Country: United States
Language: English (intertitles)
Director: Robert F. McGowan
Writers: Hal Roach (story), H.M.
Walker (titles)
Stars: Hal Roach's Rascals, Roy
Brooks and Joe Cobb
Release Date: 1 July 1923 (USA)
Filming Locations: Hal Roach
Studios - 8822 Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA
Production Co: Hal Roach Studios
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Plot Keywords: Children | Our
Gang | Reference To Theda Bara | Actor Shares First Name With Character
Genres: Comedy | Family | Short
Two groups of children are
staging a mock trench battle in a tomato patch. When the battle ends, one
girl's mother comes to take her to her job at the nearby motion picture studio.
The other children decide that it might be fun to work there, too, and they
sneak into the unsuspecting studio.
This Hal Roach comedy short, Dogs
of War, is the fourteenth in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series of
films produced in the studio named after Mr. Roach, a.k.a. "The Lot of
Fun". In this one, the kids reenact a war scene with Mary a nurse that
smitten Jack and Mickey fake injuries for fake treatment by her. During many of
these proceedings, many members of the gang throw tomatoes as weapons and
Farina wanders around and finds a skunk that gets everyone, including the
toddler, putting on gas masks! Then Mary's mother comes and takes her daughter
away to put her in a picture that pays her five bucks. The gang decide to
follow along but they get thrown out. Farina, however, has disappeared so the
others crash the West Coast Studios (actually Hal Roach Studios) to find
"her". That's when the fun really starts...Hilarious from beginning
to end, director Robert McGowan really hits his peak as the series' filmmaker
during this silent movie era. Allen Hoskins as Farina has many of the short's
scene stealing moments like the time he accidentally makes a treadmill on an
empty set move while some workers are standing on it causing them to run in the
same place for awhile. This happens to the gang later on. Also very funny is when
they see Mary "strangled" by the "villian" and they attempt
to kick his butt as a result and their later reenactment of that scene with
Jackie ending his with (via inter-title) "Kiss me my boob!" Then
there's the later double-exposure scene that must have had the audience of the
time in stitches and, finally, there's the other big Hal Roach star at the
time, Harold Lloyd at the time of filming "Why Worry?", helping the
gang, one of whom happening to be his brother-in-law Jack Davis, escaping the
studio guard with the cute way he playfully spanks Farina being the topper of
his cameo. Erine "Sunshine
Sammy" Morrison's father, also named Ernie, appears as an assistant
director.
Trivia
Filmed alongside Harold Lloyd's
Why Worry?, using the South American town set built for that film, and
featuring Lloyd and Jobyna Ralston as themselves.
Connections
References: Why Worry? (1923)
Featured in "American
Masters: Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius (#4.9)" (1989).
