Bored of Education (1936) User Reviews

Bored of Education was the first regular one-reeler in the Our Gang series

[tavm · 8/10 · 6 December 2014]

This Hal Roach comedy short, Bored of Education, is the one hundred forty-sixth entry in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series and the fifty-eighth talkie. It's also the first in the one-reeler format. Except for Darla, no one in the gang is ready for the first day of school especially Spanky and Alfalfa. So Spanky has Alf fake a toothache-using a balloon-to get out of school. But new teacher Miss Lawrence overhears them and orders ice cream for the whole class for enticement. So after the two truants find out after getting away with their scheme, they try to get back in...Having previously appeared in Arbor Day, Rosina Lawrence marks her first time as the new teacher in this short. This seems reminiscent of Teacher's Pet which, incidentally, new director Gordon Douglas previously appeared in. Douglas was assistant under Gus Meins for the last two seasons of the series and does a nice job in his first outing for the gang as the shorts' new leader, so to speak. He won the series' only Academy Award for Best Short, One-Reel for this one. So on that note, I recommend Bored of Education. P.S. When I was introduced to Our Gang as a kid of the '70s, this particular short marked my first time watching the Hal Roach entries, having previously been exposed to the M-G-M-only produced ones when I watched them on "Buckskin Bill's Storyland" in the morning and his "The Buckskin Bill Show" in the afternoon. I saw this one at a neighbor's house on cable TV since our family didn't have that at the time. This series eventually found its way to our local station-different from the one showing Buckskin Bill though occasionally he showed them as well-and I saw the difference right away since most of these Hal Roach entries didn't teach lessons! There was also the different theme music and the underscoring of many of them to consider so these were much more refreshing than those later ones me and my brother were first exposed to...

Uggh...more singing.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 24 January 2012]

I am a grouch. After having seen most of the sound Our Gang comedies, I really have come to hate Alfalfa (and, to a lesser extent, Darla). That's because starting in the Alfalfa/Darla era, there suddenly was singing and sometimes dancing in the film. And, in the case of Alfalfa, a little of his deliberately horrible singing goes a long way--at least for me.

In this installment, the boys are complaining about having to return to school after their vacation. Spanky gets the bright idea of having Alfalfa pretend to have a toothache so they can go home. But, the teacher overhears this and foils their plans. In the end, she makes Alfalfa sing--perhaps in an evil plan to torture Spanky (as well as the audience). All in all, this is a fair short but far from their best--which is very confusing since this one, inexplicably, won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short. Why? I have no idea.

The Only "Our Gang" Oscar Winner for One-Reel Shorts

[springfieldrental · 8/10 · 13 August 2023]

By 1936, double features, with an assorted short film, became the norm. MGM studios, distributor to Hal Roach's "Our Gang" series, still found a wide audience for their little rascals, but wanted a more slimed down version than the previous 20-minute two-reeler. Producer Roach, who had wanted to end the series, agreed to go with the 10-minute format, with the first one-reeler premiering in August 1936's "Bored of Education."

The movie was the only Academy Award win for "Our Gang" under Roach's supervision, who accepted the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film (One Reel) during its 9th ceremony. As a remake of the gang's 1930 two-reeler 'Teacher's Pet,' the short was Gordon Douglas first directed film with the rascals. As an assistant director for Roach and the "Our Gang" series since 1934, he was an experienced hand in cinema, hired as a teenager at the Hal Roach Studios in the late 1920s. He handled the kids through 1938 before directing Laurel & Hardy feature films as well as a wide variety of full-length movies. He's known to have been the only filmmaker to have directed both Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.

Douglas was forced to streamline the kids' plot since the production was cut in half. Unlike 'Teacher's Pet,' the director got right down to the point in having Spanky and Alfalfa living in dread facing the new year at school with a brand new teacher, Miss Lawrence (Rosina Lawrence). Unbeknownst to the pair, the teacher ordered ice cream for the students to break the ice. Alfalfa, who's sporting a fake tooth ache by way of an inflated balloon in his mouth, gets permission to go home, escorted by Spanky. When they find out they're missing out on the ice cream, the two try to weasel their way back into the classroom, with interesting results.

Some film reviewers on the "Our Gang" series say the Oscar win for this particular episode, the rascals' 146th, was more "a product of whim or timing, rather than strictly a consideration of merit." They point to other shorts, such as the original 'Teacher's Pet,' as more deserving. Nonetheless, the rascals can cite something that most in the industry never received: an Oscar.

1937 Academy Award Winner

[grichman · 1 November 2002]

This is the only Academy Award winning Our Gang film for Best Short Subject Comedy. This should be prominently noted and displayed. It won, but there are other shows that were much better, like Love Business, Free Wheeling, and Mush and Milk. Enjoy.

School sucked back then too

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 28 August 2015]

Or did it really? At least, there was ice cream apparently. This is a 10-minute black-and-white film from almost 80 years ago that won an Academy Award back then. It features the Rascals (without Jackie Cooper) and the two one starring here are Spanky and Alfalfa. The duo comes up with a plan so that they can go home early from school, but of course it does not work out exactly as planned. Or I should maybe say not at all, even if I wondered how the teacher knew what was going on exactly. The Gang was fairly popular back then, maybe a revelation to some in the face of the aggravating political climate of the 1930s. I thought it was a mildly funny watch, but nothing out of the ordinary. Still better than most films of its time. Recommended.

Those Awful Toothaches

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 1 January 2019]

What I remember from films of this era was the presentation of toothaches. With the poor quality of dentistry, the patient would wrap a kerchief around their head and hand the swollen jaw from it. In this episode, Spanky and Alfalfa figure an elaborate plan to leave during the first day of school. Unfortunately for them, the teacher eavesdrops on their plan. What follows is an unfortunate series of events caused by their efforts.