The Kid from Borneo (1933) User Reviews

Very delightful entertainment

[signdesign · 9/10 · 31 July 2005]

Thoroughly enjoyed it. Especially the kitchen-refrigerator scene where the "Wildman" eats the eggs & everything else. Spanky is in high form. Hal Roach was a real genius. The ending could have been a little better, though. Would have liked to seen it run a little longer, as well. Although a little short thats what these were designed at. Personally do not see anything "Politically incorrect" about it. Folks are just too sensitive now days. See something wrong where nothing is. Movie is an accurate depiction of those times. Totally innocent & very entertaining fare. Especially interesting is the historical perspective - carnival sideshows & living conditions during that time.

The Kid from Borneo, despite some uncomfortable moments concerning some characterizations thought of a certain race at the time, is one of the funniest of the Our Gang shorts

[tavm · 8/10 · 5 November 2014]

This Hal Roach comedy short, The Kid from Borneo, is the one hundred twenty-second in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series and the thirty-fourth talkie. In this one, the uncle of Spanky, Dickie, and Dorothy is supposed to come to town with a traveling sideshow. The mother is anxious to see him again but the father, not so much. The gang ends up going to the place the show's at but they miss him and sees this child-like man who loves candy but is mistaken for Spanky's uncle and also a cannibal...Okay, the fact that the "uncle" is black and primitive in characterization may give one pause watching today but otherwise, this was one of the most hilarious shorts in the series yet especially when Spanky and Stymie are involved! So on that note, I highly recommend The Kid from Borneo. P.S. This was Tommy Bond's second appearance in the series but the first in which he has lines.

Our Gang vs. a circus cannibal

[Leofwine_draca · 8/10 · 4 July 2017]

THE KID FROM BORNEO is one of the funniest Our Gang films I've watched. It sees the kids getting up to all kinds of trouble when their 'uncle' (actually a circus wild-man act) visits and proceeds to tear up the place. He's from Borneo and they think he's a cannibal trying to eat them. The highlight of this one is the kitchen set-piece in which Spanky holds off the native's advances by feeding him all manner of stuff. The later chase scene led by Stymie is also very good. The thing that makes this one stand out is the proliferation of camera-trick FX, which are basic but highly effective.

Spanky is a comic genius

[Squonk · 10/10 · 18 March 1999]

If given the difficult task of choosing the very best of the Our Gang comedies "The Kid from Borneo" would certainly be in the running. In this short, Dickie, Dorothy, and Spanky mistake a wild-man from Borneo for their uncle George. This wild-man has a taste for candy, so when he sees Stymie snacking on candy he pursues the gang, shouting "Yum yum, eat 'em up" the whole way. Of course the gang thinks he wants to eat them. The highlight of this film has to be Spanky's kitchen encounter with the wild-man. The scene is proof that Spanky was a child actor of amazing comic ability. Some of his reactions are so subtle yet hilarious you would think he had spent years studying the great comic actors of the time.

Possibly the funniest Little Rascals film

[RDenial · 10/10 · 10 April 2004]

This one is as un-PC as they come, but it is quite possibly the funniest Little Rascals short ever made. The kids mistake "the Wild Man from Borneo" for "Uncle George" and some of the lines and actions that follow are priceless. Spanky is the main Rascal in this one, but Stymie has the funniest bits. This would never be made today and I am surprised that it was made back then. A black man chasing white kids with a large knife seems odd for the time even though it was a comedy setting and we are told up front that the wild man wouldn't hurt a fly. What is so refreshing about this and other Little Rascal shorts is how innocent the kids seem. A far cry from the wise cracking kids today who always outsmart the adults. Do not miss this one.

Frightful Fun With The Little Rascals

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 22 April 2000]

An OUR GANG Comedy Short.

Uncle George comes to town, bringing the Wild Man he's brought with him from Borneo. When the Gang goes to visit, Stymie's candy awakens the savage within him (`Yum-Yum! Eat ‘em up!') and he chases them all back to and through Spanky's house.

A very funny film - lots of wild slapstick here - but the sight of the drunken fellow pursuing little kids with a big knife is a bit unsettling. Highlight: Spanky feeding the Wild Man. Query: why does the film treat Spanky's Mom so harshly at the end? That's John Lester Johnson as the Wild Man.

