Little Sinner (1935) Online

In Little Sinner, Spanky could not have learned by any better means how bad it is to play hooky from Sunday School. Spanky WAS SUPPOSED to go to Sunday School, and was warned by Alfalfa (his BEST FRIEND no less) that kids who skip Sunday School are BAD! Yet he and Porky just went ahead and went fishing instead. They climbed the fence to get to the water where they could fish, but COMPOUNDED their bad behavior by TRESPASSING! (It was private property, owned by a grouch, portrayed by Clarence Wilson, who played OTHER disagreeable types in other Our Gang-ers, like Mr. Crutch in Shrimps for a Day, and School Superintendent Alonzo K. Pratt in Come Back Miss Pips.) Spanky and Porky would not co-operate BUT-- were brought to their senses when some African-Americans let off an ominous chant during a baptism, and the sun went into total eclipse! The eerie darkness and the spooky singing frightened the Sunday-School truants, so they headed back to the church; the pastor asked Spanky if he learned a good lesson; Spanky replied "And how!" Little Sinner is eloquent of how naughty it is to fail to attend Sunday School when parents want them to go, as much is as truancy from REGULAR school, a common misdeed on part of Little Rascals. Over the years, parents have punished children who refuse to attend Sunday School (or go but behave badly) by depriving them of Saturday movies, etc. In this case, Spanky's going ahead and skipping Sunday School and seeing what it was like, with the property owner justifiably telling them to go away and Spanky's witnessing solar eclipse (with its eerie gloom) and hearing weird music, taught him a good lesson for sure. Mercifully, MY childhood, whatever problems I encountered, was NOT marked by behavior like Spanky's.

A wonderfully clever little moral play......You know the plot, so there's no need to go into that aspect.

The reason it's considered "lost" is because of the non "politically correct" themes therein. The last time I saw it on TV in the early 90's it'd been so heavily edited that there was virtually nothing left of the film.

It's a pity really, because it's well done and very cleverly executed, what a shame!

If you can find a copy (Likely on the Cabin Fever or Hallmark label) watch it and have a ball.

Sadly the film "Kid From Borneo" met an even worse fate....Until the advent of DVD's it'd disappeared completely from the airwaves.

An OUR GANG Comedy Short.

Spanky has decided to skip Sunday School in favor of trying out his new fishing pole. Followed by Buckwheat & Porky, the LITTLE SINNER heads down to the river, where a few surprises await him...

A very funny little film. Highlights: Buckwheat and the worms; the baptismal service. Clarence Wilson plays the old grouch.

Wow, is there a wild finish to this one! It begins quietly as Spanky is shown with a new fishing pole and he wants to try it out. It's Sunday morning, though, and everyone is going to Sunday School....but Spanky, even to the surprise of his buddies, is going to skip it. He even has the worms in his pocket to prove he means business. Alfalfa and the other kids warn him that kids who skip Sunday School are bad and he's going to pay for what he's about to do (hence, the title).

The rest is mainly a bunch of adventures with Spanky, Buckwheat, Porky, a duck and a "crabby" old guy who doesn't want kids fishing at this particular pond, especially on Sunday morning. (Unlike today's movies and culture, going to church back in these "old days" was considered automatic.) I found the "crabby" (as Spanky labeled him) old dude was a hoot and the duck was pretty funny, too.

This Our Gang episode also had a moral message, too. The kids were right: skip Sunday School and you will reap what you sow.....so beware.

Spanky has a new fishing rod and decides to skip Sunday School to go fishing. Naturally, you can't mess with God--particularly during the 1930s. So you KNOW something bad is going to happen to him.

Soon after he arrives at the lake (with Buckwheat and Porky following), a grouchy guy (Clarence Wilson--in a very typical Our Gang appearance) tells him to go away--he can't fish there. On the way to another fishing spot, a group of charismatic black people are having a baptism. But, because they are so filled with the spirit, they jump about like crazy folks and scare Spanky half to death (I am sure this will offend a few viewers).

This short works well because it has quite a few cute moments--such as Porky trying to eat fish, flowers, etc. as well as Buckwheat just being adorable. Plus, I did find myself laughing several times--a sure sign that it's a decent film.

This Hal Roach comedy short, Little Sinner, is the one hundred fortieth in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series and the fifty-second talkie. Spanky got a new fishing rod for his birthday and wants to try it out so he skips Sunday school to do so! The other kids warn him about trouble if he does but Spank decides to do as he pleases with Buckwheat and little brother Porky in tow. I'll stop there and just say this was another funny Our Gang outing with a nice lesson for Spank and other kids watching this to learn on. Of course, the fact that an eclipse and a baptism happens during this has to be a big coincidence, right? Anyway, I highly recommend Little Sinner which was released after previous short Little Papa. P.S. This marked the first appearance of Eugene "Porky" Lee who was cast when Hal Roach saw the resemblance to Spanky and cast him as a sibling for him.

. . . that goes further out on a limb to mock Racial Minority Religious Practices than this 1930s offering from the Millionaire Guy's Mob. The final five minutes of LITTLE SINNER features a couple insensitive White Tykes crashing a full submersion Baptismal Session being conducted on a riverbank by a large People of Color delegation from a sect presumably too impoverished to be able to afford an INDOOR swimming pool. (Or, because their Rites involve a "Total Eclipse of the Sun," maybe the reason that they're outdoors is prompted by the fact that they DO have a swimming pool at their regular House of Worship, but were unable to spring for a retractable roof to meet the requirements of every astrological contingency.) At any rate, the lead "Little Rascal" (aka, "Spanky) again proves that he's tone deaf to any thoughts of Racial Sensitivity or Respect for the results of the War to End Racist Black Slavery Being Perpetrated by Lazy Southern Fat Cats. After viewing LITTLE SINNER, you'll have more understanding as to why "Rev. Dobson" requested that his cast listing be withdrawn from its credits so that he would be better able to switch to a lucrative career churning out self-help books.