So You Want to Be in Pictures (1947) User Reviews

McDoakes Finds His Proper Role In Motion Pictures

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 15 July 2008]

This particular Joe McDoakes short subject was obviously inspired by the all star Warner Brothers spectacular Thank Your Lucky Stars, one of those all star wartime morale boosters of the period. In that one Eddie Cantor played both himself and a would be comedian who'd like to break into films except for his resemblance to Cantor.

George O'Hanlon who starred in the McDoakes shorts is both himself and McDoakes who's just trying to get a break in film. Like Thank Your Lucky Stars a few Warner Brothers contract players with a free moment strolled through this film.

O'Hanlon's been sent by central casting for a small one line role in a World War I film, but lookalike McDoakes gets the message. The poor guy is so nervous about his big moment, he starts thinking of ways to deliver his one line. Maybe sounding like a real movie star would help.

86 takes later to the exasperation of director Ralph Sanford and the patient Clyde Cook who plays a British cockney soldier they do find a niche in the film business for poor McDoakes. It's worth seeing this very funny short subject which was nominated for an Oscar to find out what happens to O'Hanlon/McDoakes.

Both of them.

A Superior McDoakes

[Paularoc · 7/10 · 26 June 2012]

Of the McDoakes shorts I have seen thus far, I thought this one especially good. This time around Joe is an aspiring actor who practices being an actor by listening to records of Ronald Colman and Charles Boyer impersonations ("If I were king," and "Hedy, Hedy come with me to the Casbah"). Joe gets a call from the studio telling him he has a small part (one line) in a World War I drama. Arriving at the studio he first asks Jack Carter for directions and then asks the actor who plays McDoakes, George O'Hanlon. A number of young Warner's contract players are introduced and they wave at the camera. After meeting the director (named Anguish) Joe delivers his one line - first in a crummy Boyer accent and then in a crummy Coleman accent. The director storms out and the assistant director takes over and after 88 takes he shows Anguish the final takes. How the assistant director handles Joe and his one line was hilarious - worth watching the whole short just for that. The final scene was also good. This McDoakes entertains from beginning to end.

Being in pictures.

[morrison-dylan-fan · 8/10 · 28 May 2018]

Taking part in a poll on IMDb's Classic Film board (RIP) a few years ago on the best titles of 1947,I spotted fellow IMDber melvelvit-1 mention about being after a short from '47. Searching for info,I was surprised to find that it was not online,and only in an overpriced Regan box set (nothing against the former POTUS,but $70 for a box set of films already put out is a bit steep!)Giving up on finding it years ago,I was taken aback,when I stumbled upon it this Easter,and got set to at last be in pictures.

View on the film:

Painting Tinseltown with a sarcastic glee, narrator Art Gilmore gives a dry-wit voice-over narration, that shares a similarity with the narrations on Disney shorts of the era,by being straight-lace whilst the stage collapses to slap-stick. Scanning the Hollywood hills for cute blink and you miss 'em cameos (Regan,Martha Vickers, Robert Hutton) Writer/ director Richard L. Bare plays around with the "behind the scenes" of Hollywood with funny fast-paced gags that have Joe McDoakes (played by a good George O'Hanlon) bomb during the making of a War film,and find out why he should not be in pictures.

Actor Shmactor

[boblipton · 7/10 · 10 July 2020]

Joe MacDoakes wants to be an actor -- at this point in many of my reviews say "in the worst way" and then something about how bad he is -- but when he gets his chance in a tiny speaking part, he does it as Ronald Colman, Charles Boyer..... causing the director no end of anguish.

It's more elaborate than most of the Joe MacDoakes series of short comedies, in that it makes use of non-regulars, former and current stars, in an effort at publicity; Jack Carson has a very funny bit, and George O'Hanlon appears not only as Joe, but as himself.

The best of the series!

[JohnHowardReid · 10/10 · 12 February 2007]

Fully deserving its prestigious Hollywood award nomination, this is an entertaining little gem with lots of pizazz and some delightful surprises. Outstandingly funny scenes include an hilarious shoot (and re-shoot) of a WW1 trench scene with Australian comedian Clyde Cook as an optimistic non-com and the hapless McDoakes as a Boyer/Colman messenger — all under the beady eye of Ralph Sanford's delightfully irascible Anguish; a lost McDoakes guided and re-guided by equally perplexed Jack Carson; assistant director Chandler rejoicing in a McDoakes-sent opportunity: "I'm going to be a director!"

Ace comic O'Hanlon has a dual role, playing both McDoakes and himself playing McDoakes! Oddly, Richard L. Bare who does play himself in one or more other entries in the series, has turned down that opportunity here. In real life, Bare's a youngish, six-foot Rock Hudson lookalike, but here he's impersonated by veteran actor (over 500 movies!), Jack Mower.

Foolishly over-exaggerated comedy on becoming a star in Hollywood...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 15 July 2008]

I usually like the Joe McDoakes comedy series "So You Want To...", etc., but this one takes the cake for carrying absurdity to the extreme.

It's one thing to spoof show business and the workings of Hollywood's movie factories, but to present McDoakes as a wanna be actor who makes life hellish for director Anthony Anguish (does every director have to be an impersonation of Michael Curtiz???), and have him do it in such absurd ways is more than a little exasperating.

