''One Droopy Knight'' is a 1957

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

short subject in the ''

Droopy Droopy is an animated character from the golden age of American animation. He is an anthropomorphic white Basset Hound with a droopy face; hence his name. He was created in 1943 by Tex Avery for theatrical cartoon shorts produced by the Metro- ...

'' series, directed by

Michael Lah Michael Richard Lah (September 1, 1912 – October 13, 1995) was an American animator of Slovene origin. He is best remembered for his work at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio, primarily as a member of Tex Avery's animation unit. He first ...

and produced by

William Hanna William Denby Hanna (July 14, 1910 – March 22, 2001) was an American animator and cartoonist who was the creator of ''Tom and Jerry'' as well as the voice actor for the two title characters. Alongside Joseph Barbera, he also founded the anim ...

and Joseph Barbera for

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...

in CinemaScope.

Plot

Essentially a remake of 1949's '' Señor Droopy'', but taking place in a medieval setting rather than the country of Mexico, ''One Droopy Knight'' casts Droopy and his rival Butch as medieval

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

s out to slay a dragon and win the hand of a beautiful human princess. However, the dragon considers both as nothing more than minor nuisances. Droopy, though, takes more chances to slay the dragon, but it thinks Droopy is small and harmless. Meanwhile, Butch is being foiled after being molded into a metal can. Droopy, however, bangs a

flail A flail is an agriculture, agricultural tool used for threshing, the process of separating cereal, grains from their husks. It is usually made from two or more large sticks attached by a short chain; one stick is held and swung, causing the othe ...

on the dragon's tail and says, "Take that, you no-good dragon!" Once again, the dragon single-handedly flicks Droopy away. Butch comes back riding on a

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...

. Suddenly, the dragon blows fire on Butch and the horse, leaving them naked. Butch gives up and goes away, while Droopy stands and cries looking at a picture of the princess. The dragon draws a French moustache on the photo and laughs in amusement. Droopy calmly gets mad and says "Mr. Dragon, that makes me mad." Then, he beats up the dragon and wins the heart of the princess. Finally, at the palace, Droopy reads the ending of the story of the dragon and closes the book. He kisses the princess's hand, then takes up a cigar to show her about smoking, and Droopy gives the cigar a blow, the dragon comes up, and breathes fire on it. The result is smoke coming out from the cigar when Droopy smokes it before revealing this to the princess.

Reception

It was nominated for an

Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year 1 ...

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

, but lost to ''

Birds Anonymous ''Birds Anonymous'' is a 1957 Warner Bros. '' Merrie Melodies'' animated short, directed by Friz Freleng and written by Warren Foster. The short was released on August 10, 1957, and stars Tweety and Sylvester. Plot The cartoon starts with T ...

'', a Sylvester &

Tweety Tweety is a yellow canary in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of animated cartoons. The name "Tweety" is a play on words, as it originally meant "sweetie", along with "tweet" being an English onomatopoeia for t ...

cartoon from

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 ...

Short Subject Winners: 1958 Oscars-YouTube
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References

External links

*
''One Droppy Knight''
on

MUBI Mubi (; stylized as MUBI; The Auteurs before 2010) is a global curated film streaming platform, production company and film distributor. Mubi produces and theatrically distributes films by emerging and established filmmakers, which are exclusivel ...

1950s American animated films 1957 animated films 1957 short films Animated films about dragons Droopy 1950s English-language films Films scored by Scott Bradley Films directed by Michael Lah Films set in the Middle Ages Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animated short films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio short films American animated short films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer short films Animated films about dogs {{short-animation-film-stub