One of the very best

[Braves21688 · 24 March 2007]

Millions of children howled with delight when they saw this film on television in the 50's, and its just as funny today! Although there is arguably a subtle anti-miscegenation message here-what would happen if white children actually had a black uncle?-you must understand that sex, not race, was the taboo topic then, and 1930's audiences would have thought this perfectly appropriate comic fare, but would have been shocked and offended by what we would regard as the mildest of sexual innuendo found in current comedies! Children, however, are impressed by the madcap frenetic pace of the film, and the musical score that matches the action so perfectly-it is a work of true artistry in this regard. Most of the best Our Gang comedies have a racial theme-check out "Little Sinner" or"A Lad and a Lamp", for example. The comedy is nonetheless excellent-it's a marvel that they did so well on such a small budget. Anyone who can't appreciate these films is wound a little too tightly.

"Yum, Yum...Eat 'Em Up"

[BoomerDT · 10/10 · 17 July 2015]

For me the "Our Gang" shorts of this era were far superior to "Little Rascals" MGM episodes of the late 30's & early 40's. "The Kid From Borneo" AKA-Uncle George, who Spanky's father referenced as "the black sheep of the family" is an absolutely hysterical episode, as Spanky and Dicky are mistakenly convinced that Bumbo, the wild man of the circus, is indeed their uncle!

Spanky McFarland was, hands down, the best kid comedic actor of all time. His scene with Bumbo in the kitchen, when Spanky is offering food from the icebox to Bumbo (which includes eggs, shell & all, tabasco, vinegar, wine, a hunk of bolongna and about 2 dozen wienies) is priceless Bumbo continues to shove it in, to Spanky's amazement. A wonderful chase scene throughout the house, Stymie as always is a riot as a drunken Bumbo chases the kids with a knife, yelling "yum, yum, eat em up!" Throw in the rest of the gang, plus Petey the Pup and the wonderful musical score they had in the episodes from this period and this might be the funniest episode in the series! Totally un-PC!!!

Good Fun

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 9 September 2013]

The gang goes to a circus sideshow to visit Dickie and Spanky's uncle George, mistakenly believing he is "The Wild Man from Borneo."

I watched this as part of a Super-8 movie event, so the version I watched may have had a few minutes clipped from the film (though with the full film being eighteen minutes, I doubt very much was removed).

There were some good jokes that stood the test of time, and got me cracking up. There is some issues with racial content, but honestly not as bad as you might think (at least what I saw). By no means did I get the impression that everyone from Borneo was a cannibal or wild. This is not really any more or less racist than anything else coming out in the 1930s.

The best part is definitely when the younger kid (Spanky?) is feeding the wild man from the pantry. While obviously edited, it is amusing to see the bottomless pit that is the cannibal's stomach.

One line of dialog from this "comedy" short . . .

[pixrox1 · 6/10 · 17 February 2018]

. . . implies that African adults have the "mentality" of seven-year-old White people. A Twentieth Century Black Man is depicted with a bone through his nose during THE WILD KID FROM BORNEO. (No doubt some officials at the MGM Movie Studio felt they were making great strides forward for Civil Rights by NOT referring to this grown male title character by sticking with their original "Our Gang" episode heading, "The Boy from Borneo.") Whether this beleaguered tourist is called a "kid" or a "boy," his entire vocabulary consists of endless "Eat 'Em up, Eat 'Em up, Yum-yum, Yum-yum!" repetitions. Furthermore, MGM presents him as a dangerous lunatic, chasing a group of children miles through town and around a house armed with a butcher knife, kicking through doors with inexorable force, and tossing parents out of upper floor windows. He's shown to be more of a sub-human goat creature than a member of the Human Race, eating sardines can and all, crunching and swallowing raw eggs complete with their shells, consuming uncooked meat by the pound, and guzzling jars of Tabasco sauce, vinegar, and mustard without batting an eye. Meanwhile, the frightened bunch of White urchins draw marbles to see who will be forced to face down this threat. Naturally, the Black marble spells doom. Stymie, the only Black tyke, is forced to draw first, and he picks out the fatal Black marble. As he staggers away, the White bullies hoot with laughter: ALL the marbles are Black!

You won't believe your eyes!

