Giants vs. Yanks (1923)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Robert F. McGowan

Writers:

Hal Roach (story)
H.M. Walker (titles)

Release Date:

13 May 1923 (USA)

Genre:

Family | Short | Comedy

Plot:

The gang, after a premature end to their baseball game, find themselves quarantined in an elegant home, which they proceed to destroy. |

Plot Keywords:

Our Gang | Children | Actor Shares First Name With Character

Cast

Joe Cobb	...	Joe 'Squeaky'
Frank Coghlan Jr.
Jackie Condon	...	Jackie
Mickey Daniels	...	Mickey
Jack Davis	...	Jackie
Dick Gilbert	...	Woodcutter
William Gillespie	...	Mr. Reddy
Clara Guiol	...	Mrs. Reddy
Allen 'Farina' Hoskins	...	Farina
Wallace Howe	...	Physician
Fanny Kelly	...	Mickey's Mother
Ernest Morrison	...	Sunshine Sammy
Ernie Morrison Sr.	...	Himself
Andy Samuel	...	Andy

Runtime:

USA:20 min

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Company:

Hal Roach Studios

Giants vs. Yanks is an amusing "Our Gang" short that's only partly about baseball

Unlike the other "Our Gang/Little Rascals" shorts I just reviewed, I watched this one, Giants vs. Yanks, on an old Goodtimes VHS cassette called "Our Gang Comedy Festival II" from 1989 that I watched previously when I bought it from New Orleans in 1995. The print had alternate beginning credits from another distributor that renamed the series "Those Lovable Scallawags with Their Gangs". As the title implies there is a baseball game in the short but that ends a little too soon as the gang then goes to the home of a wealthy couple that's been taking care of Jackie's little sister. Meanwhile, a doctor there has examined the couple's own baby and, finding out she has a contagious fever, quarantines the house for a week. That's enough time for the kids to wreck havoc all over the house to the couple's long-lasting consternation. Eventually, the doctor reverses his prognosis and the angry parents arrive to take their kids home...While there's plenty of amusing gags like a baby carriage being pulled by a horse, kids breaking glass and vases (with the appropriate sound effects), and a goat running on a treadmill that pulls the bike that turns the clothes dryer around, there's also a bit much repetition in the house wrecking sequence of the parents' horrified reactions. Still, I was mostly amused by the shenanigans. Some scenes might make you cringe like Farina crying after being knocked down by a large pillow and the whole jackknife bit with the toddler and Sunshine Sammy but otherwise it's all in good fun. By the way, instead of the LeRoy Shield score that's standard for many of the "Little Rascals" talkies, what you hear is the stock music that is used for many other silent comedies that are in the public domain. So, in summary, Giant vs. Yanks doesn't live up to its title but is pretty funny nonetheless. P.S. Sunshine Sammy's father, Ernie Morrison, Sr. appears here.