Hal Roach sold the OUR GANG series lock, stock and cow-lick to MGM (Roach's distributor) in May, 1938. The story goes he saw the death of the short subject upon the advent of the double feature--- but you have to wonder why he'd think this when major studios (one of RKO's very last releases was a short subject!) would continue to grind out 1-reelers into the mid-50's. His longtime distributor, MGM was owned by the largest theatrical chain in the world, Loew's Inc. Granted, part of the reason I think Roach became hooked on the idea after the success of Laurel & Hardy features, TOPPER (and it's two lesser sequels), 1-MILLION YEARS B.C. (the #1 film of 1940!), and his first class production of OF MICE AND MEN. His stab at an OUR GANG feature in 1936 with the ill-conceived GENERAL SPANKY was a notable failure... and after 15+ years in shorts production, he was looking for an excuse to move on. But there's more to the story folks! In the mid-1930's Roach had horrified MGM/Leow's Inc. by announcing plans to enter in a studio/production business with Benito Mussolini (Roach hosted Il Duce's son's 21st birthday bash in Hollywood) and quietly sought to end their relationship. Metro bought the profitable Our Gang series lock stock and barrel--- in retrospect a rather odd property. Unfortunately MGM could do almost anything well except comedy and OUR GANG would suffer mightily in the process. ALADDIN'S LANTERN is one of the few good all-around MGM entries, probably a direct result of the talented Gordon Douglas' direction--- he'd direct only two of the MGM versions before pulling up stakes and returning to Roach (who'd signed with United Artists as a producer in the interim). ALADDIN'S LANTERN is a throwback to the Roach 'the Gang puts on a show' stories and has a well done magic carpet sequence along with Porky & Buckwheat desperately trying to crash into the show. These later OUR GANG's typically have terrible scripts but have MGM production values. This is one of the better of the 51 MGM entries as scripts go. Unfortunately they became fewer and increasingly farther between.
10 Reviews
Putting on a show
kpetnews9 September 2010
The last of Gordon Douglas's two shorts for MGM, alas.
MGM would soon populate every fourth short with a musical extravaganza, but at this stage things still looked creaky and homemade, even if it's unlikely that Spanky could have coaxed all those talented child dancers to come and do an elaborate number for an iffy Arabian Nights play. Meanwhile, Porky and Buckwheat are continually stealing the show (literally and meta-literally) doing their version of "While Strolling Through The Park One Day." Though why is Buckwheat shirtless? It's a little odd.
So it's a fairly fun short, though the laugh factor of Alfalfa's off-key warbling is debatable. And the Gang Member in drag bit was done better in "Pay As You Exit." Recommended, though, just because Porky and Buckwheat are an adorable team.
MGM would soon populate every fourth short with a musical extravaganza, but at this stage things still looked creaky and homemade, even if it's unlikely that Spanky could have coaxed all those talented child dancers to come and do an elaborate number for an iffy Arabian Nights play. Meanwhile, Porky and Buckwheat are continually stealing the show (literally and meta-literally) doing their version of "While Strolling Through The Park One Day." Though why is Buckwheat shirtless? It's a little odd.
So it's a fairly fun short, though the laugh factor of Alfalfa's off-key warbling is debatable. And the Gang Member in drag bit was done better in "Pay As You Exit." Recommended, though, just because Porky and Buckwheat are an adorable team.
Okay Entry from the MGM Era
mtw12030 August 2014
In 1938, producer Hal Roach sold the rights to his Our Gang series to former distributor Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Sadly, the series did not improve under the supervision of MGM. But the Gang's first year or so at the studio brought some decent entries. ''Aladdin's Lantern,'' the third MGM release, was sadly the last by longtime Our Gang director Gordon Douglas. Douglas still manages to present enough charm in this short to keep it entertaining.
The premise is that Spanky and Alfalfa are putting together a show based on the story of ''Aladdin.'' But trouble arrives when star Darla quits.
This ten minute romp has a good share of fun moments. For instance, the kids' homemade gadgets, such as a rigged flying carpet, are quite enjoyable. But the real stars are Buckwheat and Porky, who constantly interrupt the show with their adorably unrehearsed rendition of "The Fountain in the Park." And no Our Gang show would be complete without a song by Alfalfa.
