Obviously Joe never saw So You Want to Play the Horses, or he would have known how this short was going to turn out for him.
Joe is so desperate to bet on something, he connives a nickel out of a newspaper boy and then spends it on a pinball machine, easily having the most cinematic fun anyone ever had at such a contraption until Elton John sang "Pinball Wizard" in Tommy a quarter-century later.
When Joe actually wins at pinball, he uses his winnings to go and press his luck as a suspicious-looking casino. As if the casino's shabby atmosphere wasn't a bad enough omen, Joe runs into overly-impressed-with-himself Homer (Clifton Young), who helps Joe to lose most of his money and dignity.
(Trivia: Another late-era Laurel & Hardy peer lifts his head here. Douglas Fowley, who made a very convincing gangster in L&H's 20th Century-Fox comedy Jitterbugs, pulls off a similar role in this one, nearly causing Joe to meet his maker.)
Our rating: Go to: (C) 2012, Steve Bailey.
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