It's funny, but in all the early talking Our Gang comedies there is a character I either love or hate. Wheezer was one of the youngest kids in the group and as a result, he couldn't read lines and had little real acting talent. Sometimes the directors were able to get adorable performances or completely wooden ones where he could barely say his lines (such as in their previous film "Helping Grandma"). Fortunately, "Love Business" is one of the boy's better films and as a result the entire picture came off very well.
In this short, Jackie, Mary Ann and Wheezer are siblings. In all the Our Gang comedies, the family compositions changed dramatically--with the kids having brothers and sisters in some and are only children in other shorts. Jackie is infatuated with his teacher, Miss Crabtree and Wheezer enjoys tormenting his older brother over this. But pesky Wheezer is even worse when he finds some old love letters and sells them to Chubby--who also is smitten with Miss Crabtree. Later, after practicing how to woo his teacher, Chubby comes over to see her and win her love--and Jackie is there to make sure he fails! When Jackie's mother overhears Chubby's ardent advances on his teacher, she recognizes his lines--as the letters were HERS from many years ago! In the end, however, Wheezer is so adorable that Mom just can't bring herself to punish the little skunk.
Aside from the creepy notion of boys in love with their teacher (it used to be cute in 1931 but with some of today's bizarre headlines about sexual abuse the plot idea doesn't age well), the film is fun. The children's performances are much better than usual and the story works well. The director deserves much credit for eliciting such nice acting from the kids--it probably wasn't easy.
By the way, the GOOFS section on IMDb says that Miss Crabtree's hand is drawn. This is not so. While the hand is obviously not correct (she's holding the candy with her fingers and then suddenly in the closeup it's in the palm of her hand), the hand appears to be an extra's hand--not a drawn one.
In this short, Jackie, Mary Ann and Wheezer are siblings. In all the Our Gang comedies, the family compositions changed dramatically--with the kids having brothers and sisters in some and are only children in other shorts. Jackie is infatuated with his teacher, Miss Crabtree and Wheezer enjoys tormenting his older brother over this. But pesky Wheezer is even worse when he finds some old love letters and sells them to Chubby--who also is smitten with Miss Crabtree. Later, after practicing how to woo his teacher, Chubby comes over to see her and win her love--and Jackie is there to make sure he fails! When Jackie's mother overhears Chubby's ardent advances on his teacher, she recognizes his lines--as the letters were HERS from many years ago! In the end, however, Wheezer is so adorable that Mom just can't bring herself to punish the little skunk.
Aside from the creepy notion of boys in love with their teacher (it used to be cute in 1931 but with some of today's bizarre headlines about sexual abuse the plot idea doesn't age well), the film is fun. The children's performances are much better than usual and the story works well. The director deserves much credit for eliciting such nice acting from the kids--it probably wasn't easy.
By the way, the GOOFS section on IMDb says that Miss Crabtree's hand is drawn. This is not so. While the hand is obviously not correct (she's holding the candy with her fingers and then suddenly in the closeup it's in the palm of her hand), the hand appears to be an extra's hand--not a drawn one.