SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Hot 888 Mama . . . in America than to churn out propaganda pieces encouraging people to "know their place," and never "step out of line." ALFALFA'S DOUBLE is another clumsy stab on the part of that egregious outfit known as Millionaires Gone Mad (aka, the Lyin' Den). Having starved through a Great Depression, "Our Gang's" Alfalfa agrees to go slumming at a morally bankrupt Rich Kid's Vacation Mansion in hopes of eating pot roast for his first time ever. Instead, the "Smythes" foist off alphabet soup upon the famished urchin (and even that is missing the zees, queues, and exes, since they're worth more). Of course, the adjective most often associated with money is "filthy." Because there's so much Wealth wafting through the Smythe Castle, Alfalfa is subjected to an unprecedented afternoon bath. This is all enough for him to say to ALFALFA'S DOUBLE, "Corny, let's return to our proper places." Warner Bros. would not have ended this sorry story on such a lame milquetoast note. If Warners had an Alfalfa, he would have growled "Corny, I'm getting Our Gang up here to seize our share of your ill-gotten stuff, whether you like it or not!"

tavm This M-G-M comedy short, Alfalfa's Double, is the one hundred eighty-seventh entry in the "Our Gang" series and the ninety-ninth talkie. At the Greenpoint train station, Alfalfa just misses meeting his doppelganger Cornelius but the latter does see him at his yard he's supposed to clean. After a few pleasantries, they switch places for what seems a fun ride. Doesn't turn out that way...This short starts out amusingly enough with Alf's mannerisms playing as Corny as well as some undercranking when the rest of the gang helps cleaning up the yard but when Corny finds out he has no money after treating the gang for ice cream and the proprietor makes them do chores, it becomes painful real quick and stays that way afterwards. So on that note, I can't recommend Alfalfa's Double unless you're an OG completest like I am. P.S. There have been Our Gang/Little Rascals impostors over the years since so many real members have disappeared from the public view after their acting careers ended. But the most egregious seems to have involved a Southern minister who claimed to have been Alfalfa years after he died. A reader of the Maltin-Bann book about Our Gang confronted him with the truth but when this pastor took the tricked-up photo from this short, he claimed while Carl Switzer was the Alfalfa on the left, he was the one on the right! As the authors of that book said, "Pastor, that's preposterous."

Michael_Elliott Alfalfa's Double (1940)** 1/2 (out of 4) Alfalfa is tired of being poor and pushed around so when he gets a chance to exchange lives with another kid who looks exactly like him he jumps at the opportunity. At first Alfalfa thinks it's going to be great being rich but he soon learns to appreciate his own life. If you're not a fan of Alfalfa then it's probably best to stay away from this film since Carl Switzer has two different roles here. I thought Switzer did a pretty good job with both roles and he gets the biggest laughs in the film when, as Alfalfa, he sees his double. The reaction to him seeing himself was just priceless and was certainly the biggest laugh in the picture. Another major plus is that he's given some fairly good things to do including a bit with some ice cream as well as another involving the rich kid eating soup. The supporting players really don't have anything to do outside a couple scenes so this baby here is all Alfalfa. Fans of the series should at least get a few laughs out of it and it's clearly better than the previous entry in the series.

Thomas Dye Alfalfa comes face to face with a lookalike boy named Cornelius, who lives on a rich estate. They decide to switch places, but discover there's no place like home, and then a flying saucer takes them both. Okay, I made that last bit up.Okay, sure, it's trite, but it's kind of fun for all that. Alfalfa actually looks like he's enjoying his role for once. But it's still a bit stiff in that MGM fashion. MGM relies on undercranked cameras and weird ethnic caricatures to provide a lot of the humor. Alfalfa's "dance" is somewhat amusing but nothing remarkable.And really, why do they keep referring to "Our Gang" as if it's a social club? It's not as bad as it got later when they began saying "The Our Gang" but it just shows how detached from the original concept this was becoming.Still, better than "Time Out for Lessons," and in general, not a failure. The kids are still talented, even if those talents are becoming increasingly wasted.