So You Want to Move

When the story begins, you see Joe's wife going off for WAC reserve training...though up until now you never heard she'd been in the military. Regardless, she leaves Joe with one task alone...stay out of the movers' way as they transport their furniture to a new home only three blocks away from there. Naturally, Joe screws it up, as he figures he can save the $150 by moving it all himself. So, with the help of his neighbor, Marvin, the pair set off on an adventure...an adventure that ends up costing Joe a fortune!

Unlike most Joe McDoakes shorts, this one has no narration...just a running tally listed on the screen of Joe's expenses as they rack up. Overall, a clever and enjoyable film...and one that clearly illustrates that Joe is an idiot.

Alice McDoakes, ever the independent and go-getting wife, has to do her WAC summer camp bit and instructs husband Joe to pay the Urban Van & Storage company to move their furniture three blocks to a new housing unit. Of course, Joe is too much of a penny-pincher to not think he and neighbor Marvin can move it themselves in order to save $150. Well... you can guess how unsuccessful they are. Dollar figures are flashed on screen for each "incidental expense".

On one level, this is just another Moving Day Comedy, following many earlier examples featuring Laurel & Hardy, the Three Stooges, Popeye, Mickey Mouse & gang... practically every Hollywood comedy star did this type of picture. The beaten '20s car and trailer overloaded with prop "junk" is a homage to Buster Keaton's Moving Day Comedy-to-end-all COPS (1922). Ah... but you mustn't sell a McDoakes short... short.

What sets this series from the competition are all of the funny one-liners and "little" gags. Bumbling Marvin channels his inner "Mr. Magoo" and grasps at every contraption as if he were nearly blind. Joe decides it would be better if HE drives and Marv quips how "funny" it is that "all my friends want to drive!" Of course he doesn't see the cop standing next to him as he mentions what flatfoots and eggheads police officers are.

Also, what would a McDoakes comedy be without a few two-timers to "sucker" him? He's forced to pay a fine for moving "without a license", but we see the accusers waiting for him in a parked vehicle like cats awaiting the naive mouse. Won't spoil the funny end-punchline...

FROM THE OPENING, there is an obvious unique spin about this entry in the MC DOAKES Series. The production team has managed to keep the on going saga of our favourite everyman fresh and appealing by having him placed into a litany of precocious situations. Here they test the waters in hitting the problems of moving in an equally funny, yet differently mounted manner.

ALTHOUGH THE FRUSTRATIONS that befall Joe in the short are not unlike previous adventures, there is a unique feel to this one. The unveiling of his amateur handling of the otherwise routine move of has a different look about it. This job of moving "only 4 rooms of furniture" a short distance turns into a modern day version of the Labors of Hercules.

EVENTUALLY THE END results are not so very different than any other, it is the chosen rendering of the situation which puts this short into a category apart from others. We see the signs of both imitation and the payment of the compliment to certain of the masters of screen comedy who proceeded and blazed the trail. In particular, it looks as if the one being honored is Buster Keaton.

WHILE THE PRODUCTION does not attempt to bring us any road show version of the Keaton style, there is nonetheless definite signs of reworking some of the gags and even the handling of the central theme in similar fashion. As evidence of these contentions, we invite any skeptics to screen the Buster Keaton classics of the silent screen, ONE WEEK (1920) and COPS (1920).

NOW PLEASE UNDERSTAND, we're not insinuating that this was done in any underhanded attempt to plagiarize; but rather as an homage to the work of "The Great Stone Face."

AS AN ADDED element, they've added the use of movie title overlays that are placed on the screen intermittently. As the story progresses (and the co$t$ grow), the totals are presented to the audience accompanied by a freeze frame and some appropriate musical queue.

THE EFFECT IS if we, the viewing audience, have a sort of tally sheet or scoreboard rendered in electronics and celluloid.

IN THE BEGINNING of the story, the reason for the move is shown to be the reactivation of Joe's wife, Alice (Phyllis Coates) in her commission of a Lieutenant in the WACS (Women's Army Corps) from World War II. The year was 1950, marking the start of The Korean War and it's our guess that this is why such an element was added.

WHAT WE MEAN is, who knew how long this "Police Action" would last?

So You Want to Move (1950)

*** (out of 4)

Funny entry in the series has Alice going away for a week to WAC camp and at the house are some movers who are going to move her and Joe three blocks. Joe is fine with this until he learns it will be $150 so he fires them and decides to save money by moving himself but of course things don't go as planned. This here is without question one of the most predictable in a predictable series (since the title gives everything away) but there are plenty of big laughs. The highlight of the film is a running, calculated total that pops up on screen every time something goes wrong. This is a simple little gag as all the accidents quickly surpass the original $150 price tag. As usual George O'Hanlon is at the top of his game as he delivers one laugh after another with those priceless facial gestures and funny mannerisms. Also hilarious is Rodney Bell who plays the nearly-blind neighbor Marv who helps with the move. The comedy with him is pretty politically incorrect but it's still very funny.

With wife Phyllis Coates gone for reserve officer training, former PFC George O'Hanlon balks at the $150 the movers demand to move four rooms of furniture three blocks. So he offers neighbor Rodney Bell $35 to help him, thinking he'll save money. Of course he won't.

This is in the usual line of Warner's long-running series of Joe McDoakes shorts. Writer-director Richard Bare had the slightly scatter-brained O'Hanlon dealing with a world designed to mulct and frustrate the average Joe, so what chance did O'Hanlon's sub-average Joe have? It all builds up very nicely over the course of one reel, with a fine capper gag.