Mickey Daniels Movies

Not unexpectedly, the benign title of this silent, two-reel Our Gang comedy is a misnomer. Escaping from the local cop on the beat, the Our Gang kids take refuge in a railway station, where they exchange clothes with a group of runaway boys scheduled to be returned to their home in San Francisco. Unaware that a "good licking" awaits the kids in Frisco, the gang boards the train, where they are immediately placed in the care of the persnickety, child-hating boyfriend (William Gillespie) of a temporarily incapacitated welfare worker. Inevitably the kids wreak all sorts of havoc on the train and its passengers, especially when they come across the wares of a traveling fireworks salesman. Originally released on March 18, 1923, A Pleasant Journey was partially remade as the 1932 Our Gang entry Choo-Choo! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

College football hero David (David Sharpe) is astonished to learn he's to be crowned King of Transylvania, and is already scheduled to marry a Princess he's never met. Once in Transylvania with his buddy Mickey (Mickey Daniels), David finds adventure and romance. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide

Saddled with an overprotective mother, little Mickey Daniels is prohibited from playing with the rest of the Our Gang kids. Thanks to his understanding grandma, Mickey manages to escape his bedroom prison long enough to play on the gang's self-constructed airplane ride -- and to get into a fight with neighborhood bully Johnny Downs. Urged on by Granny, Mickey stands up to Johnny and finally gets the best of him. The whole spectacle is witnessed by Mickey's mom, whose attitude slowly shifts from outrage to delight that her son is eminently capable of fending for himself. Originally released on May 31, 1925, the silent two-reel Our Gang comedy Ask Grandma was reworked in 1930 as The First Seven Years, complete with the closing gag in which the feisty Granny pummels the bully's brute of a father. Unfortunately, most TV prints of Ask Grandma (retitled Grandma Knows Best) lack the delightful flashback sequence in which Mickey Daniels plays his own mother during her tomboyish youth. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Our Gang kids volunteer to assist a ragtag vaudeville troupe in a performance of their traveling show, but despite their well-meaning efforts, the kids not only wreck the performance, but also release a collection of pesky insects upon the unsuspecting audience. Beyond the standard "theatrical" gags, including the familiar but sure-fire bit in which tiny Allen "Farina" Hoskins exposes a fraudulent Strong Man, the film's best bits are reserved for the lengthy opening sequence, in which the Gang operates its own incredible double-decker "tour bus." Incidentally, two of the adult vaudeville patrons in the climactic scene are played by the fathers of Our Gang stars Joe Cobb and Mickey Daniels. The silent, two-reel Back Stage was originally released on June 3, 1923. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When the Our Gang kids make the acquaintance of Billy Lord, a wealthy youngster who owns his own home-movie camera, the youngsters decide to go into the motion-picture business. With movie-struck teenager Martha Sleeper as their leading lady, the kids put together a rip-roaring cliffhanger adventure, with thrills and spills aplenty. Alas, the film's premiere is disrupted by shouts of "Phooey!" from Jackie Condon, who is angered at having been left out of the proceedings. A few well-aimed eggs and tomatoes hurled by another outcast, Jay R. Smith, all but guarantees that the film's first screening will be its last. Combining clever and inventive gags with surprisingly slipshod material, the silent, two-reel Better Movies made its own theatrical debut on November 1, 1925. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Our Gang kids stage their own version of a county fair, with the help of two trained horses that have been innocently "borrowed" from a local trained-animal show. With their usual ingenuity, the youngsters devise and construct all manner of sideshow attractions, from a shooting gallery to a dog-powered merry-go-round. But the big-money act is an impromptu "movie show," with Gang members impersonating such silent-screen luminaries as Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, William S. Hart, and Douglas Fairbanks Sr. A delightful two-reel time capsule, The Big Show was originally released on February 25, 1923. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This time out, the Our Gang kids are reluctant boarders at Mother Malone's School, an operation run by an overbearing old termagant (Helen Gilmore) and her submissive husband Pop Malone (Richard Daniels). Forced to do all the chores and eat unappetizing (and nutritionally-suspect) meals, the kids plan a midnight escape, with Pop helping them every inch of the way. Unfortunately, the young fugitives find themselves in the hideout of a nasty bootlegger (Charles Stevenson), where Pop comes to their rescue. Emboldened by the experience, Pop finally gives his wife a piece of his mind -- and by film's end, Pop is in charge of the school, and the kids are finally treated with decency and respect (and to sumptuous meals). Originally released on April 8, 1923, the silent, two-reel Our Gang comedy Boys to Board is also available in a shortened TV print, retitled Boarding School. