So You Think You're Not Guilty (about 10 minutes)
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Caution: spoilers.

This was released in 1950. I saw it in 2021 as a bonus feature on a DVD of White Heat. It's one of many shorts featuring a character named Joe McDoakes, and considering how funny this one was, I'd love to see some others in this series, but I doubt I ever will.

It starts with Joe stopped at a traffic signal, which changes to "go", so he goes. But just as he does, the signal goes haywire, changing back and forth repeatedly between "go" and "stop". A traffic cop gives him a ticket, so he has to appear in court. By pleading guilty and paying a two dollar fine, the whole problem would go away, but he quite correctly insists that he's not guilty, and wants a jury trial to prove it. Unfortunately, through a bizarre series of events, Joe's situation just gets worse and worse, eventually ending in a ten year prison sentence (though he eventually gets out after just one year). I don't want to go into any more details than that, but I will say the next time he's not guilty of the same thing, he immediately admits his guilt. Anyway, the whole thing is wonderfully absurdist. But also kind of scary, seeing an innocent man get into so much trouble through no fault of his own, and ultimately resulting in a false confession. You know, admitting guilt when you're innocent reminds me of people who've been tortured, or even brainwashed... and all that Joe went through was like a kind of psychological torture. But that's probably overthinking it. Mostly it was just funny.