classicsoncall This is probably the earliest Our Gang film short I've seen and it provided double the pleasure with a handful of Hal Roach regulars in support. Oliver Hardy in particular had a fairly significant role as a neighborhood cop, victim of a flea infestation that causes him to ditch his trousers and paint on a new set when one of the gang absconds with them. There was also the creative use of animation added to the live action, as the story introduces Garfield the Flea, starring act of 'Professor Clements Trained Flea and Insect Circus'. That was another first for this viewer, at least going this far back.I didn't recognize most of the Our Gang group in this one. My familiarity with them hearkens back to the Spanky and Alfalfa days, and I never caught this one as a kid growing up. But the antics are pretty much to speed with what I remember, as the kids wind up creating havoc in the most innocent of ways. You know, I can't help thinking that with the interracial component of these pictures, we would have a lot more tolerant society if everyone watched these before they started attending school.One last observation - I've come up with a little game for my family to holler out whenever someone spots a reference to Coke in a picture, and this might be it's earliest placement in a film that I've seen yet. There's a rather large advertising sign on the side of a building that you can't miss - 'Coca-Cola' in the distinctive trademark font one easily recognizes. For an instant, even though it's a black and white film short, you imagine seeing it in red.

DKosty123 Not the best Laurel and Hardy but a rare one. This Hal Roach production is considered and Our Gang comedy and the kids are on hand. There is plenty of slap stick to go around.A flea Circus loses their star performer and when the circus owner goes looking for his star, all the rest of his fleas escape and then crash a wedding. One of the largest sequences is the ceremony where everyone gets the itches from the fleas. There are plenty of slow burns and faces as a result of the fleas.The star flea is finally caught with flea powder from the kids of our gang. The animation of the star flea is the most amazing effect done on this film. There is a sequence where officer Oliver Hardy has his pants stolen by our gang and has to paint his long johns to look like his pants in order to catch up with the kids who have his real trousers.

bkoganbing As we well know fleas are not solitary creatures and the kids of Hal Roach's Our Gang Comedy Troupe have amassed quite a collection of the bugs. They can't resist being part from them for any length of time so they even bring them to a wedding they're invited to. Do I have to describe what happens when they get loose?This particular Hal Roach Our Gang short subject is noted for the presence of a pair of his adult comedy stars. Charley Chase is a wedding guest and Oliver Hardy plays a policeman. But these two are distinctly in support of the kids.Trying to spot them is half the fun of watching this short subject.

tavm This Hal Roach comedy short, Thundering Fleas, is the fifty-first in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series. Inspired by her older sister's upcoming wedding, Mary stages a mock one with Joe as the groom. He refuses to kiss her since he doesn't want the gang to laugh at him, however. They indeed do when Mary does the deed on Joe's lips. After one of them throws a shoe to Joe's face causing a track there, they point to Farina (who had nothing to do with it) who gets chased by the tracked-faced boy with dog Magnolia in tow. After Joe stops, Farina and the dog encounter a flea circus with the star attraction-Garfield. That flea (which is amusingly animated here) lands on Magnolia and decides to reside there with the dog now scratching herself. Along the way, Farina encounters a new friend, Scooter, who says his father is the vice-president of the U.S. They drop a bowl of fish with the amphibians jumping up and down. Scooter's mom then shows and sends Farina on his way. Meanwhile, Garfield's owner offers the rest of the gang $1 for finding his star flea. At this point, the rest of the owner's fleas are set free as Garfield tells his friends to "come on up" on the dog. It all ends in a hilarious disaster of Mary's sister's wedding...This has to be the most hilarious of the silent "Our Gang" comedies I've seen yet! Besides what I've just mentioned, there's plenty of now familiar faces of other Hal Roach comedies that provide additional pleasure starting with the up-and-coming Oliver Hardy as the cop who's the first victim of the fleas as he loses his trousers and paints his bright white long johns black to prevent further embarrassment, Charlie Hall as one of the wedding musicians, Charlie Chase with a big walrus mustache that hilariously moves from side-to-side, and James Finlayson without his usual prop mustache as the preacher reacting with his familiar fisheye reaction when the groom shakes his head as if to say "no" before the fleas then also lands on the preacher. Once again, kudos to the YouTube poster who added the familiar LeRoy Shield music from the "Little Rascals" talkies for providing the topper for this very enjoyable "Our Gang" entry, Thundering Fleas.