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Determined to get out of school to attend the circus, the Our Gang kids fake an epidemic by splotching their faces with ersatz measles. The doctor quickly figures out what the kids are up to and orders the young tricksters to remain in bed, even after it is announced that everyone else in their classroom has been given free circus tickets. A few clever gags notwithstanding, Circus Fever, originally released on February 8, 1925, does not hold up that well. Far better are the later Our Gang films that borrowed the basic plot elements of Circus Fever, notably Teacher's Pet, Fish Hooky, Spooky Hooky, and Three Smart Boys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Stuck with babysitting their younger siblings, the Our Gang kids decide to profit from their obligations by entering the infants in a local "beautiful baby contest." But when it comes time to award the prize for fattest baby, it is seven-year-old Joe Cobb who dons the bonnet and the Dr. Dentons. Meanwhile, the gang's mothers angrily search for their missing babies, blaming a band of gypsies for "kidnapping" the kids. Before this mess can be straightened out, the film fragments into a series of unrelated gags, including a lengthy slow-motion sequence involving a broken bottle of pungent ammonia. Originally released on June 1, 1924, the silent, two-reel Cradle Robbers would be memorable if only for its clever opening gag, which was repeated nine years later in the Our Gang talkie Forgotten Babies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Because it was sandwiched between the exceptional comedies Grandma's Boy and Safety Last, Doctor Jack is one of Harold Lloyd's lesser-known features. Nevertheless, it's quite charming and actually did even better at the box office than Grandma's Boy, which was Lloyd's first true feature. Doctor Jack (Lloyd) is a nice young country doctor who prefers to use common sense and his sunny personality to effect cures instead of resorting to pills and potions. His most challenging case comes when a rich father (John T. Prince) asks him to look after his daughter (Mildred Davis, who, a few months after this film's release, would become Mrs. Harold Lloyd). The girl is being cared for by Dr. Ludwig von Saulsburg (Eric Mayne), who claims to be an eminent specialist. He keeps her in a darkened room and has prescribed her various medications. It takes Dr. Jack only a moment to figure out there is nothing wrong with the girl that a little sunshine and excitement won't cure. Von Saulsburg, who has been making a comfortable living off of the girl's family, is horrified by the country doctor's approach; to make matters worse, the girl falls in love with Dr. Jack. Their romance gets Dr. Jack thrown out of the house, but he gets back in the family's good graces by a little trick: Disguised as a lunatic, he terrorizes the household, then dressed as himself, he comes to the rescue. Along the way he makes a fool of the eminent Dr. Von Saulsburg. The excitement proves that the girl is perfectly healthy -- and ready to become Dr. Jack's wife. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Originally released on July 1, 1923, the silent, two-reel Dogs of War may well have been the most schizophrenic entry in the entire Our Gang series. The film begins with an elaborate sandlot recreation of a battlefield, with the Our Gang kids staging an elaborate mock war, complete with such "artillery" as rotten eggs and overripe vegetables, and with makeshift tanks and cannons adding to the imaginary carnage. Suddenly an armistice is declared when "Red Cross Nurse" Mary Kornman is called away to the local movie studio to appear in an epic titled Should Husbands Work? for a magnificent five dollars a day. Recognizing a good thing when they see it, the rest of the kids head to the studio (actually the Hal Roach lot) and offer their services as actors. Ordered to get out and stay out, the youngsters devise a clever method to gain access to the studio where, in addition to wreaking their usual havoc, they produce a one-reel "masterpiece" that more closely resembles an Andy Warhol experimental picture of the 1960s. Watch for comedy great Harold Lloyd in an amusing cameo -- which also serves as a plug for Lloyd's latest release, Why Worry?. One TV version of Dogs of War, retitled Hollywood USA, jettisons the "war" sequence entirely, with little damage to the film's continuity. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The plot of the Our Gang silent comedy Fast Company is set in motion when the kids embark upon a swimming expedition. Along the way, Mickey Daniels exchanges clothes with a wealthy boy and takes the other kid's place in a swank hotel room. It isn't long before the rest of the gang arrives at the hotel, with their pet goat and monkey in tow. Originally slated for release during Our Gang's 1923-24 season, Fast Company was begun under the direction of Charles Parrott, better known by his screen name of Charley Chase. But when Chase was called away on business to the Hal Roach Studios' New York office, the uncompleted film was temporarily abandoned. As reported in Leonard Maltin and Richard W. Bann's book on "the Little Rascals," the film was completed in late 1924 by Robert F. McGowan. Fast Company finally reached the public on November 16, 1924; most available prints have been taken from an abbreviated TV version, retitled The Big Switch. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Its title notwithstanding, the silent, two-reel Our Gang comedy Giants vs. Yanks devotes only a few minutes of its running time to baseball. After a lively sandlot contest involving Gang members Mickey Daniels, Jackie Condon, Jackie Davis, Joe Cobb, and -- breaking baseball's "color line" long before Jackie Robinson -- black youngsters "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison and Allen "Farina" Hoskins, the plot goes in a different direction entirely, as the kids are quarantined in the house of a wealthy couple. The best gags are centered around Mickey's ingenious methods for washing and drying his family's laundry, an operation involving a bicycle and a "carousel" clothesline. Giants vs. Yanks was originally released on May 18, 1923, some seven months after the second "Subway Series" between the real-life Giants and Yanks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide