Champeen, The (1923)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Cute Our Gang short has a cop busting Sammy for stealing apples and tells him that he must pay the owner a dollar or else face hard jail time. Sammy later sees Mickey and Jackie fighting over Mary so he decides to put them in the ring so that he can earn some money selling tickets. This is certainly a charming little entry in the series because it takes a pretty simple premise and makes you laugh with the simple jokes. One of the highlights happens early on when Sammy comes up with a simple way to steal apples without getting caught but of course this bright plan eventually backfires. This is followed up with another funny gag of Sammy rolling under a fence to try and avoid the cop. The second half of the film deals with the fighting and the match is a pretty good one. We get plenty of physical action as well as some nice sight gags. The one gag that somewhat goes over the line is when Sammy tries to get his younger family members to fight in the ring. One of the kids is clearly just over a year old yet the older kid punches him in the face. He begins to cry but the scene goes on and the young child is hit a couple more times. These Our Gang shorts at times crossed the line and this is certainly one of those times.
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Cute Our Gang short has a cop busting Sammy for stealing apples and tells him that he must pay the owner a dollar or else face hard jail time. Sammy later sees Mickey and Jackie fighting over Mary so he decides to put them in the ring so that he can earn some money selling tickets. This is certainly a charming little entry in the series because it takes a pretty simple premise and makes you laugh with the simple jokes. One of the highlights happens early on when Sammy comes up with a simple way to steal apples without getting caught but of course this bright plan eventually backfires. This is followed up with another funny gag of Sammy rolling under a fence to try and avoid the cop. The second half of the film deals with the fighting and the match is a pretty good one. We get plenty of physical action as well as some nice sight gags. The one gag that somewhat goes over the line is when Sammy tries to get his younger family members to fight in the ring. One of the kids is clearly just over a year old yet the older kid punches him in the face. He begins to cry but the scene goes on and the young child is hit a couple more times. These Our Gang shorts at times crossed the line and this is certainly one of those times.