This was the final entry in M-G-M's "Crime Does Not Pay" shorts series and this one's a doozy! Barry Nelson plays Charles Vurn as the ironic title character. How ironic? Well, after losing bet after bet and not doing so well at his job, and after accidentally killing his wife when she confronts him stealing her savings inherited from her mother, his landlord comes by and gives him a thousand dollar check from selling a house suggested by his wife, his next horse bet wins but he can't claim it because he earlier switched identities with another man and had him crash his car over a cliff so "his" and his wife's death can be ruled accidents, and after retrieving a letter from his boss that he now doesn't want him to see, telling the police his "story", and claiming his winnings, he gets shot by a random shooter in the street as we end with him dropping his dice for the final fade out...Of all the shorts in the series that appeared in the DVD "Film Noir: Bringing Darkness to Light", The Luckiest Guy in the World most lives up to that category. What with the lighting, the atmospheric direction, and especially Nelson's performance, this has Film Noir written all over it! The only relief here is hearing Red Skelton on the radio as Nelson and his doppelganger are listening to it as the latter is laughing his heart out while driving. Otherwise, this is a tense thriller all the way! Well worth seeing. P.S. Barry Nelson is noted as the first person to play James Bond in a '50s TV version of "Casino Royle" and this short got an Oscar nomination as Best Short Subject-Two Reel of 1946.
Review of The Luckiest Guy in the World
The Luckiest Guy in the World is the excellent final entry in the "Crime Does Not Pay" shorts series
4 June 2008
Warning: Spoilers