Lodge Night

Years ago, I bought the mega-set of the Our Gang/Little Rascals films. However, while it was supposed to be complete, since the time the DVD set came out, quite a few more of the silent Our Gang comedies have been discovered and "Lodge Night" is one of them.

The film consists mostly of the kids welcoming in the new kid, Joe*, to the club. To do this, they haze him and make him do all sorts of things. Ultimately, this is interrupted when car thieves arrive at the club house to hide out from the cops. Amazingly, the kids grab a car and take off after the crooks!!

Another subplot is a bit problematic in this very politically correct age. Sunshine Sammy's dad (and his actual real life father) is delivering a lecture to his various black friends...and it degenerates to a dice game...a common but certainly unkind stereotype of the day. Still, the fact that there were several black kids among the gang make this a decent film and a very progressive one for its day.