance)School's Out (1930) (with Jackie Cooper & MISS CRABTREE)Helping Grandma (1931) (with Jackie Cooper. 1st appearance of Shirley Jean Rickert)Love Business (1931) (with Jackie Cooper & MISS CRABTREE)Little Daddy (1931) (with MISS CRABTREE)Bargain Day (1931) (last with Jackie Cooper using a stand-in for the last scene)Fly My Kite (1931) - Commentary by Richard BannBig Ears (1931)DISC 3 (Introduction by Dickie Moore):Shiver My Timbers (1931) (with MISS CRABTREE)Dog is Dogs (1931)Readin' and Writin' (1932) (with MISS CRABTREE. 1st with BREEZY)Free Eats (1932) (with Billy Gilbert. 1st film to feature SPANKY)Spanky (1932) (with Billy Gilbert)Choo Choo (1932) (1st appearance of Wally Albright)Pooch (1932)Hook and Ladder (1932) (w/ Dinah the Mule. 1st with Dickie Moore)Free Wheeling (1932) (with Dinah The Mule)Birthday Blues (1932)DISC 4 (Introduction by Jerry Tucker):A Lad an' a Lamp (1932)Fish Hooky (1933) (w/ grown up old Our Gangers Mickey, Mary, Joe & Farina)Forgotten Babies (1933) (with Billy Gilbert. 1st appearance of Tommy Bond as a gang member and not BUTCH)Kid from Borneo (1933)Mush and Milk (1933)Bedtime Worries (1933)Wild Poses (1933) - Commentary by Richard Ward (Laurel & Hardy Cameo)Hi, Neighbor (1934) (1st teaming Scotty Beckett with Spanky)For Pete's Sake (1934)The First Round-Up (1934) (with Billy Bletcher)DISC 5 (Introduction by Jerry Tucker):Honkey Donkey (1934)Mike Fright (1934) (with Charlie Hall)Washee Ironee (1934) ****EDITED**** (with 'Tiny' Sanford)Mama's Little Pirate (1934) (1st time Billie is BUCKWHEAT)Shrimps for a Day (1934)Anniversary Trouble (1935) (with Hattie McDaniel & Johnny Arthur)Beginner's Luck (1935) (with Charlie Hall & THE CABIN KIDS. ALFALFA's debut film)Teacher's Beau (1935) (with THE CABIN KIDS, Charlie Hall, Billy Bletcher)Sprucin' Up (1935)Little Papa (1935) (SPANKY & ALFALFA become more of a team)DISC 6 (Introduction by Richard Lewis Ward):Little Sinner (1935) (1st appearance by PORKY)The Lucky Corner (1936)Our Gang Follies of 1936 (1935) (DARLA HOOD's 1st appearance)Divot Diggers (1936) (with Billy Bletcher)Pinch Singer (1936) (with Charlie Hall)Second Childhood (1936)Arbor Day (1936) (with Hattie McDaniel)***(1-reel, about 9 to 11 minutes from here on unless noted.)***Bored of Education (1936) (with Rosina Lawrence as MISS LAWRENCE) Acadamy Award Winner!Two Too Young (1936) (with Rosina Lawrence as MISS LAWRENCE)Pay as You Exit (1936) (Joe Cobb returns outside of the gang)Spooky Hooky (1936) (with Rosina Lawrence as MISS JONES)Reunion in Rhythm (1937) (with Rosina Lawrence as MISS JONES and old Our Gangers Mickey, Mary, Joe, & Stymie)Glove Taps (1937) (1st to feature the "BUTCH" and "WALDO" characters)DISC 7 (Introduction by Annie Ross):Hearts are Thumps (1937) (with Rosina Lawrence as MISS JONES)(He-Man Woman haters Club)Three Smart Boys (1937) (with Rosina Lawrence as MISS JONES)Rushin' Ballet (1937) (2nd to feature "BUTCH")Roamin' Holiday (1937)Night 'n' Gales (1937) (with Johnny Arthur)Fishy Tales (1937) (3rd to feature "BUTCH")Framing Youth (1937) (4th to feature "BUTCH")The Pigskin Palooka (1937)Mail and Female (1937) (featuring the He-Man Woman Haters Club)Our Gang Follies of 1938 (1937) (2-reel special, 18 minutes)Canned Fishing (1938)Bear Facts (1938)Three Men in a Tub (1938)Came the Brawn (1938) (Last appearance of "SPANKY" & "BUTCH")Feed 'em and Weep (1938) (w/ Johnny Arthur. Philip Hurlic replaces "Buckwheat" only in this film)The Awful Tooth (1938)Hide and Shriek (1938)(Note: Spanky & Butch would return to the series after Hal Roach sold it to MGM.)DISC 8 (Introduction by Jean Darling):Three Silents:Dog Heaven (1927) - Commentary by Richard WardSpook Spoofing (1928) - Commentary by Richard WardBarnum & Ringling, Inc. (1928)The Story of Hal Roach and Our GangRascals and Racial IssuesCatching Up With The Rascals - this feature containsthe following:Catching Up with the Rascals: Dickie MooreCatching Up with the Rascals: Jean DarlingCatching Up with the Rascals: Jerry TuckerCatching Up with the Rascals: Annie RossMemories of Spanky (with Rick Sapphire)For a complete guide to these shorts, buy Leonard Maltin & Richard Bann's highly informative book "THE LITTLE RASCALS, THE LIFE & TIMES OF OUR GANG": The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang I am assured by Genius Entertainment that these will be dual layered DVD-9 discs, well capable of handling the amount of content on each disc.The only minor disappointment is that MGM released 22 of the silent Hal Roach Our Gang (Little Rascals) Comedies and 17 of them exist. RHI owns the rights to these which keeps them off of the public domain Our Gang sets. It would have been nice to see all 17 of these in this set, but 3 is better than none.

