tavm Review of Mighty Lak a Goat

Mighty Lak a Goat (1942)

Mighty Lak a Goat was one of the few remaining Our Gang shorts from the series' late period not awash in lessons

[6/10 · 2 February 2015]

This M-G-M comedy short, Mighty Lak a Goat, is the two hundred tenth entry in the "Our Gang" series and the one hundred twenty-second talkie. After Froggy recites his speech concerning famous American hero, Patrick Henry, to the gang, they all get splashed with mud after a speeding car happened to be passing by. So Froggy takes them to his house and uses his unique cleaning solution to tidy them up. Problem is, they all now have a strong smell that causes them to be banished from the bus, school, and also cause both the theatre patrons and the actors on the screen to run away! This was yet another M-G-M series entry that refreshingly avoided the moralizing and war propaganda of these latter-day shorts. Good use of undercranking for both the bus speeding away and likewise the children when the gang finally arrive at school. But Leonard Maltin and Richard W. Bann are right when they point out how better this would have been if some silent-comedy wackiness-like flowers wilting or people leaping in the air-had been used as well. Still, the results are a little better than average and there's the special treat of seeing not-quite-a-star Ava Gardner at the box office immediately closing her shift after smelling the gang. Robert Blake later recalled her hubby at the time-resident M-G-M young adult Mickey Rooney-directed her in that one scene. Rooney's dad, Joe Yule Sr., also appeared as one of the audience members. So on that note, Mighty Lak a Goat is recommended.