So You Think You're Not Guilty

Starring: George O'Hanlon, Phyllis Coates, Douglas Fowley (uncredited), Don C. Harvey (uncredited), Ted Stanhope (uncredited)
Directed by: Richard L. Bare
Rating: Approved
Genre: Short, Comedy
Length: 10 minutes
1950

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A man (George O'Hanlon) is unjustly accused of running a stop sign and decides to fight the charges.

Review:

Tim: So You Think You're Not Guilty is the third Joe McDoakes short film I've seen (out of 63) and it's probably my least favorite. It's never bad, but it felt like this one didn't create the laughs that the other two did. I think it's really interesting that George O'Hanlon made so many of these comedy short films. The series ran from 1942-1956, which is kind of astounding when you think about it. I don't think this was a product of the series running out of ideas, I just feel the execution on this one was slightly less effective.

The premise here is a solid one- our protagonist gets charged with a minor traffic violation where he believes he's not guilty. Rather than paying a small $2 fine, he insists on pleading "not guilty" and fighting the charge. This leads to larger, more expensive and longer-term charges. The whole thing is ridiculous, but it's humorous in making light of the legal system, as well as how the stubbornness of men can get them into serious trouble. The movie is playing all this off for laughs, so it never dives too deep into this concepts, but they are there in the short. You realize fairly early on what the set up is going to be and then you just move through the gags. None of them were especially funny, in my mind. It was all perfectly fine- O'Hanlon is an effective comedian and he plays his outrage well here. It's simply that the jokes aren't very funny.

In a series of 63 short films, it's nigh impossible for every one to be of equal quality. You'll obviously have some especially strong ones and undoubtedly some weaker ones. So You Think You're Not Guilty is definitely a weaker one, although it's decent enough that it doesn't tarnish my thoughts about this series. I'll always tune in for a Joe McDoakes short and I enjoy the zany energy O'Hanlon brings. Richard L. Bare once again provides effective direction- at this point, he must have been able to turn these out in his sleep. This isn't the best McDoakes short, but it's not a bad way to spend 10 minutes.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- N/A



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