As I watched, I had no idea why, but series regular Ernie 'Sunshine Sammy' Morrison was not in this short and subsequent Our Gang shorts and another actor, Eugene Jackson, has taken his place. Considering how important Morrison was to the Gang, I wonder why the replacement occurred. This is especially odd as soon after this, Morrison made several more appearances in Hal Roach films....just not the Our Gang ones. So, I did some reading and apparently Morrison's family took him out of the series and put him in Vaudeville! I guess it seemed like a good idea at the time.
The story finds a rich and lonely kid (Jackie Condon) kidnapped. Well, he actually seemed happier as a result! As for the Gang, they had been reading Sherlock Holmes stories and it inspired them to become young detectives. And, their first case was to find this kidnapped boy! This isn't a bad idea, as the police detective assigned to the case was apparently not a very good one! But the kids get in way over their heads...and at one point they even take off in an airplane!! It really does make you wonder where there parents were all this time!!
In many ways, this film seems different than the typical Our Gang short...and not just because Morrison was gone. In many ways it actually played like a movie serial with all the action and suspense. It also really made me laugh seeing the gang all in disguise as detectives....including their pooch! All in all, a most enjoyable albeit odd film which finds the kids literally risking their lives to be detectives....especially the fearless Farina!
