Our Gang member Janet Burston believes that her family is neglecting her, so she decides to run away from home. The other gang members try to help Janet get adopted (or "adapted") by a more agreeable family, choosing a kindly elderly couple (Sarah Padden and Harry C. Bradley) for the honor. But when the old couple discover that Janet is a runaway, they decide to teach her a lesson by creating a home atmosphere so unpleasant and demanding that she'll be begging to return to her own kinfolk. The only noteworthy aspect of this Our Gang copy is the supporting-cast presence of British actress Elspeth Dudgeon, who previously played the centenarian patriarch of the eccentric Femm family in the 1932 horror classic The Old Dark House. The one-reel Family Troubles was originally released on April 3, 1943.
by Hal Erickson
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