. . . budding mansion mogul "Wallace" invites the Unscrubbed Our Gang and their dirty mule into the innermost recesses of his palatial palace toward the beginning of HONKEY-DONKEY. The title animal, a vociferous Jackass named "Algebra," gets to take its first snooze between satin sheets, after tiring itself out running up and down grand staircases, kicking out walls, and engaging in other donkey hijinks. The socialist moles who had recently wrested control of Our Gang production during the depths of America's Great Depression take great pains to outline the sort of Reckoning Day on the horizon for U.S. fat cat One Per Centers with HONKEY-DONKEY. This impending Judgement Hour will see the unwashed masses surging like THE BLOB across the arrogant aristocrats' neatly manicured lawns, around their spacious verandahs, through their gaping picture windows, over their haughty carpets, and right into the treasure troves not-so-well concealed in their walk-in closets.

"Honky Donkey" is a black-and-white sound film from 1934, so this one is already way over 80 years old and if you know a bit about American short films from the 1930s, then you won't be surprised that this is another Rascals/Our Gang episode directed by Gus Meins. It runs for almost 17 minutes and shows us what happens when the gang runs into a rich boy who takes them to his place where a donkey (as the title accurately describes) causes all kinds of mayhem to anybody. I must say I like donkey, but this one here left me fairly uninterested sadly, maybe because the longer the film goes the more does the entire thing turn into one scene of havoc after the next. There is no chronology in here, no plot really, no character development and this one is probably at its worst when they include random slapstick scenes of Spanky and Scotty. I just hope the ways in which you read about child abuse back in the early days of film wasn't a factor here. Or animal abuse. Animals sure played a bit of a role in many Rascals films, but here Meins certainly went a bit over the top. I did not find it funny or interesting and 4 stars out of 10 is still really on the generous side. Don't watch.

HONKY DONKEY is possibly the funniest Our Gang short that I've yet seen. Sometimes the simple ones are the best, and HONKY DONKEY is just that: a short film with a simple premise and absolutely hilarious execution. The tale involves the usual Our Gang members (with the addition of the naturally fitting Don Barlcay as Barclay the chauffeur) get hold of a donkey and letting it run loose in a rich kid's house.Sure, the humour is simplistic and often repetitive, especially with all of the noises on the soundtrack. But the donkey itself is trained to perfection and the subsequent antics never less than very, very funny. The kid actors seem to be having a ball, too, although Barclay gives the stand-out performance for me.

This Hal Roach comedy short, Honky Donkey, is the one hundred twenty-ninth in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series and the forty-first talkie. In this one, rich kid Wallace orders his chauffeur Barclay to take him to some alleys after his mom leaves them alone to go shopping. He encounters Our Gang as they're going on a combo see-saw/merry-go-round contraption powered by their mule, Algebra. When someone sneezes, the mule runs. When a bell rings, he stops. I'll stop there and just say this was as hilarious when I first saw this as a kid as it's now when seeing this as an adult. Dan Barclay is great as the flustered servant whether by his voice or physical stunts with Spanky and Scotty providing a great counterpoint with their reactions and punchlines. So on that note, I very much recommend Honky Donkey. P.S. The mule's whinny at the end was provided by former Our Ganger Mickey Daniels! And this was the last time Willie Mae Taylor played Buckwheat.