A Lad an' a Lamp (1932) Review: Stymie, Spanky, and Monkey Chaos

Is this worth your time today? Only if you have a soft spot for weird, chaotic 1930s shorts.

If you love the classic Our Gang kids, you will find some great physical comedy here. If you get easily uncomfortable by very outdated, cringey racial stereotypes, you should definitely skip this one. 😬

The Plot is a Pure Fever Dream

So the kids find an old lamp and think it is magic. Stymie rubs it and wish his baby brother, Cotton, was a monkey because Cotton is crying too much.

Naturally, a real runaway monkey from a street performer shows up and climbs into the baby carriage. Cotton just wanders off to eat some fruit. 🐒

Stymie actually thinks he turned his brother into an animal. The panic on his face are so real, it is almost sad to watch.

Stymie Carries the Whole Thing

Matthew "Stymie" Beard was easily the most talented kid in this entire troupe. His facial expressions when he thinks he ruined his brother's life are incredible.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of A Lad an' a Lamp (1932) through its definitive frames.

Spanky is also here, but he is still a tiny toddler in this one. He spends most of the short wearing a giant helmet that looks way too heavy for his neck.

I also kept watching Pete the Dog. He has that classic painted circle around his eye, looking totally exhausted by these kids.

Honestly, Pete's reaction shots are better than most modern actors. He reminded me of the tired pup in The Dog and the Thief, just totally done with human nonsense.

Some weird things I noticed:

• The monkey is surprisingly good at acting. It actually looks like it knows it is playing a trick.
• There is a scene where they try to "reverse" the spell that goes on way too long.
• The kid playing Cotton has a very sweet, confused smile the entire time.
• The audio quality is pretty rough, like they recorded it in a giant metal trash can.

The whole watermelon gag is... rough to watch today. Its a reminder of how different (and worse) things were in 1930s comedy writing.

But if you can look past the outdated stuff, the pure physical comedy is still pretty funny. The scene where the monkey starts throwing things around the room is pure, unscripted madness.

It just sort of ends. No big wrap-up, no lesson learned. Just 17 minutes of kids yelling and then the screen fades to black. 🤷‍♂️