So You Want to Be a Banker (1954) Poster

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7/10
Incredibly strange
planktonrules30 October 2017
Continuity was NOT a strong point in the Joe McDoakes shorts. Mrs. McDoakes was played by a variety of folks as was Joe's co-worker, Homer. Additionally, often Joe's life is incredibly different from one short to another. In this case, Joe doesn't work at the usual company but instead it shows him graduating from PU and then going to work in the banking industry. However, his old college rival (Alvy Moore of "Green Acres" fame) is now his boss. But, using perseverance, hard work and lots of criminal activity, Joe manages to eventually take control of the bank...at least temporarily.

This is sort of a screwed up Horatio Alger story where hard work AND cheating are the keys to success. Clever...but also very strange as it seems very much unlike all the previous McDoakes films.
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9/10
Exciting World Of High Finance
redryan6425 February 2016
Warning: Spoilers
SO YOU WANT TO BE A BANKER

CAST: George O'Hanlon, Alvy Moore, Ralph Caruthers, Harry "Snub" Pollard, Fred Kelsey, Charles Evans, Donald Kerr, Charles Leviness, Matt Mc Cue, Jack Mower, Brick Sullivan, Jack Wise. NOTE: There is no Alice Mc Doakes (Wife) in this installment.

THIS EPISODE ranges about as far afield from the norm as any we've seen so far. In it we have elements of pure fantasy, a lengthy flashback and the covering of about two decades or so into the "future"; which of course, would be today's recent past. (Get it, Schultz?)

THE SHORT RETURNS to the extensive use of the voice-over; although the voice employed is that of Joe (George O'Hanlon), rather than that of former stalwart, Art Gilmore. The early part of this short has the ratio of about 50-50 between 'live', on screen dialog and the voice-over narration.

WE ARE THERE to follow Joe as he graduates Potash College along with Harrington Arlington Farrington, Jr.; who's son of the founder of the 14th National Bank. Coincidentally, this is the very place where Joe seeks his entry into the Banking world. Joe's rise on he corporate is less than meteoric and he eventually gives into temptation and manipulates a sort of on paper takeover.

IN THE FINAL scene the curtain falls with Joe, now a graybeard, being interviewed as an inmate at the Gray Bar Hotel(that's slang for the State Pen, Schultz). Adding insult to injury, the interviewer is Harrington Arlington Farrington III, son of his old boss!

ALTHOUGH THIS SERIES has been around for over 10 years at this time, it obviously had not gotten stale and the production team was not timid about trying to be a little different.
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Fair McDoakes Entry
Michael_Elliott29 December 2010
So You Want to Be a Banker (1954)

** (out of 4)

Fair entry in the series explains how Joe McDoakes finished last in his class yet managed to become the president of a bank and tycoon. If you're familiar with the series then you know it mostly contains simple situations that our hero McDoakes gets himself into. It's usually his dumbness that gets him into trouble but that's not the case here as he actually finds a way to borrow a million dollars without anyone knowing. This is an interesting twist for the series but sadly the screenplay really doesn't offer us anything funny. For the most part the film plays is rather flat as we get a few sequences that get a brief smile but there's simply nothing good enough to make the film worth sitting through other than fans such as myself who want to see each film in the series. George O'Hanlon does his typical good job but the rest of the cast is rather forgettable.
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