''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 ''Looney Tunes'' is an American 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

Frank Tashlin Frank Tashlin (born Francis Fredrick von Taschlein, February 19, 1913 – May 5, 1972), also known as Tish Tash and Frank Tash, was an American animator, cartoonist, children's writer, illustrator, screenwriter, and film director. He was best k ...

. 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 '' Merr ...

. The cartoon is a World War II 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 Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 194 ...

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 Leon Schlesinger (May 20, 1884 – December 25, 1949) was an American film producer who founded Leon Schlesinger Productions, which later became the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio, during the Golden Age of American animation. He was a distant r ...

did not participate.

Plot

One after another of a company of

carrier pigeon The homing pigeon, also called the mail pigeon or messenger pigeon, is a variety of domestic pigeons (''Columba livia domestica'') derived from the wild rock dove, selectively bred for its ability to find its way home over extremely long distan ...

s 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 whit ...

) goes

AWOL Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or Military base, post without permission (a Pass (military), pass, Shore leave, liberty or Leave (U.S. military), leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with u ...

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). 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 ...

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. *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 priv ...

''’s femme fatale Jessica Rabbit). *The quote "Something new has been added" was a catchphrase by Jerry Colonna and a slogan for Old Gold cigarettes. This is the first Looney Tunes short in which

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. ...

, 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'': 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'', Disc 1 *Blu-ray, DVD - '' Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 3'', Disc 2 (with optional audio commentary by Greg Ford)

References

External links