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 12 December 2011]

While there certainly are some good moments in this Our Gang comedy, there are many, many more that are cringe-worthy. While I am 100% in favor of free speech, this is one of those cases where I can understand why the distributors pulled this one from circulation for many years. It is available in the Little Rascals DVD set.

The show begins with a letter from Uncle George. Apparently he's the black sheep of the family and Dad wants nothing to do with him. So, the kids sneak down to the carnival to meet him but accidentally think their uncle is a sideshow character described as the 'Wild Man from Borneo'--though he looks NOTHING like anyone from this Pacific Island. Instead, he's an amazingly stereotypical image of an African from this era--complete with a bone through his nose and acting brain-addled. All he knows how to say is 'yum, yum...eat 'em up'. Unfortunately, the kids think he's a cannibal and he plans on eating them--so they run home. But, the Wild Man loves candy and knows the kids have it, so he chases them about for the rest of the short trying to get candy--and they think they're about to become his dinner. It's all in VERY bad taste. However, inaccurate and offensive as this was, there were a few cute moments and they mostly consisted of Spanky just being adorable. Even a bad short (like this one) is brightened up considerably by his terrific laugh and over-the-top sweetness.

Little Rascals were cute

[frontrowkid2002 · 18 March 2008]

I remember seeing the original Our Gang Comedies (the silent films) on television in the Fifties. Joe Cobb, the little fat kid, was the leader at that time just as Spanky MacFarland became in the Thirties. Mary Kornman was a pretty little blonde girl who preceded Darla Hood as the sweetheart of the gang. Freckled faced Mickey Daniels was Alfalfa's predecessor and Farina was the only black child in the gang. Later would come Stymie and Buckwheat. The gang used to build soap box derby cars that would actually run and they had their own clubhouse. I think it was the inventiveness of the kids that actually appealed to the kids in the Fifties. How many of them had actually built a soapbox car with wheels that they took off the Irish Mail (Say What, it was an early scooter) or their sister's baby carriage. If their father was watching with them, perhaps he would recall building something like this as kids did back then. They had tree houses or club houses with signs that said "No Girls Allowed." Remember the Women Haters Club that Spanky started and Alfalfa couldn't join because Darla talked him out of it. That is what made the series cute and entertaining. The politically correct critics always look at everything in a modern sense. The stereotype was not meant to be mean, just a reflection of the times.

Disappointing

[xidax · 2/10 · 18 January 2001]

I can only assume this short's popularity has something to do with its political incorrectness; in itself it's rather lame. How funny is it really to see a grunting halfwit running around in circles after a bunch of little kids? The film does have its moments, especially with Spanky and Bumbo in the kitchen, but overall it reminded me a lot of that standard childhood nightmare of being chased by a gorilla, except not as exciting. I pass on this one.

A new Rascal from Asia? Not quite.

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 2 July 2017]

"The Kid from Borneo" is an 18.5-minute live action short film from 1933, so this one will have its 85th anniversary already next year. The director is Robert F. McGowan and this should inform most of you already that here we have another Little Rascals / Our Gang short film, actually one of the most known looking at the number of votes here on IMDb. This may have to do with the fact that this is a bit of a controversial movie when it comes to racial stereotypes, but I personally am really tolerant when it comes to (alleged) example of racism, so I don't want to get into detail about that any further. It is all about everybody's personal approach to the subject. In any case, one of the kids' uncles is paying a visit and when they hear that this uncle is somehow the black sheep of the family, they may understand black too verbally and eventually mistake a indigenous member of a tribe from Borneo as the uncle. A lot of mayhem ensues, but most of it is not really that funny. Also I felt that the film relied too much on the title characters screaming and shouting and wildly running around as comedic material, which it really stopped being fairly quickly. The ending wasn't bad when two adult characters go upstairs to see the uncle, but in terms of the kids, usually heart and soul of these films, it wasn't enough entertainment value. One exception would be the scene when Stymie runs into Bumbo for the first time. This was a fairly hilarious moment. And besides, lets keep in mind that one of the biggest stars from the Rascals is a Black kid and they frequently cast family members of him as well. Would racist writers/producers do so? Nah, if anybody could complain for being shut out, it's Asian-Americans. Or perhaps Hispanics. It's all about the fun in here. Which is not frequent enough for under 20 minutes even. May be a bit biased as I am generally not a great Rascals fan, but I gotta give this one a thumbs-down. Not recommended.