I noticed a review for this that complains that there's a racial issue here...the white kids being mean to the black kid. Well, it might look this way if you've never watched many other Our Gang films. Taken out of context, the kids do seem awful and perhaps racist. But this is a complete misinterpretation of the short film. First, in nearly all of the 200+ Our Gang films, the black kids were treated pretty much like anyone else....race was hardly ever an issue. Second, in the silent Our Gang films, the kids are FREQUENTLY jerks towards each other! So, their being angry at Farina after his goat eats their stuff and their giving him the cold shoulder isn't at all surprising. These kids are NOT always nice....they can be jerks. And, often Farina himself is a jerk in many of these films. So, if you are going to assume racism in this film, step back...and look at all the films in their entirety before you jump to this conclusion...especially since this kid, Farina, for a time was the highest paid of the kids!
The story finds Farina being ostracized and he tries to have fun on his own. One of the ways he has fun is feeding jumping beans to his mother's chickens...with silly results. Later, when he gets frustrated with the kids, he tells them he's going to tell the cops that they're being mean to him. A short time later, the cops do show up...chasing a criminal and shooting at him. But the kids THINK this is directed towards them because Farina told the cops! And, incidentally, Farina then thinks they're coming after him! What's next? See the film.
As to the film itself, it's in pretty rough shape...a bit blurry and hard to see portions of the story. But considering that the film is almost a hundred years old and MANY old silents don't exist any more in any form, I can look past the print being pretty degraded.
So is this any good? Yes. The story is cute and is a nice showcase for Farina, as he is clearly the star of the film. Up until this time, his character had little to do in the shorts because he was so much younger than the other kids when the series started in 1922. I also liked the ending....a very nice short from Hal Roach Studios.
