"Beginner's Luck" is another "Our Gang" short film and like most of these it runs for slightly under 20 minutes. The original is black-and-white, but there is also a colored version out there. The director is Gus Meins ("Babes in Toyland" starring Laurel and Hardy) and he made this film 5 years before his suicide when he was accused of sexually abusing several boys. This puts his work with the Gang into a slightly dubious light. Anyway, this short film here is probably neither among the most famous nor among the least known Our Gang films. Spanky is the star this time and his mother wants him to win a talent contest. The film starts of nicely, but as it goes on, it quickly turns into a talent contest with several participants who really have nothing to do with the movie series. Spanky's big final scene in-stage is also not as funny as I hoped it would be. What do we learn from this movie? Maybe that soccer moms already existed 80 years ago. But that's it. Not too interesting or funny of a watch and I don't recommend it. Many better Our Gang short films out there.
Review of Beginner's Luck
