Robot Wrecks (1941)
An insult to "Our Gang" fans
28 May 2002
Warning: Spoilers
(Possible Spoilers) Flat, dull and unfunny, this was typical of the "adults (for which read 'Authority Figures') know best" plots that betrayed the entire Our Gang concept. In the earlier films, the kids create things and get into trouble, but there was an endearing charm to watching them trying to mimic the kinds of things the adult world had (building a fire engine, operating a playhouse, attending club meetings, etc.)

This film uses that familiar idea and then perverts it by using it as a lead to a piece of "do it yourself" moralizing, which robs the film of humor. Also, there are problems with the kids: as someone said, Spanky is way too old to still be playing a thoroughly naive kid (all of the Gang's characters in this film were played as ignorant rubes who would have bought the Brooklyn Bridge if Slicker had offered it to them,) while Freddie "Slicker" Walburn himself looks distracted, as if he wished he were somewhere else. Given the quality of this miserable film, it isn't surprising.
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