Hal Roach's Our Gang series seemed to work better when it was more illegitimate. Going highbrow caused the long running series to loose it's charm. The MGM influence was detrimental to the innocence of the series, and while having a plot line of Alfalfa longing to be a legitimate opera singer is ripe with possibilities, the presentation is pretentious and aggravating at times. With seven more years to go in themselves, it got progressively more Andy Hardy-ish in its storytelling format, more educational and less fun. There's really little to recommend even though this is one of the more famous episodes. Spanky is certainly more fun to watch than the egotistical Alfalfa and the cloying Darla, but Buckwheat is always fun and Porky is always adorable. This is a needless parody of the Broadway Melody series, and often gets more jeers than cheers.
Review of Our Gang Follies of 1938
