Thundering Fleas (1926)

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

"Thundering Fleas" is an "Our Gang" film from 90 years ago. The basics are the usual: It is silent, black-and-white and runs for slightly under 20 minutes. Writer an director have made many of these films, but this one here may have bigger names than usual in the cast as Charley Chase and Oliver Hardy appear as well. Unfortunately, they are only in here very briefly. Blink and you may miss them almost. The story is what the title says. The kids cause some trouble with their fleas and a poor dog pays the sacrifice. Overall, this was a pretty wild little movie, but it lacked the heart and comedy that some other "Our Gang" short films delivered. I do not recommend this one here. Nowhere near the best the series has to offer. The most interesting aspect may be the occasional animation, which is very unusual for the franchise.

Not the best Laurel and Hardy but a rare one. This Hal Roach production is considered and Our Gang comedy and the kids are on hand. There is plenty of slap stick to go around.A flea Circus loses their star performer and when the circus owner goes looking for his star, all the rest of his fleas escape and then crash a wedding. One of the largest sequences is the ceremony where everyone gets the itches from the fleas. There are plenty of slow burns and faces as a result of the fleas.The star flea is finally caught with flea powder from the kids of our gang. The animation of the star flea is the most amazing effect done on this film. There is a sequence where officer Oliver Hardy has his pants stolen by our gang and has to paint his long johns to look like his pants in order to catch up with the kids who have his real trousers.

Thundering Fleas (1926) *** (out of 4)The Our Gang kids help a flea trainer try and find his missing fleas but when they don't find the main one the trainer gets upset and lets them keep the ones they did find. This doesn't work out too well because the kids take the fleas to Mary's sisters wedding and soon they get loose and cause everyone to start scratching. This is one of the better Our Gang shorts thanks in large part to some nice animation but also some fine supporting performances by Oliver Hardy, James Finlayson and Charley Chase. Hardy shows up in a funny bit as a cop and Finlayson plays the preacher. Chase is the guy at the wedding wearing the large mustache and he has a funny bit. The mixing of animation and live action was certainly in its early days here but I enjoyed what they did. Most of the animation deals with the tracks done by the fleas including riding a bike and we get several animated clips of the fleas getting on the Gang's dog. The stuff at the wedding with everyone scratching themselves as pretty funny but there's no question that the main reason to watch this is for the supporting players and the animation.

This silent film is included in Laurel and Hardy film collection, and it only features on of the pair, but I had to see what he was doing before he got with his partner. This was part of a little Our Gang comedy series starring the "Rascals", and it is June, the month of weddings, where little Mary (Mary Kornman) has a pretend wedding to a little fat kid (who almost resembles Hardy), and the little black kid causes a little trouble throwing a black polish covered shoe after the other kids have laughed at the "couple" kissing. After getting away the black kid walks with his dog past Professor Clements (George B. French) displaying his flea circus, with the marvellous flea Garfield performing. Garfield jumps into the fur of the black kid's dog, as he walks away to greet Skooter (Scooter Lowry) of the newly moved Swiss Family Robinson, and he manages to drop their fish bowl, causing fish to jump on the floor, into his mouth, and over the baby brother. The Professor extracts another flea from another dog, and he notices that Garfield is missing, and he offers a dollar to the kid who finds his prize fleas. The black kid's dog manages to knock over the flea circus table, and the fleas get into his fur, and some he shakes out to go up the leg of a police officer (Ollie, as Oliver Babe), forcing him to paint a new pair on his britches. Kids are all over getting fleas from wherever they can, including in other dogs, in trousers, and in amongst a man's beard which is set on fire by the light of a magnifying glass. The Professor leaves rejecting all these fleas, and the kids have to get ready for the wedding of Mary's sister, but they quickly advance to the food table. The black kid's dog shakes some fleas around the musicians, and when the black kid is picked up crawling around by his legs, he manages to drop the jar filled with all the kids' caught fleas. Sheldon the groom (Jerry Mandy) is already nervous, and he twitches even more with fleas up his trousers, concerning the Bride (Martha Sleeper) and the Justice of the Peace (James Finlayson, without his trademark moustache). Soon all the weddings guests are scratching themselves as the fleas scatter, into trousers, on noses and in moustaches, forcing the bride, groom and the man marrying them to go outside. The kids manage to find a bug spray canister which the spray on all fleas they can find, one protects themselves with a gas mask, and the film ends with a man posing as a statue scratching himself as an artist tries to paint him. Also starring Charley Chase as Mustachioed wedding guest and Charlie Hall as Musician. The kids are annoying, there might some small giggles in the film, but ti isn't one I'd want to see that often to be honest. Okay!