July 29, 2008

Robot Wrecks (1941)

Here's a rare thing: A war-era "Our Gang" short which doesn't completely suck ass!

It still suffers from a groan-inducing heavy-handed moral lesson...unlike the cool, politically-incorrect shorts from the 30s which actually encouraged kids to behave like kids rather than small professionals. But they did three things right here: (1) "Volto" is menacing enough to pass for an early product of Cyberdyne Systems, (2) the little creep who slips inside the Radar O’Reilly "row boat" makes for a convincing bastard with his delivery of the line "then I give 'em the woiks!" and (3) mom's voice. Consider naming your future children "Boxcar" and "Slicker."

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