"Philip Snarlowe" addresses the P.O.V. Cam
So You Want to Be a Detective is a 1948 comedy short film (10 minutes) directed by Richard L. Bare. It is one of 63 films in Warner Bros.' So You Want... series starring bumbling goofball Joe McDoakes.
In this film, Joe (George O'Hanlon) adopts the persona of "Philip Snarlowe", hard-boiled private eye. Art Gilmore, who usually narrated the So You Want... films, plays "Gilmore", Snarlowe's hapless sidekick.
The entire short is shot from Gilmore's point of view. Snarlowe—he insists that he's Philip Snarlowe, even though Gilmore keeps calling him "Joe"—gets a call out of nowhere telling him to stay away from 210 Grady Street. Snarlowe, with Gilmore tagging along, goes to that address and discovers a dead guy and his smoking hot niece Veronica.
It's all a very silly parody of Lady in the Lake.
Tropes:
- All Just a Dream: All of the "So You Want" shorts featured silly nonsensical humor, but in this one at least the nonsense is justified when the whole movie turns out to be a dream of Joe McDoakes, who is a janitor and has fallen asleep at the real Philip Snarlowe's desk.
- Bookcase Passage: As a matter of course Philip asks Veronica if there are any secret panels or sliding doors in the mansion. Naturally there is one, behind the cabinet, which leads to...a casino.
- The Butler Did It: When Snarlowe discovers a butler at the Vacuum mansion he decides "The butler must have done it!".
- Casting Gag: Lila Leeds, who plays female lead Veronica in this short, had a small part as a Sexy Secretary in Lady in the Lake, the film that this movie is making fun of.
- Character Narrator: Unlike most "So You Want" shorts in which Art Gilmore is a standard narrator removed from the action, in this one he's a character in the movie, Snarlowe's sidekick. "Gilmore" seems confused about this, believing that he's supposed to be the narrator of a Joe McDoakes short.
- Clown Car: After Philip opens the door to the cabinet about a half-dozen bodies spill out. (One ducks the door frame.)
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: The "missing link" in the case, namely the killer, is...Gilmore, Philip's buddy and the narrator.
- The Faceless: In Lady in the Lake, director/star Robert Montgomery's face pops up a couple of times in mirrors, as well as a couple of establishing shots, to remind the audience that yes it's big star Robert Montgomery in the movie. In this satire of that film it really is Unbroken First-Person Perspective from beginning to end, so Gilmore the POV character's face never appears.
- Gratuitous Laboratory Flasks: Philip has a whole desk full of beakers and flasks and a Bunsen burner as he's performing...some kind of experiment at the end.
- I Have a Family: "Num-num" the gangster says "I got a wife and kids!" to McFarland's boys (who are naturally young boys) when he thinks they're going to kill him.
- Impairment Shot: Gilmore's vision and the picture go blurry after Gilmore takes a punch to the face meant for Philip.
- Incredibly Lame Pun: The glass in the door to Philip's office says "Private Eye", and, further down, "Also Ear, Nose & Throat".
- The Joy of X: This film series originated the "So You Want..." standard title.
- Literal Metaphor:
- Philip is grilling Num-Num when a panicked casino staffer comes barreling into the office and says that "McFarland's boys" have come for him. McFarland's boys are, naturally, young boys.
- When Philip forces Num-Num to tell him who the killer is, he says "Sing!", and Num-Num literally sings "Hi ho, the derry-o, the killer's in the bar."
- Medium Awareness: "Gilmore" starts out by narrating a Joe McDoakes short only to be sucked into the story. Joe, while insisting he is Philip Snarlowe, also knows that's he's in the movie.Joe/Philip: Gilmore, you've been giving me those same corny introductions for years.
- Ms. Fanservice: Veronica Vacuum, who wears one hot pants and tight blouse ensemble when she greets Philip and another tight blouse and hot pants ensemble when she's working as a cigarette girl at the casino. Gilmore's P.O.V. Cam looks her torso up and down.
- Or Was It a Dream?: The All Just a Dream ending is undercut when Joe, now revealed to be a janitor, sees the "tall man" from his dream (he's about ten feet tall) enter Marlowe's office.
- P.O.V. Cam: This film is a parody of Lady in the Lake which used the P.O.V. Cam perspective for almost the entire movie. The main difference is that in Lady in the Lake the POV is from protagonist Philip Marlowe, while in this short the POV is from Snarlowe's sidekick Gilmore, the regular "So You Want" movie narrator.
- Surreal Humor: Some very silly gags. In the opening scene Snarlowe picks up a phone and hears a gunshot, and gun smoke comes through the phone. In another, Snarlowe opens a filing cabinet and pulls out a woman, like it's a coroner's slab.
- Unbroken First-Person Perspective: The entire film is from the perspective of Gilmore the sidekick, in a direct parody of the use of this trope for Lady in the Lake.
