Change Your Image
C. L. Huang
Reviews
Auto Antics (1939)
It was all downhill from here
One of MGM's most foolish decisions regarding OUR GANG - in a year when those seemed to be increasing exponentially - was to dismiss Porky Lee after this short. He had certainly outgrown his original persona as the tiniest of the Rascals, but so what? Previously, the little kids in the gang became the big kids in the gang. If anyone should have been discharged at that point, it's the prepubescent Spanky and Alfalfa, who were no longer very convincing as naive innocents.
The five-year-old Lee wasn't as outstanding a talent as those two, but he had a reserved charm of his own that was missed in subsequent films where even the best of them started overacting like hand puppets. Even worse, his exit ended one of the series' finest virtues - his rapport with Buckwheat. And by the time AUTO ANTICS was made, OUR GANG needed all the virtue it could get.
Anyway, the film itself isn't bad. It has a few inspired ideas. It isn't up there with MEN IN FRIGHT and MIGHTY LAK A GOAT, but it's closer to those than it is to DOG DAZE and WEDDING WORRIES.