John Collum

John Garfield, in the best performance of his career, portrays Joe Morse, an ambitious attorney who has long since abandoned his scruples in favor of monetary reward. Morse now represents the interests of crime boss Ben Tucker (Roy Roberts), who plans to take over the numbers racket in New York. Morse has devised a way of doing this legally and above-board, with no violence: Tucker's people will bring about the collapse of the illegal numbers racket in the city, using a race track-betting scam that will bankrupt the small-time underworld numbers banks; an investigation will ensue, along with a call for a legal numbers operation in the form of a lottery, which Tucker will control through Morse's machinations. The whole plan hinges on Morse's estranged brother, Leo (Thomas Gomez), a small-time numbers banker who is to be shielded from the collapse, and who will serve as the "legitimate" front for Tucker. Leo is the flaw in the plan, however, because not only can't he stand the sight of Joe, but he is also too honest to participate in the plan -- he doesn't want his employees, all decent people just looking to earn a living, forced into the employ of real gangsters. Joe orchestrates a series of police raids that force Leo into his corner, and Joe's plan seems to be working out, but then the whole enterprise is threatened when a rival mob, run by Tucker's former Prohibition-era partner, Fico (Paul Fix), starts pressuring Leo, trying to get to Joe and Tucker. Fico and his men aren't any different from Tucker's mob, except that they're prepared to start shooting sooner to get what they want. Tucker decides to hang tough and expects everyone, including Leo, to do the same, even when Fico starts sending thugs around to frighten everyone. Soon Joe is beset by problems on three fronts -- he wants his brother out of Tucker's combination and safe; he is trying to romance Leo's bookkeeper (Beatrice Pearson), who is too nice a girl for who he is; and his own well-being is threatened by both Fico and Tucker, and a state investigator who has already tapped the phone of Joe's otherwise respectable partner. All of these threads are pulled together in the final section of the film, which is as violent and disturbing, yet poetic and graceful a resolution as any crime film of the 1940s ever delivered. Force of Evil was star-crossed almost from the start, as many of the people involved, including star John Garfield and director Abraham Polonsky (a writer making his debut behind the camera, with help from assistant director Don Weis in doing the camera set-ups and blocking), were suspect at the time for their leftist political views. Indeed, the company that made Force of Evil, Enterprise Productions, was also in trouble for the leftist leanings of its films in the midst of the Red Scare, and went out of business just as the movie was finished -- dropped by United Artists and picked up by MGM, of all studios, Force of Evil made it into theaters during Christmas week of 1948, not the ideal schedule for something as grim (albeit great) as this film was. As it turned out, it was Polonsky's last chance to direct for more than 20 years, and Garfield's last completely successful film. And a movie that should have been a triumph for all concerned ended up a cult favorite. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

While staging a "William Tell" exhibition in a vacant lot, junior marksman Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer accidentally incurs the wrath of neighborhood bully Butch (Tommy Bond) -- or, as he announces himself, "you're darn right it's Butch!" When Alfalfa faints, his pal Spanky McFarland tries to save face by insisting that, were Alfie still conscious, he'd knock Butch silly. The bully responds by threatening to bounce Alfalfa around "like a rubber ball" when he wakes up. To prevent this, Spanky cooks up a scheme to convince Butch that Alfalfa has suffered a broken leg while defending Butch's reputation. A large dead fish, previously caught by Billy "Buckwheat" Thomas, proves to be a suitable stand-in for Alfalfa's "damaged" leg -- until a couple of cats show up unannounced. The "Our Gang" one-reeler Fishy Tales made its theatrical debut on August 28, 1937. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Our Gang's resident crooner, has been preparing for weeks to perform in a radio talent contest. With Spanky McFarland as his manager, Alfalfa is a shoe-in for first prize -- until neighborhood bully Butch (Tommy Bond), who intends to perform a violin solo on the same radio show, threatens to blacken Spanky's eye unless Alfalfa withdraws from the contest. The terrified Spanky convinces Alfalfa that he has "a frog in his throat" and will be unable to perform. Eventually, however, Spanky's conscience gets the better of him, and he urges Alfalfa to sing anyway -- with surprising results. In the early scenes of the serial, the viewer is given a guided tour of the Gang's paste-and-paper "voice studio" (complete with Darla Hood as receptionist and Eugene "Porky" Lee and Billy "Buckwheat" Thomas as go-fers). Framing Youth was originally released on September 11, 1937. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Even allowing for the fact that it's only a one-reeler, the "Our Gang" comedy "The Pigskin Palooka" goes by so rapidly that the viewer will be gasping for breath! Having written of his football heroics in military school, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer returns home to a hero's welcome. No sooner has he stepped off the train than his old pal Spanky McFarland, manager of the gang's football team, informs Alfalfa that he's been slated to be star player in an upcoming gridiron battle --- which is to be staged within the next few hours. Only one problem: Alfalfa has been exagerrating his athletic prowess, and in fact has never played football in his life. Will Alfie survive this dilemma, or will he be blitzed into the next county? "The Pigskin Palooka" was released just in time for football season on October 23, 1937. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hoping to win a 50-dollar prize, the Our Gang kids enter a radio talent contest. Despite the scene-stealing efforts of Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, leader George "Spanky" McFarland selects four-year-old vocalist Darla Hood to represent the gang with her stirring rendition of "I'm in the Mood for Love." But come the day of the broadcast, Darla is nowhere to be found. While Spanky searches for the missing singer, a nervous Alfalfa walks up to the microphone in her place, and it is his squeaky, interminable rendition of "I'm in the Mood for Love" that miraculously saves the day. A genial spoof of the radio series Major Bowes' Original Amateur Hour, The Pinch Singer was originally released on January 4, 1936. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hoping to attract customers to Spanky McFarland's barnyard production of Romeo and Juliet, star performer Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer proposes a "pay as you exit" policy: If the kids like the show, they'll pay the alotted one-cent admission on the way out. Alas, the show is nearly over before it starts when leading lady Darla Hood walks out, complaining that Alfalfa has been eating onions (which, he insists, improves his splendid speaking voice). After stalling for time, Spanky hits upon a replacement for Darla: black youngster Billy "Buckwheat" Thomas, decked out in a glorious blonde wig! Joe Cobb, an "Our Gang" star from the series' silent days, makes an amusing return appearance. Among the "mood songs" played on the Victrola by stagehand Eugene "Porky" Lee in the course of the show are LeRoy Shield's familiar background tunes "In My Canoe" and "Hide and Go Seek, as well as "Walking the Deck, a tune written for (but deleted from) the 1936 Laurel and Hardy feature Our Relations. The one-reel "Pay as You Exit" was originally released on October 24, 1936. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When little Billy "Buckwheat" Thomas and Eugene "Porky" Lee bring some firecrackers to school, older kids Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer and Spanky McFarland conspire to get the explosives away from the youngsters ---not out of any regard for safety, but because Alfie and Spanky want to set them off themselves! Posing as "G-Men", the two older boys manage to get their hands on the firecrackers, but Buckwheat and Porky have the last laugh during Alfalfa's classroom recitation of "The Charge of the Light Brigade. Rosina Lawrence again appears as schoolteacher Miss Lawrence. The one-reel "Our Gang" comedy "Two Too Young" was originally released on September 26, 1936. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Anxious to go fishing, Spanky McFarland skips out of Sunday school, despite the admonitions of his pal Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer that "Something's going to happen to you." Actually, everything happens to Spanky and his kid brother (Eugene "Porky" Lee) in the course of the morning. Chased out of a private estate by cantankerous Clarence Wilson, the two boys wander into a dark, mysterious woods --- just as a group of black worshippers are holding a mass baptism ceremony. Inevitably, the kids scare the worshippers, and vice versa, culminating in a hectic chase (accompanied by the strains of LeRoy Shield's "Fastie", a nervous agitato orginally written for the 1935 Laurel and Hardy feature Bonnie Scotland. Originally released on October 26, 1935, "Little Sinner" has been withdrawn from most "Little Rascals" TV packages due to its racial content; those few stations that have run the film in recent years have been forced to rely upon prints so severely edited that they're hardly worth the bother. Fortunately for film historians and purists, the film is available in its entirety on home video. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

