Our Gang/Little Rascals (Missing 1920s Silent Shorts and Foreign Prints)



The Our Gang Comedies (better known today as The Little Rascals) were a series of short subjects released theatrically between 1922 and 1944. The series consisted of eighty-eight silent short films, one hundred and thirty-two sound short films, and one feature-length sound film.

To date, all of the "talkies" have survived and been released on home video in their original uncut form. However, many of the series' silent releases have not been as lucky. For years, the "silents" were released through home movie companies and on television, but often in severely edited forms. Others went missing entirely, with some of the negatives rumored to have been destroyed in the infamous 1967 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer vault fire.

Additionally, several of the last handful of silent entries were released with a soundtrack recorded on a separate disc. Only a few of these discs have survived.

Foreign Language Prints
As a way to continue international film distribution during the 'sound era' of films, producer Hal Roach re-shot many of his 1930-31 releases in foreign languages (Spanish, French, German, Italian), with the actors reciting their dialogue from cue cards held off camera. During this brief period, four Our Gang 'talkies' were among the handful of Roach entries re-shot. While the original English-language prints have survived and been released on home video, most of the foreign releases are still lost.

Resources
http://theluckycorner.com/