"Rover's Big Chance" was a little more offbeat than most of the MGM-produced "Our Gangs," but it somehow managed to be funny, and, again, Leonard Maltin and Richard Bann's bashing of this short in their "Little Rascals" book made it even funnier.
What was especially funny was the scenes when Rover was on the baseball diamond and caught the ball in his mouth, prompting the casting director to call the dog "a good glove," and then the scenes inside the studio where Froggy attempts to "prime" Rover for the big scene (first, Froggy gets Spanky to act like a dog, and shortly thereafter Janet does an impression of a roaring fire while waving her arms in the air: "Ssssss! Crackle, crackle! Ssssss! Crackle, Crackle!").
As for Maltin and Bann's "dissing" of this short, they concluded the main review by saying "(T)he dog's career is over, and, mercifully, so is the short." Then they bemoaned how the "kids and pets" concept never took off at MGM, and that this film and "Doin' Their Bit" (the short made before this one) proved that "Our Gang" was suffering from a lack of quality writing and talent.
Well, Maltin and Bann, maybe *you* didn't like "Rover's Big Chance," but possibly that was the idea - it was so outrageously goofy it managed to be quite funny on its own (and certainly *much* funnier and *more decent* than today's "screwball" comedies)!
Also, Spanky McFarland appeared in two more shorts after this one and then left "Our Gang;" sadly, the series only had one more year to go (who in 1942 would have imagined that?). And veteran actor Stephen McNally (billed in MGM's press book as Horace McNally) played the director in this short.
What was especially funny was the scenes when Rover was on the baseball diamond and caught the ball in his mouth, prompting the casting director to call the dog "a good glove," and then the scenes inside the studio where Froggy attempts to "prime" Rover for the big scene (first, Froggy gets Spanky to act like a dog, and shortly thereafter Janet does an impression of a roaring fire while waving her arms in the air: "Ssssss! Crackle, crackle! Ssssss! Crackle, Crackle!").
As for Maltin and Bann's "dissing" of this short, they concluded the main review by saying "(T)he dog's career is over, and, mercifully, so is the short." Then they bemoaned how the "kids and pets" concept never took off at MGM, and that this film and "Doin' Their Bit" (the short made before this one) proved that "Our Gang" was suffering from a lack of quality writing and talent.
Well, Maltin and Bann, maybe *you* didn't like "Rover's Big Chance," but possibly that was the idea - it was so outrageously goofy it managed to be quite funny on its own (and certainly *much* funnier and *more decent* than today's "screwball" comedies)!
Also, Spanky McFarland appeared in two more shorts after this one and then left "Our Gang;" sadly, the series only had one more year to go (who in 1942 would have imagined that?). And veteran actor Stephen McNally (billed in MGM's press book as Horace McNally) played the director in this short.