Unexpected Riches (1942)

After getting scale saying that their will be unexpected riches, the Our Gang are soon tricked by another kid to do a chore that he needs to do, thinking that they're going to get rich. ... See full summary »

Director:

Herbert Glazer

Writers:

Hal Law, Robert A. McGowan

Stars:

Ernie Alexander, Margaret Bert, Robert Blake

Cast

Credited cast:
Ernie Alexander	...	Mickey's father
Margaret Bert	...	Mickey's mother
Robert Blake	...	Mickey (as Mickey Gubitosi)
Symona Boniface	...	Extra in Froggy's dream
Willa Pearl Curtis	...	Bit in Buckwheat's dream
Barry Downing	...	Ken
Billy 'Froggy' Laughlin	...	Froggy
Stanley Logan	...	Extra in Froggy's dream
George 'Spanky' McFarland
Big Shot	...	Bit in Buckwheat's dream
Billie 'Buckwheat' Thomas	...	Buckwheat
Emmett Vogan	...	Ken's father
Ernestine Wade	...	Bit in Buckwheat's dream

Storyline

After getting scale saying that their will be unexpected riches, the Our Gang are soon tricked by another kid to do a chore that he needs to do, thinking that they're going to get rich. This is the final "Our Gang" short for the character Spanky.

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Plot Keywords:

our gang | children

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Genres:

Comedy | Family | Short

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 November 1942 (USA)

Box Office

Budget:

$19,911 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

10 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Did You Know?

Trivia

Final Our Gang appearance of George 'Spanky' McFarland.

User Reviews

Bye Spanky

After appearing in 95 Our Gang's over 11 years, Unexpected Riches marked the departure of arguably the most recognizable character of the entire series, George "Spanky" McFarland. To be fair, Hal Roach would've probably cut him loose several years before it dawned on MGM that he was 14. As the MGM entries go, Unexpected Riches isn't the worst by far--- it explores the dreams of kids in sort of a Mark Twain-esquire context and doesn't deviate from what we've come to know about each member of the gang. Yeah, there's some un-PC thoughts banging around in Buckwheat's head involving handing out watermelons and fried chicken on the dark side of town from a limo... but getting past that, Unexpected Riches looks like Citzen Kane compared to the likes of Robot Wrecks and 1-2-3 Go! Or for that matter, pick any of the later painfully-unfunny 'message' shorts that the studio dumped on the public. All in all this is a throw-back to the so-so scripts done by Hal Roach, only with better MGM production values. Being the best of the late MGM installments isn't admittedly saying much, but you have to rate 'em accordingly--- at least Spanky left on a relative high note. 4 out of 10.