But the film does have its flaws. MGM's insistence on elaborate musical numbers is clearly present. Spanky, playing a greedy caliph, wishes for some dancers to entertain him. Enter a group of over-rehearsed tap dancing children. Unlike MGM, Roach hated the types of children that didn't behaved more like adults. Such a musical number would have never worked in a Roach comedy. Another flaw is the needlessly large set. Much of the film takes place in the cellar of a home. What kind of a cellar has such tall ceilings? Yet another one of MGM's attempts at prettying up the series.
Still, enough charm is present to make it ''almost'' feel like a Roach comedy.
The premise is that Spanky and Alfalfa are putting together a show based on the story of ''Aladdin.'' But trouble arrives when star Darla quits.
This ten minute romp has a good share of fun moments. For instance, the kids' homemade gadgets, such as a rigged flying carpet, are quite enjoyable. But the real stars are Buckwheat and Porky, who constantly interrupt the show with their adorably unrehearsed rendition of "The Fountain in the Park." And no Our Gang show would be complete without a song by Alfalfa.
But the film does have its flaws. MGM's insistence on elaborate musical numbers is clearly present. Spanky, playing a greedy caliph, wishes for some dancers to entertain him. Enter a group of over-rehearsed tap dancing children. Unlike MGM, Roach hated the types of children that didn't behaved more like adults. Such a musical number would have never worked in a Roach comedy. Another flaw is the needlessly large set. Much of the film takes place in the cellar of a home. What kind of a cellar has such tall ceilings? Yet another one of MGM's attempts at prettying up the series.
Still, enough charm is present to make it ''almost'' feel like a Roach comedy.
The last OUR GANG short from director Douglas...
xidax19 December 2000
...is a pleasant but undistinguished addition to the series' mini-musicals (which I have never wholeheartedly appreciated). I liked the tap-dance solo to "Your Broadway and My Broadway," the stage effects, and all of Porky and Buckwheat's scenes, but all in all I agree that this film isn't original enough.
Aladdin's Lantern was the final Our Gang short directed by Gordon Douglas
tavm8 January 2015
Warning: Spoilers
This M-G-M musical comedy short, Aladdin's Lantern, is the one hundred seventy-second entry in the "Our Gang" series and the eighty-fourth talkie. Spanky and Alfalfa put on a show based on Aladdin's Lamp but they keep on being interrupted by Porky and Buckwheat singing "Strolling Through the Park One Day". When they do it again after Darla finished her number, she quits. Spanky takes her place, in drag, during the second act. I'll stop there and just say this was a bit derivative of earlier entries involving this particular gang, most notably Pay As You Exit. Still, there was enough funny stuff and musical numbers to make Aladdin's Lantern quite an entertaining M-G-M entry in the OG series. It bears noting that not only was this Spanky's first ep for his new home studio, it was Gordon Douglas' last for them as he'd return to Hal Roach Studios right after helming this. It would be there he'd team Oliver Hardy with Harry Langdon in Zenobia before then guiding Ollie and Stan Laurel in their final HR film, Saps at Sea. When Hal's studio became swarmed with military personnel during World War II, Douglas moved to RKO where he guided The Great Gildersleeve (Hal Peary) in a series. After a brief foray at Columbia, he then moved to Warner Bros. during the '50s where he made the classic sci-fi movie Them!, guided James Cagney in Come Fill the Cup, and teamed Doris Day with Frank Sinatra in Young at Heart. Gordon would direct Sinatra during the '60s in Robin and the 7 Hoods with his Rat Pack gang, as well as in Tony Rome, The Detective, and Lady in Cement. His career wound down in the '70s with Viva Knievel! When Leonard Maltin and Richard W. Bann published their second edition of their book, "The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang", at the end of their review of this film, they mentioned a reunion of this director with Spanky McFarland in 1987. Spanky hadn't seen Mr. Douglas since visiting the set of Sincerely Yours-a 1955 picture starring Liberace. Gordon was in failing health by this time but when Spanky told what happened between them, he recalled how Mr. Douglas-or "Gordie Doug"-would still stand up and act out his stories with every gesture accounted for...just like he'd do for the gang when he wanted them to understand what he wanted concerning a piece of action in the most gentlest way possible. He died on September 29, 1993.
little kids on stage
SnoopyStyle2 October 2021
Spanky and Alfalfa "co precent Alladin and his Magic Lamp". Porky and Buckwheat start it off with a song. The neighborhood kids show up to watch the chaotic production.
