One Wild Ride

This is another one of those good-feeling inducing silent Our Gang comedies, which are my all time favorite pre-sound era films.

Essentially, our half-pint heroes do some ingenious stuff to get out of their chores so they can go riding in their makeshift taxi (a device making a return from the previous year's classic "Tire Trouble"). After picking up rich girl and resident Rascal cutie-pie Mary Kornman, Mickey Daniels' grandpa demands they stop using his horse to pull the cab. When Farina hooks up to the truck, the title takes effect and see the rest.

Usually, the silent Gang films are amusing in a gentle way. The first half of the film is like this as we see the Gang enjoying a childhood that no longer exists as they romp in chicken coops, abandoned lots, and the actual sunny streets of suburban Los Angeles of the 1920s. Farina proves himself to be a five year old child prodigy of comedy as we enjoy his reactions to the thrilling and guffaw generating runaway car scenes that take up the second half of this enjoyable film. For obvious reasons, the scenes of the other children rebuffing Farina's attempts to play with them and enjoy a ride on the crazy car are a bit disturbing (considering his usual full-fledged status as a Rascal), but the rest of the film wipes away any nasty aftertaste over this.

The early silent Our Gang films are largely an underground cult phenomenon and hard to find. Let us pray that there wonderful films will soon get their just deserts on non-bootleg DVD.