Robot Wrecks
Robot Wrecks
| 12 July 1941 (USA)
Robot Wrecks Trailers

Spanky and the gang discover a demonstration of a "human-like" robot named Volto and are inspired to create a robot themselves to do their chores for them. Slicker Walburn convinces them they will need "invisible rays" to bring it to life which he just happens to have to sell to them. As they rush off to get their money, Slicker gets Boxcar Smith to wear the robot's outer body so when he "brings" the robot to life, it will be Boxcar bringing it to life. The gang unsuspectedly gets their robot to mow the lawn at Froggy's house, but with a signal from Slicker, Boxcar runs amok and mows down everything in his path. Froggy gets to explain what happened to his parents who bust up the fraud and get the miscreants to work with the gang to clean up the mess.

Reviews
tavm

This M-G-M comedy short, Robot Wrecks, is the two hundred first entry in the "Our Gang" series and the one hundred thirteenth talkie. After the gang watch a robot demonstrate doing work at a store display, they decide to make their own to do the same thing. It doesn't work, however, and Slicker cons them by selling them some "invisible rays". The robot does do what it's ordered to do but only because Boxcar is in it, unbeknownst to the gang. Okay, while this was another "let's-teach-the-kids-a-lesson" ep of OG, I found much of it pretty funny like when Spanky raises his voice when the robot doesn't reply right away to his question or when the camera is undercranked when the robot goes "haywire". Also, Billy Bletcher not only reprises his role as Froggy's father, he also does the masculine voice of the mother as well! So on that note, Robot Wrecks is at the least worth a look.

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dbborroughs

Kids see a robot demonstrated and decide to build their own. When it fails to work, one of the other kids trick them into believing that he can make it work.Amusing but clichéd story is well done, but I really wished that it didn't hit every one of the familiar gags for a story like this. You've seen all of this before and while its well done the, the familiarity drains the humor from the affair and makes it so that you watch and smile instead of laugh. You won't hate it, but odds are you'll wish it was better. Worth a look if you run across it but its not something you'll want to search out on its own.

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jbacks3

Robot Wrecks should have been a great Our Gang entry--- the basic idea of building kid's robot slave in the days soon after the World of Tomorrow sounds pretty cool. Alas, sounds can be deceiving. Robot Wrecks blows the premise by bastardizing the robot by stuffing it with Billy Ray "Boxcar" Smith and allegedly fueling it with "invisible rays" and then selling it to one of their usual foes, Freddie "Slicker" Walburn (who's atypically gullible here). Voices are obviously dubbed, the acting is excruciating to watch and the only remotely funny aspect is that the writers could get even kids to recite the dialog (blame Hal Law and Robert A. McGowan). Sadly, future MGM Our Gangs would rival this deplorable production. If I could give this less than 0 stars I would.

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Douglas_Holmes

(Possible Spoilers) Flat, dull and unfunny, this was typical of the "adults (for which read 'Authority Figures') know best" plots that betrayed the entire Our Gang concept. In the earlier films, the kids create things and get into trouble, but there was an endearing charm to watching them trying to mimic the kinds of things the adult world had (building a fire engine, operating a playhouse, attending club meetings, etc.)This film uses that familiar idea and then perverts it by using it as a lead to a piece of "do it yourself" moralizing, which robs the film of humor. Also, there are problems with the kids: as someone said, Spanky is way too old to still be playing a thoroughly naive kid (all of the Gang's characters in this film were played as ignorant rubes who would have bought the Brooklyn Bridge if Slicker had offered it to them,) while Freddie "Slicker" Walburn himself looks distracted, as if he wished he were somewhere else. Given the quality of this miserable film, it isn't surprising.

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