It's Our Gang AKA The Little Rascals as produced by MGM. It's the kids in a 10min short. It's fine. It has its fun. Darla has a bunch of chorus girls. The big gag is Alfalfa getting hot butt. Hot butt is fun.
It's Our Gang AKA The Little Rascals as produced by MGM. It's the kids in a 10min short. It's fine. It has its fun. Darla has a bunch of chorus girls. The big gag is Alfalfa getting hot butt. Hot butt is fun.
Has a Couple Moments
Hitchcoc3 October 2021
The usual overacting of he Our Gang bunch. Spanky and Alfalfa put together a play based on the Aladdin story. But it turns out to be more of a musical review. It was all okay and I did enjoy the skills of the tap dancers, but nothing very dramatic. I guess this was featured in the late part of the Our Gang comedies.
Ho-hum putting-on-a-show short
archiveguy22 October 2000
Lesser Entry
Michael_Elliott1 February 2013
Aladdin's Lantern (1938)
** (out of 4)
The third film in MGM's Our Gang series is pretty forgettable. Alfalfa is putting on a show, which of course sells out to the local kids. Once the show starts, however, he sees that Porky and Buckwheat keep stealing the spotlight with their take on "While Strolling Through the Park One Day." ALADDIN'S LANTERN is a pretty forgettable effect, which is a shame because the early days of the group managed to pull off several entertaining films dealing with the gang putting on shows for the local kids. There are many problems here but I think the biggest is the rather lazy screenplay, which seems to resort to hoping people remember the earlier, better shorts and perhaps they'll overlook the various flaws here. The biggest flaw is the fact that there's just nothing all that funny going on here. There's a sequence with Alfalfa singing and not knowing (at first) that there's a fire going on under him. I will say that Porky and Buckwheat steal the picture but one wishes Alfalfa would have just gotten knocked out so that they could have finished their song. I'm sure fans of the series will still want to check this out but it's a pretty mediocre entry.
** (out of 4)
The third film in MGM's Our Gang series is pretty forgettable. Alfalfa is putting on a show, which of course sells out to the local kids. Once the show starts, however, he sees that Porky and Buckwheat keep stealing the spotlight with their take on "While Strolling Through the Park One Day." ALADDIN'S LANTERN is a pretty forgettable effect, which is a shame because the early days of the group managed to pull off several entertaining films dealing with the gang putting on shows for the local kids. There are many problems here but I think the biggest is the rather lazy screenplay, which seems to resort to hoping people remember the earlier, better shorts and perhaps they'll overlook the various flaws here. The biggest flaw is the fact that there's just nothing all that funny going on here. There's a sequence with Alfalfa singing and not knowing (at first) that there's a fire going on under him. I will say that Porky and Buckwheat steal the picture but one wishes Alfalfa would have just gotten knocked out so that they could have finished their song. I'm sure fans of the series will still want to check this out but it's a pretty mediocre entry.
Weak entry is stuff you've seen before
dbborroughs20 September 2009
Weak entry in the Our Gang films is like several other of the shorts where the gang decides to put on a show. The only real difference is that the budget is clearly bigger and the film looks slightly better.
The plot is that the gang put on the Aladdin tale complete with dancing girls, songs and monkeys. Its so familiar in the way its done that I'm left to wonder if the film uses stock footage from earlier films. Whats worse is that the songs and dancing derail the rest of the film since running a scant 10 minutes the film barely has time to build up any sort of momentum. The only way this is worth seeing it is if you stumble on it or see it as part of a collection.
The plot is that the gang put on the Aladdin tale complete with dancing girls, songs and monkeys. Its so familiar in the way its done that I'm left to wonder if the film uses stock footage from earlier films. Whats worse is that the songs and dancing derail the rest of the film since running a scant 10 minutes the film barely has time to build up any sort of momentum. The only way this is worth seeing it is if you stumble on it or see it as part of a collection.
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