''Daffy – The Commando'' is a 1943

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series ''Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation.

'' cartoon directed by

Friz Freleng Isadore "Friz" Freleng (August 21, 1905May 26, 1995), credited as I. Freleng early in his career, was an American animator, cartoonist, director, producer, and composer known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and '' ...

. The cartoon was released on November 20, 1943, and stars Daffy Duck.

Plot

Early one morning, somewhere in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

-era

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, Commander Von Vultur is pacing back and forth inside his bunker while fuming about how so many American commandos have managed to slip behind German enemy lines undetected. He receives a telegram from the "Gestinko

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

", threatening him with his ' ka-rear' if he lets 'vun' more 'kommando' through. Hearing an American warplane overhead, he calls in his

batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

– Schultz – whom he abuses by knocking him regularly over his helmet with a

mallet A mallet is a tool used for imparting force on another object, often made of rubber or sometimes wood, that is smaller than a maul or beetle, and usually has a relatively large head. The term is descriptive of the overall size and proport ...

. They run outside and use a

searchlight A searchlight (or spotlight) is an apparatus that combines an extremely bright source (traditionally a carbon arc lamp) with a mirrored parabolic reflector to project a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a particular direc ...

to search for any more landing commandos and eventually spot one, who just happens to be Daffy floating down on a

parachute A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who ...

, whilst singing Billy Bennett's "She Was Poor But She Was Honest" in a fake Cockney accent. After a quick shout of "Put out those lights!" gets the searchlight turned off temporarily and allows him to land unseen, Daffy uses his fingers on the searchlight's lens to make shadow

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...

s and dancing chorus girls on the clouds to distract the

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

before hiding behind a curtain that says "

asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

". When Von Vultur opens the curtain, Daffy makes an ugly face similar to the stereotypical Japanese faces used in cartoons at the time (see, for example, '' Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips''), causing Von Vultur to run off frightened. Back at Von Vultur's bunker, Daffy tricks him into telling him the time and presents him with a ticking time

bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...

"as a little token of our esteem". Von Vultur hands the bomb off to Schultz, who is literally blown through the

roof A roof ( : roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of temper ...

. When Schultz falls back, Daffy (who was hiding underneath Schultz's helmet) stops Von Vultur from hitting Schultz over the head with a

, and instead hits him. Von Vultur chases Daffy to a telephone booth, where Daffy continues to make fun of him. Daffy jumps in a plane, narrowly avoiding "a whole mess of Messerschmitts". Daffy is shot down by Von Vultur, his plane progressively disintegrating from back to front, eventually leaving just the

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

and

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

), with Daffy still clinging to the controls. Daffy runs into what he believes is a tunnel where he can hide, but it turns out to be the barrel of a huge

howitzer A howitzer () is a long- ranged weapon, falling between a cannon (also known as an artillery gun in the United States), which fires shells at flat trajectories, and a mortar, which fires at high angles of ascent and descent. Howitzers, like ot ...

cannon. Daffy is shot out by Von Vultur. However, Daffy flies unharmed (as a " human cannonball") into

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, where (a rotoscoped) Fuehrer

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

is giving a speech. Daffy whacks Hitler on the head with a mallet, causing Hitler to yell for Schultz.

Telephone booth scene

A gag where Daffy is on a pay phone as Von Vultur is trying to get into the booth has Daffy speaking to him in semi-correct German, while holding cue card–like signs with the dialogue

translated Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

for the audience (a classic example of "breaking the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...

"). In many public domain prints, the signs are illegible, but read as follows: Daffy 1: "Kannst du nicht sehen, diese Telefon ist busy? Bleiben Sie ruhig!" ("Can you not see this telephone is busy? Stay calm!")
Sign 1: ''ENGLISH TRANSLATION: "Can't you see this telephone is busy? Wait your turn!"'' Daffy 2: "Bitte, mein Herr, haben Sie ein Fünf-Pfennig-Stück?" ("Please, sir, have you a five

pfennig The 'pfennig' (; . 'pfennigs' or ; symbol pf or ₰) or penny is a former German coin or note, which was the official currency from the 9th century until the introduction of the euro in 2002. While a valuable coin during the Middle Ages, i ...

coin?") "Danke schön." ("Thank you very much.")
Sign 2: "Got a nickel, bud?" Daffy 3: "It's all yours, Von

Limburger Limburger (in southern Dutch contexts Rommedoe, and in Belgium Herve cheese) is a cheese that originated in the Herve area of the historical Duchy of Limburg, which had its capital in Limbourg-sur-Vesdre, now in the French-speaking Belgian pr ...

!"
Sign 3: ''GERMAN TRANSLATION: "Ich bin fertig mit der Telefon, Herr Von Limburger."'' ("I'm done with the telephone, Mr. Von Limburger.") When Von Vultur enters the phone booth, he attempts to contact Schultz, but instead gets an operator, replying: "Ist dat you, Myrt?" This is a reference to the American

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

comedy series '' Fibber McGee and Molly'', which was popular at the time. Myrtle was the never-heard switchboard operator in the show ("Is that you, Myrt?" was a popular catchphrase in it that referred to her).

Home media

This short, as well as a few other Warner Bros. shorts, is in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

.'' Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain'' by Walter E. Hurst. Pe
Looney Tunes in the Public Domain
. This is due to

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...

(successor-in-interest to

Associated Artists Productions Associated Artists Productions, Inc. (a.a.p.) later known as United Artists Associated was an American distributor of theatrical feature films and subjects for television. Associated Artists Productions was the copyright owner of the ''Popeye ...

) neglecting to renew the

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

in time. It was also featured in '' Bugs & Daffy: The Wartime Cartoons'' (1989) (MGM/UA), and then on the '' Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 6''. An episode of ''

Futurama ''Futurama'' is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of the professional slacker Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1000 years a ...

'' uses a short clip of the short in the screen gag on the opening sequence.

References

External links

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Film Annex
{{DEFAULTSORT:Daffy - The Commando 1943 films 1943 animated films 1943 short films 1940s American animated films 1940s animated short films Looney Tunes shorts American World War II propaganda shorts Films about Nazi Germany Daffy Duck films Short films directed by Friz Freleng Cultural depictions of Adolf Hitler Animation based on real people Films scored by Carl Stalling Films produced by Leon Schlesinger Films with screenplays by Michael Maltese

Plot

Telephone booth scene

Home media

See also

References

External links