On the day that he is scheduled to perform a violin solo at a swank bridge luncheon held by his social-climbing mother, rich kid Wally Albright opts instead to play football with the Our Gang kids. With Wally's help, the kids win the game, but his expensive clothes are covered with mud. Unofficial "Gang" leader Spanky McFarland declares that he and his pals are perfectly capable of washing Wally's duds on their own --- and the result is a slapstick smorgasbord, culminating in a typically outsized Hal Roach traffic jam. Originally released on September 29, 1934, "Washee Ironee" was the only "Our Gang" comedy helmed by perennial Laurel and Hardy director James Parrott --- which may explain the presence of stalwart L & H supporting players Ellinor Van der Veer and Tiny Sandford in the cast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Four of the "Our Gang" kids fabricate elaborate excuses to get out of school so they can go fishing. Unfortunately, the boys have picked the very day that their teacher is taking the whole class for a free excursion to the Seaside Amusement Park. The rest of the picture finds the would-be fishermen trying to sneak into the park without attracting the attention of the eagle-eyed truant officer. Originally released on January 28, 1933, Fish Hookey is a watershed "Our Gang" film: in addition to featuring the current crop of "Gang" members, the film also accommodates guest-star appearances by four former members from the silent era: Mary Kornman as the teacher, Mickey Daniels as the fun-loving truant officer, and Joe Cobb and Allen "Farina" Hoskins. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A partial remake of the 1924 Our Gang: Cradle Robbers, "Forgotten Babies" finds the Gang members trying to escape their babysitting chores. They manage to coerce little Spanky McFarland to mind their baby brothers and sisters while the rest of the Gang goes swimming. Unfortunately, the infants would prefer to run (or crawl) amok, forcing Spanky to take desperate measures. Best bits: Spanky's impromptu bedtime story about Tarzan and Jane, and the little brat who keeps on saying "Remark-a-ble". "Forgotten Babies" was originally released on March 11, 1933. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fascinated by the story of Aladdin's magic lamp, the Our Gang kids gather together every electric light fixture in the neighborhood, hoping that by rubbing them vigorously, a genie will appear. Thanks to a series of coincidences -- not least of which involves a friendly stage magician -- the kids become convinced that they've succeeded in emulating Aladdin. But their excitement turns to dismay when Mathew "Stymie" Beard believes that he's transformed his kid brother Cotton (Bobby Beard) into a monkey! Despite a marvelous sequence in which Spanky McFarland enjoys a free meal at a lunch counter, courtesy of a trained monkey, it cannot be denied that this film contains a great deal of casually racist humor that seems tasteless when viewed today. For that reason, "A Lad an' a Lamp," originally released on December 17, 1932, has been withdrawn from the "Little Rascals" TV package, though the film is available to home-video collectors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide