General Spanky (1936)

 

General Spanky was an experiment to see if Hal Roach’s Our Gang series could make the transition from shorts to feature films. It’s such a shame that the filmmakers chose as their subject matter a Civil War tale that is sympathetic to the South and all of its racist stereotypes. Some of the major actors from Roach’s famous troop of child actors are here (Spanky McFarland, Buckwheat Thomas, and Alfalfa Switzer), and they exhibit their usual naïve charm in this extended narrative form. The plot is rather unnecessarily complicated. Spanky and Buckwheat, both orphans, wind up living with a generous riverboat gambler, Marshall “Marsh” Valient (Phillips Holmes). Meanwhile, Alfalfa and his friends have formed their own troop of soldiers, The Royal Protection of Women and Children Regiment Club of the World and Mississippi River. Brevity was never the strong suit for the gang when naming their organizations, was it?  Utilizing the kind of junk common to their “inventions” and “constructions,” the gang creates “fortifications” for protection. An exchange of gunfire with Union troops across these fortifications leads to a direct encounter with a Union general who always listens to whatever Spanky has to say, no matter how absurd it might be, such as pleading for the life of Marsh Valient, a Confederate spy whom the boys have hidden in a cave. There’s even a subplot involving romantic triangle and a chance for Alfalfa to sing or “croon” (“Just Before the Battle, Mother”), details familiar to anyone who’s seen several Our Gang shorts. However, the racism of the time period makes this film almost unwatchable today. When Spanky asks Marsh, “You live in this big house all alone,” his question and Marsh’s answer neglect all of the labor of those enslaved African Americans who actually ran such houses during that time period. Even when the film seems to attempt to overcome the stereotypes, such as when Spanky expresses his sadness because Buckwheat isn’t initially able to eat at the table inside the house, the film takes a sympathetic opportunity (Marsh allows Buckwheat to live with Spanky) and reverts almost immediately back to racist ideology. He can stay, but only as Spanky’s slave. In fact, that’s how Spanky introduces Buckwheat when they first meet Alfalfa and his troops. It’s cringe-inducing, and there are many of those—far too many—throughout this film.

Oscar Nomination: Best Sound Recording