User Reviews

HONKY DONKEY is possibly the funniest Our Gang short that I've yet seen. Sometimes the simple ones are the best, and HONKY DONKEY is just that: a short film with a simple premise and absolutely hilarious execution. The tale involves the usual Our Gang members (with the addition of the naturally fitting Don Barlcay as Barclay the chauffeur) get hold of a donkey and letting it run loose in a rich kid's house.

Sure, the humour is simplistic and often repetitive, especially with all of the noises on the soundtrack. But the donkey itself is trained to perfection and the subsequent antics never less than very, very funny. The kid actors seem to be having a ball, too, although Barclay gives the stand-out performance for me.

I recall spending a day with spoiled friend Mark . His elderly Grandparents were watching us. Mark wanted ,no demanded that his Grandfather drives to get ice cream. We drove a few miles to the ice cream stand . Then Mark wanted to go to the toy store but Grandpa didn't want to take us there. Instead of having a verbal tantrum . Mark showed his revenge by giving his Grandfather bad instructions on how to get home. Poor little rich boy Wally (Wally Allbright) has his overprotective Mother who bundles him up in the back of the fashionable Pierce Arrow limousine with stuffy nosed Barclay the chauffeur at the wheel. The minute Mommy leaves for more shopping Wally takes off his camisole and commands Barclay (Don Barclay) to drive down the back roads and alleyways. Ironically Barclay complies to young Wallace as they come upon the Rascals playing in a vacant lot having a Mule pull them around on a makeshift ironing board. Tommy is selected to sneeze as Algebra the Mule chases him till he's out of breathe to the sound of Spanky's alarm clock which causes the four legged star to stop. The Realtor, bespectacled William Wagner, crashes their playtime and tells them to leave the lot at once. As our Realtor dusts off the sign but he unfortunately sneezes and Algebra chases him through a wall. Stymie goes after the Mule and says "Algebra this is no place for you!" Wally offer the gang his place for them to play Mule and all. They all pile into the limo with Algebra in tow until they head to a busy intersection when the bell signals stop and Algebra won't budge, which ties up the busy street as a traffic cop starts with poor befuddled Barclay calling him a fresh guy. Spanky solves the problem as the gang puts the Mule in the Limo and off they go to Wally estate. Barclay's nose got itchy a few times and almost sneezed but Scotty saved the day by putting his finger on his nose. Finally the gang reaches Wally's home and Barkley and Algebra take over the rest of this comedy masterpiece with plenty of physical slapstick, sneezing, bell ringing and that unmistakable laugh the mule lets out compliments of Ex-Our gang alumnus Mickey Daniels. One of Our Gangs Funniest. episodes! As for Mark and his bogus directions. We drove in circles as I was stunned by Mark's lack of respect for his elders. I was getting frustrated as my ice cream was melting all over me.

. . . budding mansion mogul "Wallace" invites the Unscrubbed Our Gang and their dirty mule into the innermost recesses of his palatial palace toward the beginning of HONKEY-DONKEY. The title animal, a vociferous Jackass named "Algebra," gets to take its first snooze between satin sheets, after tiring itself out running up and down grand staircases, kicking out walls, and engaging in other donkey hijinks. The socialist moles who had recently wrested control of Our Gang production during the depths of America's Great Depression take great pains to outline the sort of Reckoning Day on the horizon for U.S. fat cat One Per Centers with HONKEY-DONKEY. This impending Judgement Hour will see the unwashed masses surging like THE BLOB across the arrogant aristocrats' neatly manicured lawns, around their spacious verandahs, through their gaping picture windows, over their haughty carpets, and right into the treasure troves not-so-well concealed in their walk-in closets.

This Hal Roach comedy short, Honky Donkey, is the one hundred twenty-ninth in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series and the forty-first talkie. In this one, rich kid Wallace orders his chauffeur Barclay to take him to some alleys after his mom leaves them alone to go shopping. He encounters Our Gang as they're going on a combo see-saw/merry-go-round contraption powered by their mule, Algebra. When someone sneezes, the mule runs. When a bell rings, he stops. I'll stop there and just say this was as hilarious when I first saw this as a kid as it's now when seeing this as an adult. Dan Barclay is great as the flustered servant whether by his voice or physical stunts with Spanky and Scotty providing a great counterpoint with their reactions and punchlines. So on that note, I very much recommend Honky Donkey. P.S. The mule's whinny at the end was provided by former Our Ganger Mickey Daniels! And this was the last time Willie Mae Taylor played Buckwheat.

This has to be the most contrived Our Gang comedies. It makes for VERY tough viewing and is a short I would recommend skipping unless you are a person who MUST see every film they made. Yes, it's that bad...

The film begins with a rich kid and his chauffeur downtown. They come upon the gang and the kids are having a lot of fun with their mule, 'Algebra'. So, the rich kid invites everyone to his place...and the place is turned upside down by this annoying mule with a VERY contrived gimmick. You see, every time someone sneezes, the mule goes crazy and begins chasing them and every time it hears a bell it sits down and refuses to do anything. Does this sound funny? No. And sadly the writers must have taken a vacation and just mailed in this sorry excuse for a plot. Unfunny and annoying--which isn't too surprising, as Hal Roach shorts with animals tend to be rather poor--such as Laurel & Hardy's "Angora Love" or "The Chimp". And, to make things worse, someone thought it was funny to give the mule Mickey Daniels' annoying laugh....uggh!

By the way, this is the second film with Buckwheat. No, it's not THE Buckwheat but a girl who goes by that name. Later, the REAL Buckwheat would become a stat with Our Gang films.

"Honky Donkey" is a black-and-white sound film from 1934, so this one is already way over 80 years old and if you know a bit about American short films from the 1930s, then you won't be surprised that this is another Rascals/Our Gang episode directed by Gus Meins. It runs for almost 17 minutes and shows us what happens when the gang runs into a rich boy who takes them to his place where a donkey (as the title accurately describes) causes all kinds of mayhem to anybody. I must say I like donkey, but this one here left me fairly uninterested sadly, maybe because the longer the film goes the more does the entire thing turn into one scene of havoc after the next. There is no chronology in here, no plot really, no character development and this one is probably at its worst when they include random slapstick scenes of Spanky and Scotty. I just hope the ways in which you read about child abuse back in the early days of film wasn't a factor here. Or animal abuse. Animals sure played a bit of a role in many Rascals films, but here Meins certainly went a bit over the top. I did not find it funny or interesting and 4 stars out of 10 is still really on the generous side. Don't watch.