This is the short that all Joe McDoakes fans seem to remember, and with good reason. You don't have to be an aficionado of the private-eye or film-noir genres that this movie is kidding -- although it certainly doesn't hurt -- to laugh yourself silly at it.
Joe imagines himself as tough-talking private investigator Philip Snarlowe, and we're pretty much off to the races. The greatest laugh in the entire movie is having Art Gilmore, the usually condescending narrator, finding himself playing second banana to Joe/Philip. (One wonders if this was the moviemakers' tribute to Gilmore for his superb contributions. Gilmore narrates much less frequently after this short, to the series' loss.)
In fact, if one wanted to look at this short subject very deeply, one could almost regard it as Joe McDoakes' id taking over. Joe starts the movie by telling Gilmore that he's tired of the "corny introductions" Gilmore has given him over the years. Joe's usual nemesis, the smarmy office worker Homer (Clifton Young), here takes the form of tough gangster "Num Num," on whom Joe gets the goods. The casino where Joe holds court is the exact same casino (right down to the curvy blonde femme fatale) where Joe lost his winnings just two short subjects earlier, in So You Want to Be a Gambler.
Beyond all that, the short is wish fulfillment at its best. The whole point of the McDoakes series has been to show an ordinary guy making his way through trying circumstances. If you've ever watched Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon or The Big Sleep and wondered how you would fare in a life-or-death situation like that, this is a pretty good illustration of it.
If you had to pick only one Joe McDoakes short to take with you on a desert island -- a cruelly unfair choice, to be sure -- this one would hold up pretty well under multiple viewings. It's a hoot.
Our rating: (C) 2012, Steve Bailey.
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