His chance to play a messenger role is ruined when he insists on sounding like either Charles Boyer or Ronald Colman.

Making the whole mess worthwhile are a few glimpses of real stars--Ronald Reagan, Jack Carson, Alexis Smith, Wayne Morris, Robert Hutton, Martha Vickers and Janis Paige. But the comedy is insufferably broad and repetitious. Thumbs down on this one.

I couldn't find it genuinely amusing, not even the pie in the face ending. But don't mind me. It was nominated for a Best Short Subject Oscar but didn't win.

One of the very best McDoakes films....

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 30 April 2017]

"So You Want to Be in Pictures" is one of the very best Joe McDoakes shorts...perhaps the best. It begins with Joe working hard to be an actor via a recorded correspondence course. It teaches him the important lessons of trying to sound like Charles Boyer or Ronald Colman--something all good actors need to do! While working on this lesson, he gets a phone call....it's the studio and he's got a part in a picture!

The next day, Joe appears at the studio...and the laughs started in earnest. You see a variety of Warner Brothers actors playing themselves, such as Jack Carson, Ronald Reagan and Alexis Smith. But my favorite is when George O'Hanlon (the guy who plays McDoakes) sees Joe and comments about him! In other words, you see O'Hanlon playing Joe AND at the same time another O'Hanlon playing himself! You also later see the same thing when the pair are working on a Joe McDoakes short together! This is a silly and fun film...with much to recommend it.

So You Want to Be in Pictures was a most hilarious Joe McDoakes short

[tavm · 10/10 · 31 January 2009]

This is my fourth Joe McDoakes short that I've seen and so far the funniest one. In this one, Joe takes voice lessons from a record impersonating Charles Boyer and Ronald Colman. When he goes to Warner Bros. Studio (the company behind this series, incidentally), he asks Jack Carson for directions which gets both confused. Then he encounters actor George O'Hanlon (who's also McDoakes) who speaks in his more normal voice that's not too far from his later Geroge Jetson and gets to the set where he automatically upsets the director. I'll stop there and just say how funny I found the whole thing and was fascinated by the movie star cameos provided near the end. The final scene was especially a hoot so on that note, go to YouTube if you want to watch So You Want to Be in Picutres!

Pure Fun At Its Very Best

[redryan64 · 10/10 · 5 February 2016]

ONCE AGAIN WE are amazed at the high quality that the Bare-O'Hanlon team achieved in so many of these early JOE Mc DOAKES comedies. It is almost as if they had found the magic formula. Along with some of the other truly Greats in the Realm of Funny Business, belong the names of Producer Hollingshead, Director Bare and O'Hanlon (Mc Doakes himself)!

IT IS SOMEHOW a fact that many people today aren't aware of the great series of on reelers that bridged the War years with the mid 1950's. This does seem to have changed due to the inclusion of many Mc Doakes shorts with other video releases of various features. Great impetus was the cause of many other recent "converts" to Mc DOAKESIANISM through the efforts of the Comedy Central Cable channel's inclusion of George O'Hanlon in their programming.

AS FOR THIS episode, it truly does not get any better. The production team has put it all together. As usual, one simple premise was taken and put through the comic paces. This was a true natural subject matter, being that the location shooting was Warner Brothers Studios and Sound Stages themselves.

AIDING IN THE fun and obviously enjoying the unbilled cameos were several Warner Brothers' contract players. Those showing themselves on screen silently include: Janis Paige, Martha Vickers, Wayne Morris, Alexis Smith, Robert Hutton and "the Gipper" himself, Ronald Reagan. Filling out the cast are familiar faces of George Chandler, Clyde Cook, Bess Flowers, Ralph J. Sanford and Jane Harker.

PROVIDING WHAT WAS truly a gem of a routine was the uncredited speaking part done by Jack Carson. His brief but wholly professional rendition of the guy who meets O'Hanlon at the studio gate, then proceeding to dispense the worst case of misinformation as directions has to be seen.

IN THE SEQUANCE that was a movie within a movie, shooting a fictitious Mc DOAKES movie was perhaps Richard L. Bare; but alas, no dice it was revealed to be Jack Mower. This gimmick of the shooting of O'Hanlon as both himself and as Joe acting as his stand-in was a sort of minor stroke of genius; providing the story with a great wind-up.

WE NOW DISCOVER that our praise for this short is not an isolated occurrence; for we just read that SO YOU WANT TO BE IN PICTURES received an Oscar nomination for Best Short Subject.

NOW DO YOU see that, Schultz. How great minds think so much alike!

Two McDoakes shorts

[Michael_Elliott · 26 February 2008]

So You Want to Be in Pictures (1947)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Oscar nominated short shows the down side of trying to become a big movie star. There really aren't too many laughs here but lead Joe McDoakes is fun to watch. Ronald Reagon has a small cameo.

So You Want to Be on the Radio (1948)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Oscar nominated short with Joe McDoakes as he plays a husband who wishes he could get on a radio game show but once he does get there he wishes he didn't. I know these "So You Want to Be..." shorts are pretty popular but the four I've seen really haven't worked. They're mildly entertaining but they really don't contain too many laughs for me.