''Plane Daffy'' is a 1944
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. D ...
''
Looney Tunes'' cartoon directed by
Frank Tashlin.
The cartoon was released on September 16, 1944, and stars
Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character created for Leon Schlesinger Productions by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett. Styled as an anthropomorphic black duck, he has appeared in cartoon series such as ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Mel ...
.
The cartoon is a
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 opposing ...
propaganda short that depicts Daffy as a messenger battling a female Nazi spy and eventually being confronted with
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 ...
,
Joseph Goebbels and
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...
. This is the first Looney Tunes short in which
Leon Schlesinger did not participate.
Plot
One after another of a company of
carrier pigeons fall prey to the seductive wiles of "Queen of the Spies": Hatta Mari. The alarm is raised at pigeon headquarters when Pigeon 13 (a
Mortimer Snerd
Edgar John Bergen (born Edgar John Berggren; February 16, 1903 – September 30, 1978) was an American ventriloquist, actor, comedian, vaudevillian and radio performer, best known for his proficiency in ventriloquism and his characters Ch ...
-esque yokel similar to
Beaky Buzzard
Beaky Buzzard is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. '' Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons.
He is a young turkey vulture (sometimes called a "buzzard" in the United States) with black body feathers and a w ...
) goes
AWOL
Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which ...
with the female
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
spy bird. He reveals all his secrets (after she slipped him a
mickey
Mickey is a given name and nickname, almost always masculine and often a short form (hypocorism) of Michael, and occasionally a surname. Notable people and characters with the name include:
People Given name or nickname Men
* Mickey Andrews (bor ...
). In shame, Pigeon 13 departs to commit suicide, although after an off-screen gunshot is heard, he briefly returns to note "I ''missed''."
Later, self-described woman-hater Daffy Duck volunteers for the next mission. Hatta tries to seduce him by hiking up her skirt to reveal her shapely leg and kissing him full on the lips twice. The first kiss electrocutes Daffy and melts him like butter, but the second kiss electrocutes Hatta Mari having the same effect on her. Daffy ultimately resists her charms, but swallows his secret message when the temptress corners him. After a frenetic battle, she
x-ray
An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...
s Daffy and broadcasts the supposed secret ("Hitler is a stinker") to Hitler himself. Outraged, Hitler declares "Dat ist no military secret!" Goebbels and Göring concur -- "Ja. Everybody knows ''dat''!"—then shoot themselves in the heads after receiving Hitler's angry glare. Daffy Duck then concludes the cartoon by saying "They lose more darn ‘Nutzis’ that way," and then going into one of his famous bouncing fits whooping.
Reception
Animation historian Martin Goodman writes, "What sets this short apart is the burgeoning sense that Tashlin was beginning to incorporate cinematic structure and technique to his animated cartoons. The short opens with grim narration superimposed over a down shot of stoic military carrier pigeons poring over a map; the lighting effects are dramatic, and clouds of cigarette smoke rise steadily above the birds. Later in the film, Daffy opens a sequence of doors trying to escape Hatta Mari. She is behind everyone, holding an increasingly large weapon, and each time the perspective is different as Tashlin experiments with camera angles... The combination of imaginative approach, aggressive sexuality, and wartime élan make ''Plane Daffy'' one of Warner's best wartime efforts."
Notes
*"Hatta Mari" is a parody of
Mata Hari
Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod (née Zelle; 7 August 187615 October 1917), better known by the stage name Mata Hari (), was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I. She was executed ...
.
*According to DVD commentary on the ''
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 4'', Hatta Mari’s blond hair and cartoonishly top-heavy body figure would later become a reality in the 1950s with actress and sex symbol
Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield (born Vera Jayne Palmer; April 19, 1933 – June 29, 1967) was an American actress, singer, nightclub entertainer, and ''Playboy'' Playmate. A sex symbol of the 1950s and early 1960s while under contract at 20th Century Fox, Man ...
(who, in turn, was one of many inspirations for ''
Roger Rabbit
Roger Rabbit is an animated anthropomorphic rabbit. The character first appeared in author Gary K. Wolf's 1981 novel, ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'' In the book, Roger is second banana in a popular comic strip, "Baby Herman". Roger hires private ...
''’s femme fatale
Jessica Rabbit
Jessica Rabbit is a fictional character in the novel '' Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'' and its film adaptation, ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit''. She is depicted as Roger's human toon wife in various Roger Rabbit media. Jessica is renowned as one of the ...
).
*The quote "Something new has been added" was a catchphrase by
Jerry Colonna and a slogan for
Old Gold cigarettes
Lorillard Tobacco Company was an American tobacco company that marketed cigarettes under the brand names Newport, Maverick, Old Gold, Kent, True, Satin, and Max. The company had two operating segments: cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.
The ...
.
This is the first Looney Tunes short in which
Leon Schlesinger did not participate, because he sold the studio to
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. D ...
, after
Buckaroo Bugs
Home media
*VHS - ''Viddy-Oh! For Kids Cartoon Festivals: Daffy Duck Cartoon Festival Featuring "Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur"''
*VHS, LaserDisc - ''Cartoon Moviestars'':
Bugs and Daffy: The Wartime Cartoons
*LaserDisc - ''
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes
''The Golden Age of Looney Tunes'' is a collection of LaserDiscs released by MGM Home Entertainment, MGM/UA Home Video in the 1990s. There were five sets made, featuring a number of discs, and each disc side represented a different theme, being ...
'': Vol. 2, Side 3: Frank Tashlin
*DVD - ''
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 4'', Disc 2 (with optional audio commentary by Greg Ford)
*DVD - ''
The Essential Daffy Duck
''The Essential Daffy Duck'' is a DVD set featuring cartoons focusing on Daffy Duck. It was released on November 1, 2011.
Contents
The contents are split over two discs. The first disc features 15 classic Daffy Duck shorts (14 of which were previ ...
'', Disc 1
*Blu-ray, DVD - ''
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 3'', Disc 2 (with optional audio commentary by Greg Ford)
See also
*
List of World War II short films
Below is a list of short films or animated cartoons that pertain to World War II, or the years leading up to it.
Restrictions
* The film must be concerned with Hitler's rise, the Spanish Civil War, the Sino-Japanese War, or World War II itse ...
References
*
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Plane Daffy
1944 films
American World War II propaganda shorts
Short films directed by Frank Tashlin
Looney Tunes shorts
1940s spy comedy films
Cultural depictions of Adolf Hitler
Animation based on real people
Cultural depictions of Mata Hari
Cultural depictions of Hermann Göring
Cultural depictions of Joseph Goebbels
1944 animated films
Daffy Duck films
1940s war comedy films
Films scored by Carl Stalling
1940s American animated films
1944 comedy films