BIG BOY SHORTS - 6 RARE SHORTS - RARE DVD
Product Description
I reviewed a pair of Alpha Video releases that I obtained from Oldies.com back in the merry month of May this year; the theme of these two discs was that they featured a mixture of the sound and silent Mickey McGuire comedies that starred Thrilling Days of Yesteryear bte noire Mickey Rooney. One of the DVDs, Mickeys Movies, also showcased a pair of non-McGuire shorts in Howling Hollywood (1928) and Shamrock Alley (1927); Alley stars child performer Malcolm Sebastian in the persona of Big Boy, a very well-received series produced by Educational Pictures (a studio that churned out mostly comedy shorts) from 1925 to 1929.
I liked Shamrock Alley at the time I watched itthough in retrospect, my enthusiasm for it might have had something to do with the fact that Mickey Rooney wasnt in it. I say this because, owing to the fact that I was a bit pressed for time after last nights election debacle, I wanted to watch something that I could sit through quickly and that wouldnt require a great deal of analysisand I thought a recent Grapevine release (from February 2014) of six Big Boy shorts might be just the tonic. Included in this collection is the first two-reeler in the series, Baby Be Good (1925), in which motion picture audiences were introduced to the two-year-old star whose trademark attire included derby, diapers and floppy shoes.
Still, I have to be honest. I was pretty underwhelmed by the material on the DVD. Most of the comedies were a bit boring, and both the title cards and gags fairly heavy-handed. Which was disappointing, because I had heard a lot of positive word-of-mouth on the shorts; many fans compared them favorably to the Hal Roach Our Gang comedies, taking special measures to admit that they certainly couldnt match those classics but for an imitator they werent bad. My fellow classic movie bloggers are well aware that Im a bit of a curmudgeon when it comes to kiddie thespians, but Im convinced my problem with some of the Big Boy shorts is that young Malcolm often appears ready to burst out crying at any moment. (If you dont nail this shot, Malcolm, therell be no pudding for dessert. Oh, and well shoot your dog.) Sebastian got a lot better with maturity; there are moments in Shamrock Alley where he sort of reminded me of Jackie Coogan.
Of the comedies that are on the Grapevine releasefour of which are also available on an Alpha Video DVD, released about the same timeI probably enjoyed Raisin Cain (1926) the best; Big Boy and his gang wreak havoc in a ritzy mansion after a doctor mistakenly diagnoses one of its inhabitants with smallpox. An individual who critiques this movie over at the IMDb asks: Why would anyone look at nonsense like this when he could look at Our Gang? While that may be a tad harsh, theyre not far from the mark on that onetheres a Little Rascals comedy entitled Giants vs. Yanks (1922) with a similar plot. Shes a Boy (1927) is also not too bad, with our hero a young WWI orphan who assists some of our boys in fighting the deadly Hun (again, I was uncomfortable with a kid that age in that sort of milleu with ammo and bombs and the like). Good, Cain, Boy, and My Kid (1926) all feature organ scores from David Knudtson; the remaining shorts, In the Backyard (1926not its original title, by the way) and Grandpas Boy (1927) highlight the work of composer Nee Dell Drop. (Grandpas also features some rather obtrusive sound effects that I could have done without. Neither Backyard nor Grandpas appears on the Alpha release.)
I liked Shamrock Alley at the time I watched itthough in retrospect, my enthusiasm for it might have had something to do with the fact that Mickey Rooney wasnt in it. I say this because, owing to the fact that I was a bit pressed for time after last nights election debacle, I wanted to watch something that I could sit through quickly and that wouldnt require a great deal of analysisand I thought a recent Grapevine release (from February 2014) of six Big Boy shorts might be just the tonic. Included in this collection is the first two-reeler in the series, Baby Be Good (1925), in which motion picture audiences were introduced to the two-year-old star whose trademark attire included derby, diapers and floppy shoes.
Still, I have to be honest. I was pretty underwhelmed by the material on the DVD. Most of the comedies were a bit boring, and both the title cards and gags fairly heavy-handed. Which was disappointing, because I had heard a lot of positive word-of-mouth on the shorts; many fans compared them favorably to the Hal Roach Our Gang comedies, taking special measures to admit that they certainly couldnt match those classics but for an imitator they werent bad. My fellow classic movie bloggers are well aware that Im a bit of a curmudgeon when it comes to kiddie thespians, but Im convinced my problem with some of the Big Boy shorts is that young Malcolm often appears ready to burst out crying at any moment. (If you dont nail this shot, Malcolm, therell be no pudding for dessert. Oh, and well shoot your dog.) Sebastian got a lot better with maturity; there are moments in Shamrock Alley where he sort of reminded me of Jackie Coogan.
Of the comedies that are on the Grapevine releasefour of which are also available on an Alpha Video DVD, released about the same timeI probably enjoyed Raisin Cain (1926) the best; Big Boy and his gang wreak havoc in a ritzy mansion after a doctor mistakenly diagnoses one of its inhabitants with smallpox. An individual who critiques this movie over at the IMDb asks: Why would anyone look at nonsense like this when he could look at Our Gang? While that may be a tad harsh, theyre not far from the mark on that onetheres a Little Rascals comedy entitled Giants vs. Yanks (1922) with a similar plot. Shes a Boy (1927) is also not too bad, with our hero a young WWI orphan who assists some of our boys in fighting the deadly Hun (again, I was uncomfortable with a kid that age in that sort of milleu with ammo and bombs and the like). Good, Cain, Boy, and My Kid (1926) all feature organ scores from David Knudtson; the remaining shorts, In the Backyard (1926not its original title, by the way) and Grandpas Boy (1927) highlight the work of composer Nee Dell Drop. (Grandpas also features some rather obtrusive sound effects that I could have done without. Neither Backyard nor Grandpas appears on the Alpha release.)