Surprised Parties (1942) User Reviews

It WASN'T all that bad!

[Moax429 · 7/10 · 19 September 2004]

Well, true, the MGM-produced "Our Gangs" weren't as funny as the original Hal Roach shorts, but "Surprised Parties" was kind of amusing, especially since - as I stated in my comment for "Calling All Kids" - Leonard Maltin and Richard Bann's "dissing" of "Surprised Parties" in their 1992 "Little Rascals" book only made it funnier.

It was particularly funny in the scene where Froggy dressed up like a girl and told Janet Burston, "Okay, Toots!" in a falsetto voice, and when he gets whapped in the behind by a bag of calsomine he used to rig the "Pin the Tail On the Donkey" game after a dubbed girl's voice proclaims, "You know, I don't like her!"

There was also a piece of Americana, in the form of a public service announcement, printed on the closing title card; under "THE END," it read: "America needs your money. Buy War Bonds and Stamps every pay day." (apparently Maltin and Bann didn't care to include that noteworthy piece of trivia in their negative "Surprised Parties" review); anybody who was lucky to have videotaped this film (as I was) will have to put their VCRs in the slow mode in order to see that message as it was flashed on the screen rather quickly before the title card faded to black.

(Warner Home Video, any chance you'll put "Surprised Parties" on DVD soon?)

You want to know what the worst MGM-produced "Our Gangs" are? They have to be "The New Pupil," "Ye Olde Minstrels" (see my comments at that listing), and "Family Troubles." "Surprised Parties" was MUCH better compared to those three sorry misfires!

light and fun non-sense

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 30 December 2023]

Froggy is sad at a birthday party and the other kids confront him. Froggy reveals that he almost never has birthday parties since he was born on February 29th. He only gets a party on a leap year. Our Gang decides to throw him a surprise party. Everybody starts avoiding him and he mistakenly assumes that he is being thrown out of the club. He sets about to sabotage the surprise party and disguise himself as a girl.

This has a cute premise and a fun execution. Froggy does some cross-dressing and actually looks like a cute girl. It is light and fun non-sense and that is all one looks for in Our Gang.

Robert Blake is cute...but as funny this young

[donzilla · 2 September 1999]

Froggy gets to go with the others to a party but is depressed because he's a February 29th kid...and only gets a birthday party every four years. The others get together to give him the Alice In Wonderland "Unbirthday" party.

a misfire

[dbborroughs · 4/10 · 11 November 2009]

Froggie is upset that he never has a big party like all the other kids. Spanky and the gang seek to remedy that by giving him a surprise party. Unaware that all the decorations and preparations are for him Froggy sabotages everything only to find out too late that the party is for him.

Okay Our Gang comedy works in fits and starts. The bits work but I don't think it really works as a whole. Part of the problem is that we all know where this is going and since much of the humor needs to have some form of surprise for it to work the whole thing falls down. I think in a weird way the film just sort of misses. Its the type of thing that had they actually thought about it might have amounted to something more than a misfire. Worth trying if you lower your expectations

Blah

[JonathanDP81 · 3/10 · 29 March 2000]

Two years after this short, the last "Our Gang" short was made. After seeing this, you wonder how it even lasted that much longer. The quality of "Our Gang" nosedived soon after moving from Hal Roach to MGM, and this short is a perfect example. The gags are all very unfunny and Froggy's last line of this being the happiest day of his life paints a bad picture in your mind of what it's like for him the rest of the time. A very poor example of film making.

Surprised Parties was another near-clunker in the M-G-M-only Our Gang series

[tavm · 3/10 · 1 February 2015]

This M-G-M comedy short, Surprised Parties, is the two hundred seventh entry in the "Our Gang" series and the one hundred nineteenth talkie. During a friend's birthday party, Froggy is crying because he rarely gets one since he was born in a leap year so he only gets to celebrate one every four years. Spanky and the rest of the gang resolve to surprise him but Froggy gets suspicious when everyone runs away from him whenever he arrives. He finds out about a party he's not invited to but when he confronts his pals, they throw him out of the clubhouse which is decorated. So he then rigs the games...While Mickey's crying was tolerable in Dad for a Day, his even more whining in All About Hash was the opposite. At least Froggy's here was kept to a minimum. As for the booby traps, they aren't very funny and the final gag is ruined by Janet's obvious anticipating it when her character wasn't even supposed to know! Perhaps the most amusing thing here is seeing Froggy dressed as a girl and speaking in a voice other than what he's known for. So on that note, Surprised Parties is at the least worth a look for any Our Gang completists out there. P.S. This was Edward Cahn's last regular Our Gang assignment as director but he'd helm one more before the series was done.