So You Think You're Not Guilty

George O'Hanlon is on the hook for a $2 traffic fine. But being O'Hanlon, he insists he is not guilty and hires jailed lawyer Ted Stanhope to defend him.

It's based on an old vaudeville skit in which a man's lawyer insists on fighting a traffic ticket. While the man keeps saying "Pay the $2!" the situation grows worse until he's going to be executed.

This being one of Richard Bare's absurd short, the situation includes blind eye-witnesses, and O'Hanlon caught up in a jailbreak. There's lots of fun in this episode, which got a well deserved Oscar nomination. With Phyllis Coates, Douglas Fowley, Fred Kelsey and Paul Panzer.

I just saw this short on TCM. It's a fun short, but nothing terribly exciting or hilarious. It is filled with parodied clichés of lawyer/crime movies almost to the point of exhaustion. Some sight and physical comedic gags do not fit well, and it comes with the type of humor you would expect from a Looney Toon if it were live-humans instead of animated critters.

Our hero pleads "not guilty" until he finds himself facing 10 years in prison. It is at this point, around the 8 minute marker, that this little short finally feels like its taking off the ground but by the time you end your first laugh, our hero is ducking behind the big 8 Ball and "The End" is scribbled across the screen.

Worth watching if only for the sheer enjoyment of it being a short, a long lost cinematic tradition in an age when so many pop-tart films would be served in an 10 minute format.

So You Think You're Not Guilty (1950)

*** (out of 4)

One of the better entries in the series has Joe McDoakes (George O'Hanlon) running a traffic light but instead of pleading guilty and paying two dollars, he decides to fight the charges, which just ends up costing him more fines and prison time. There were over sixty of these shorts made and they were certainly hit and miss but this here is one of the better ones. The entire situation is handled very well by director Bare who also wrote the screenplay, which has plenty of nice twists and turns throughout the nine minute running time. There are countless highlight but the best one is a scene where McDoakes is forced to break out of jail, which of course just gets him into more trouble. There's several scenes that perfectly spoof the gangster and courtroom drama films out at the time as well.

Talk about turning a drama into a crisis! "McDoakes" (George O'Hanlon) and his wife "Alice" (Phyllis Coates) are accused of running a temperamental stop-sign but instead of just paying the $2 fine, he elects for his day in court. That is just the start of the domino effect that sees his misdemeanour end up with him sharing a prison yard with some hardened criminals. Oh if only he had just kept his trap shut and avoided this cumulation of calamities! It's ok, this, even if O'Hanlon over-eggs the cake a bit but I wonder if it might have worked more entertainingly had it been a cartoon? The break neck pace of his bad to worse scenario colourfully and mischievously hand-drawn rather than drawn out? Just goes to show, though - the system always wins.

This is one of the funniest, and most clever, short films from the "classic" days I have seen thus far. I can see why it was nominated for an Oscar. It sure gets the message across effectively. That message is: Even if it irks you, pay the fine, and be done with it.

In this short, "Joe MacDokes" (George O'Hanlon) gets confused by a quick traffic light and drives erratically through an intersection. He is quickly pulled over by a policeman and given a ticket. Joe is furious. "Why that flat-footed, lame-brained, pin-headed....."

His wife "Alice," attempts to clam him down and tells him to just pay the fine. Alice, by the way, is a very attractive Phyllis Coates who played "Lois Lane" in the first televised season of "The Adventures Of Superman." Coates has longer hair here and looks tremendous.

Anyway, back to Joe. He goes before the judge and instead of paying the two-dollar fine, he screams, "I am not guilty!" He makes such a scene the judge fines him $100 for contempt! Now he wants a lawyer and he winds up in jail. During the trial, the lawyer is so inept that Joe gets 10 years in jail!! If he would just keep his mouth shut, none of this would have happened.

Fortunately, there is a happy ending and Joe did learn his lesson.

This was very entertaining, start-to-finish, and a good lesson for all of us.