The Fabulous Joe

Series: Streamliner

Director: Harve Foster

Producer: Bebe Daniels, Hal Roach Jr.

Screenplay: Jack Jevne

Photography: John W. Boyle

Editor: Bert Jordan

Art director: Jerome Pycha Jr.

Music: Heinz Roemheld

Stars: Walter Abel, Margot Grahame, Marie Wilson, Donald Meek, Sheldon Leonard, Howard Petrie

Company: United Artists

Released: 23 August 1947

Length: 6 reels

Production No.: F-56

Filming dates:

Rating: 7/10

The Fabulous Joe

Available on DVD:

Milo Terkel (WALTER ABEL) is in court to contest his wife's request for a divorce. He tells of how he gave his wife's brother George a job in his investment company and offered him temporary accommodation ten years ago but George is still with them! Milo confides in his lawyer (DONALD MEEK) of how he had to endure George's presence every day for the past ten years. On the day of his twentienth wedding anniversary Milo receives a visit at his office from his lawyer who informes him that a client has died and left his most precious possession - a dog by the name of Joe - to Milo in his will. That evening Milo returns home to find a party in full swing at his apartment and his wife having gone out with her brother.
Milo goes into a bar and orders a Mystery Gardenia - a strange cocktail which consists of god knows what before getting into a scrap with a dominating man who objects to Milo talking with his girl. After slowly getting drunk Milo begins to confide in his dog about his troubles and is shocked to hear the dog answering him. Milo actually listens to the dog, who tells him "to be brute - just like Humphrey Bogart". Milo returns home drunk and receives a frosty welcome from his wife but he proves that he has a pair by talking down to George and his wife when they start on him. The next morning Milo continues to be assertive with everybody in his family and after coming home from the office later in the day he finds a note from his wife telling him she has left and is awaiting an apology.

Milo takes Joe for a walk that night and bumps into the girl he saw earlier in the bar. After the dog bumps her into a pond Milo takes her back to his apartment and suggests she gets her clothes off. Unfortunately this wasn't going where I was hoping.... As the girl takes a shower the dog kindly starts dumping her wet clothes out of the window. With no other option Milo invites her to spend the night in the apartment and offers her his wife's bedroom. He later buys the girl some new clothes but she manages to get the zip from her dress caught in Milo's tie. The girl's boyfriend walks into the apartment at just the wrong time (just as Milo is having a good grope) and catches them together. The guy punches Milo in the face, leaves with the girl, rips her dress off and then buggers off.
The girl quickly retreats back into Milo's apartment just as Milo's wife returns home to forgive him. And when the rest of the family show up the girl does everything to try and avoid detection. Eventually Milo ties her up in a laundry sack but his wife ends up throwing it down the the shute. The girl manages to find her way back up to the apartment via the dumb waiter. Things worsen when the in-laws show up. The girl does finally make her escape when the dog deliberately causes a fire which causes everybody to evacuate the apartment. Louie arrives, exposes Milo to his family and takes his girl away (again). The story concludes with the courtroom with Milo trying to convince the judge that everything that has happened was because of his talking dog Joe. Just as it appears Milo is crazy there is an unexpected turn when Milo's wife accepts the judge's advice to care for Milo and get rid of George from the equation. Milo and his wife return home to pack for a vacation where Joe confirms Milo's suspicions. A happy ending to a feel-good film.

Marie Wilson, Walter Abel and Clarence Kolb in The Fabulous Joe (1947)

Marie Wilson, Sheldon Leonard and Walter Abel in The Fabulous Joe (1947)

Favourite bit
I particularly enjoyed the scene when Milo goes into the bar and has the cocktail and slowly gets drunk. This is where the dog first starts speaking to him.

Trivia
• Copyrighted August 29, 1947.
• Part 2 of the Hal Roach Comedy Carnival (part 1 was Curley).
• In the opening credits roll Bebe Daniels is listed as the producer whilst Hal Roach Jr. is given executive producer credit.
• This film finally made its DVD debut in mid-2020 thanks to the efforts of ClassicFlix.
• The IMDb lists Charlotte Wynters as Miss Hart the secretary but I think she looks more like Bess Flowers. When I was reviewing the film I immediately said it was Flowers without looking at the cast list. Flowers is listed by the IMDb as a courtroom spectator. Not sure how to go with this. For now, I have listed Wynters as the secretary.
• The title of the film, Joe, refers to the name of a dog.
• Marie Wilson has got some gigantic breasts, hasn't she? I mean you can't not look at them. In the scene in the park when she is wearing that dress of hers you can see her right nipple briefly through the dress. [image here]. As a self-confessed pervert I couldn't take my eyes off them. Also after she falls into the pond she complains about her dress being ruined. Because it got wet. Yes, I heard it too. But those breasts are just THERE! Damn. Talk about take someone's eye out! And when she sits down next to Milo and keeps pressing them into him. That looked deliberate. But when she gets back to the apartment... oh my god!
• Louie lets himself into Milo's apartment without even knocking. Just because Milo had his hands all over his girlfriend's tits at the time is still no excuse for his rudeness! Talking of Louie (played by Sheldon Leonard who the year previously had starred as Nick the bartender in Frank Capra's "It's A Wonderful Life"), he threatens to punch his girlfriend in the face. Tough guy. Mind you, he isn't all that bad - he does rip her dress off for us all to see!
• In her final scene Margot Grahame shows that she too can play the 'nipple game' [image here].

What the experts say
• "Taking into account that the studio was winding down in its final years of production you may be forgiven in having low expectations with the output from it here. However, strangely enough this is a rather amusing and very entertaining little comedy which starts well and maintains the interest. Marie Wilson's wet blue dress is the centre of attention in the middle of the film for reasons I won't go into here but I was surprised the censors didn't object to THAT scene! All in all a decent film, well worth a look." ~ Lord Heath.

	Walter Abel Milo Terkel
	Margot Grahame Emily Terkel
	Marie Wilson Gorgeous Gilmore
	Donald Meek Henry Cadwallader, lawyer
	Sheldon Leonard Louie
	Howard Petrie George Baxter
	Nana Bryant Mrs. Belmont
	Clarence Kolb Cornelius Belmont Sr.
	John Miles Cornelius Belmont Jr.
	Barbara Bates Debbie Terkel
	Donald MacBride Lawyer Gilbert
	Lucien Littlefield Judge
	Dorothy Christy Grace
	John Eldredge Charlie
	Al Bridge Florida Club bartender
	Eddie Hall Flyer, party guest
	Ellen Corby Cathy, maid
	Tommy Noonan Elevator boy
	Charlotte Wynters Miss Hart, secretary
	Bess Flowers Courtroom spectator
	Larry Steers Courtroom spectator
	Bob Burns Courtroom spectator
	Noel Neill Courtroom spectator
	Jimmie Dundee Milkman
	Sam Harris Man at Union club
	Stuart Holmes Man at Union club
	Mickey McBan Guest
	Patti Morgan Girl friend
	Frank O'Connor Man in Terkel's office
	Cyril Ring Bill
	Syd Saylor Donald