She liked it very much

((((I have added an AWESOME UPDATE to the end of this review))))LETS SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT! A lot of people are posting false information about this set (The Little Rascals - The Complete Collection) and constantly raving about the 'Cabin Fever' Little Rascals release (that seems to be made up of fuzzy memories).First - This set is pretty good. All of the shorts are presented in what appears to be the original production order. The picture is much better than the film prints that are used on a lot of the older VHS releases (cleaner, a lot less crud on the picture). They are never going to look perfect. They were made in the 30's and didn't get the care of the other 'Our Gang' (the original pre-TV title of the series) shorts that MGM retained the rights to. The sound is not really that bad for early sound films. I can understand everything clearly and my hearing isn't perfect and I don't have a $3000 TV. The picture DOES NOT have excessive cropping. I compared it to other releases. If your TV or DVD player tends to have a lot of overscanning, then it might appear that way to you. The contrast looks the same as the much talked about Cabin Fever set (unless your equipment is faulty) The prints (with the exception of the Blackhawk sourced prints - which I'll get to in a minute) ARE the SAME RHI ENTERTAINMENT prints that were used in the old "Cabin Fever" set. When played side by side, you get all of the same 'damage' on the film... It is identical.The Problems with this set: For some reason, 13 Blackhawk Films prints were used instead of the prints with the original theatrical titles. (Blackhawk Films is/was a company that sold 8MM & 16MM film prints to libraries and for home viewing). At least one of these Blackhawk prints (Hide and Shriek) is massively out of sync (the sound and picture do not match up). (Vivendi has reissued all of the discs from this set, except for the bonus features disc. They have replaced all of the Blackhawk prints with RHI ENTERTAINMENT prints. These discs are super inexpensive and the same quality as the discs in this box set, but with the 13 substandard prints replaced.)ALSO, people have complained about 2 of the shorts being edited. "Washee Ironee" is not actually edited, but it appears that there was an error during the digital mastering that caused about a 4 second skip in the video. The scene where the skip occurs makes no sense now. It is irritating. When Vivendi reissued the discs, they were unaware of the problem, so the error is on the new discs too. People (who are probably just repeating things that they have read) keep saying that "Bear Shooters" is edited, but no one seems to know what is missing. I have compared various prints and cannot find anything missing! (If you know what it is and have actually seen this footage, please let me know.) The Cabin Fever version is identical to the version in this box set. The Blackhawk print has different repairs to the film from the RHI copy, so there may be 2 to 3 frames missing here and there (that's a fraction of a second... no missing dialog).NOW, to briefly mention the Cabin Fever release of the Little Rascals shorts. It is talked about as if it is the definitive copy of the series. Well, it's not... There were 21 one volumes released on 21 VHS tapes -or- 4 Box sets of Laser Discs -or- 6 DVDs (the 6 DVDs only contain the first 12 volumes. The DVD release was never completed). The shorts are not in any kind of order. Each volume had a super brief intro from Leonard Maltin (a popular film critic and film historian) and (at least on the VHS tapes) an ad for the Little Rascals Book. I haven't checked out the Laserdisc set, but the VHS set is mediocre quality (VHS doesn't even support full standard definition resolution). The Cabin Fever DVD set is not as clean as this new box set. Maybe if you own an old style -or- small screen TV, it looks fine.IF YOU WANT THE DEFINITIVE SET, well, there is never going to be a set that will satisfy everyone. WHAT YOU COULD DO is to buy this set, then buy Disc 1, 2, 4, 6, and 7 of the reissue discs released on the Vivendi label and swap them out with the matching discs in this box set (same exact discs except for replacement of some of the lower quality prints). Then find a disc with "Washee Ironee" on it that wasn't mastered from the RHI ENTERTAINMENT print. Then you'll be fine....Of course, if you are going to do all of that, don't forget to get the rest of the Our Gang Sound shorts in the box set from MGM. ...and hope for a good box set of all of the silent films/episodes.---> EXCITING UPDATE!!!!I just bought another copy of this box set from W--LM-RT (for less than $10 dollars) with the idea to swap out the old 'Genius Entertainment' DVDs (that contained some Blackhawk prints) with the updated/corrected versions of the discs released by Vivendi. WHEN I OPENED the brand new package, I found that the new lower price set (in IDENTICAL packaging) already contained all of the updated discs. The bonus disc still says Genius Entertainment, but the other 7 discs say Vivendi Entertainment and have the 'Pete the Dog' Artwork!! :DWHAT A DEAL THIS REALLY IS NOW!! As far as I can see, there is no way to tell if you have the updated box or the original box without opening it and looking at the disc art.

I watched these shorts growing up before they vanished from TV. I never knew that maybe the reason why I liked them was because these were really "HAL ROACH'S LITTLE RASCAL'S" Laurel & Hardy were my crown and glory as a kid but I never knew they shared the same studio as The Little Rascals" If you want a collection with all the shorts and something to educate you on the real lives of these stars this is it folk!

I am over the moon with this purchase . It came in a couple days (faster than expected) and was brand new without a scratch on it . I can't wait to watch it with the wife and get all nostalgic .Also the price was better than the other places I found the set . thank you

good. quality has gone down over the years, but at least I got some b/w silent "our gang" footage of the original gang before spanky, etc. disc wouldn't play in my laptop but in dvd player it was fine. not many of the "little rascals" era here so nogay white way"episode nor the boxing match, the crabs biting alphafa in the foot. so rather incomplete if you ask me.

very nice set, has a lot of additional features, only thing missing is the last few years, this set concludes with the 1937-38 season, would have been nice to get the last 50 or so after this period with Robert Blake and the rest of the gang, but I guess I'll have to buy another set.

Loved it.