Bear Shooters (1930)
Article 5732 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-2-2020
Directed by Robert F. McGowan
Featuring Norman ‘Chubby’ Chaney, Jackie Cooper, Allen ‘Farina’ Hoskins
Country: USA
What it is: Our Gang short

The kids go on a camping trip, ostensibly to shoot bears. Poachers try to scare them off.

I debated reviewing this one, but decided that since gorillas were de facto monsters in this cinematic era, and the fact that this short uses the gorilla for its fear value, this short can be classified as comic borderline horror. Granted, it’s just a man in a gorilla suit, but that’s not the first time that’s happened. I haven’t seen many of the Our Gang shorts from this era, so I don’t have much I can compare it to, but I gather this wasn’t one of the better ones. It certainly feels a bit thin in the comedy department, and cuteness and whimsy only goes so far with me. Still, at only 20 minutes, it doesn’t have time to get really dull.