That cute little rascal (Spanky McFarland) wins his way into your heart in this likable farce with a few songs thrown in. The beginning, which focuses on a suicidal character that fades away early in the film, is an unfortunate start to an amusing movie which jumps to a truly original sequence that has Wheeler and Woolsey acting like an old married couple, arguing over Wheeler's dishpan hands and wife-like complaints. When they adopt Spanky from orphanage agent Margaret Dumont (in her first of two Wheeler and Woolsey films), they find themselves responsible for him when the suicidal man they hoped to help runs off to reunite with his wife. They travel to backwoods Kentucky where they find themselves in a nasty family feud. Mary Carlisle takes over as the love interest here, while Noah Beery Sr. and Lucille LaVerne are the heads of the two clans fighting in spite of the fact that they once loved each other.
There's plenty of corn to be had here, as well as a cute musical number ("One Little Kiss") where Spanky sings to a pooch and Woolsey sings to a mule as the others sing to their loved ones. Willie Best ("Sleep n' Eat") plays the stereotypical black servant, but instills him with humanity. Ms. LaVerne, here seen with teeth, was well known for her French Revolutionary Hags in "Orphans of the Storm" and "A Tale of Two Cities", and would provide the voice (and face) for the wicked queen/hag in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". A funny shotgun battle and chase sequence end the film, and Spanky gets in a good gag as he convinces Woolsey to end with a prank he had been pining for ever since arriving in Kentucky.
There's plenty of corn to be had here, as well as a cute musical number ("One Little Kiss") where Spanky sings to a pooch and Woolsey sings to a mule as the others sing to their loved ones. Willie Best ("Sleep n' Eat") plays the stereotypical black servant, but instills him with humanity. Ms. LaVerne, here seen with teeth, was well known for her French Revolutionary Hags in "Orphans of the Storm" and "A Tale of Two Cities", and would provide the voice (and face) for the wicked queen/hag in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". A funny shotgun battle and chase sequence end the film, and Spanky gets in a good gag as he convinces Woolsey to end with a prank he had been pining for ever since arriving in Kentucky.