So You Want to Be a Gambler

So You Want to Be a Gambler (1948)

*** (out of 4)

Joe McDoakes (George O'Hanlon) short has the dimwitted guy trying his hand at gambling, which leads him to profit $12,000 but of course he can't walk away a winner. This here is one of the better films in the series as we get a better than average story that has plenty of laughs along the way. The story of the down on his luck gambler on his roller coaster day is nicely directed by Bare and the screenplay has a couple nice twists that make for some good laughs. The highlight are the scenes where Joe gets a psychic parrot calling off numbers for him. The early scenes at the pinball table are nicely done and the final gag works well too.