Repeat after me:
"In spite of danger in the day or terror in the night, I will get my man or fall fainting from my wounds. Amen."
"Hide And Shriek" was the last Our Gang comedy produced by Hal Roach, and even though the series was starting to lose some consistency by this time, it happily exited the Roach studio on a positive note. In this short, the Gang fashion themselves into junior detectives, trying out a number of disguises that variously resemble Oliver Hardy (or at least Porky does at one point) and the Marx Bros. in "A Night At The Opera" (when they steal the beards from those Russian guys). Much of this is influenced by the silent film "The Mysterious Mystery," and there are plenty of clever ideas thrown in, such as the giant eyeball on the front door of their detective agency. In the end, the boys find themselves in an amusement park haunted house, not realizing that it's all in fun. Again, there is a silent tradition here, established in such films as "Shootin' Injuns" and "Shivering Spooks." And again, there are plenty of clever ideas to keep things entertaining. If the series hadn't moved on to MGM, this would have been the last short, and that would have been fine with me, even though MGM managed to make a handful of good episodes. This was also, incidentally, the last short subject made by the Roach studio (unless you count the 'streamliners' or TV episodes).
Sidelight: Anybody notice the 'bogeyman' from "Babes In Toyland" in the haunted house? Waste not want not.
review and notes written by Robert Demoss of OurGangFollies
used with permission
© 2004 |
