Independent Films, Film Profiles

Duck Amuck
by Chuck Jones

Duck Amuck is a surreal animated cartoon directed by Chuck Jones and produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. The short was released in early 1953 by The Vitaphone Corporation, the short subject division of Warner Bros. Pictures, as part of the Merrie Melodies series. It stars Daffy Duck, who is tormented by a sadistic, unseen animator (later revealed to be his friend and rival Bugs Bunny) who constantly changes Daffy's location, clothing, voice, physical appearance, and even shape. Pandemonium reigns throughout the cartoon as Daffy attempts to steer the action back to some kind of normality, only for the animator to either ignore him or, more frequently, to over-literally interpret his increasingly frantic demands.In 1994 it was voted #2 of The 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field, and was included on Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1. It was so popular that a Nintendo DS game was made after it.Daffy first appears on-screen dressed as a musketeer who as he carries on across the screen, he finds there is no scenery and whispers to the animator to draw scenery ("Hey. Psst! Whoever's in charge here? The scenery? Where's the scenery?"). However, the animator keeps painting different backgrounds, prompting Daffy to change his attire to suit the scene. Eventually, he finds himself with no scenery again and starts to rant at the animator, only to be erased with a pencil rubber.He is redrawn dressed as a cowboy armed with a guitar, but no sound comes from the guitar when he plays to which Daffy holds up a sign that says "sound please". The animator adds in obscure sound effects for the guitar (like a gun being fired), and later Daffy when he tries shouting at the animator. Daffy flips out and throws a tantrum, finally ending it by screaming "And I've never been so humiliated in all my life!"More scenery is drawn at Daffy's request ("Look, Mac. Just what's going on around here? Let's get organised, hmm? How about some scenery?"), but all it turns out to be is a crudely drawn cityscape. When Daffy asks for it to be in color ("now, how about some color, stupid?"), he is instead colored in a wacky color scheme of spots and stripes ("Not me, you slop artist!!"). He is erased ("Well? Where's the rest of me?") and redrawn as a bizarre creature with a flower-shaped head, an amphibian body and a flagpole for a tail; the flag features a picture of a wood screw and a baseball (hence a reference to the word "screwball"). Daffy sees his reflection in a mirror, freaks out and scolds the animator ("EEK! You know better than that!").Daffy is erased yet again and redrawn as a sailor, complete with sailor suit and sailor hat. Daffy comments on how he always wished to do a sea epic ("Hmm. Sea picture, eh? I always wanted to do a sea epic. Now, Mr. Rembrandt, if you would knidly oblige with a little appropriate scenery."). However, the animator paints an island with palm trees and a volcano, and an ocean which Daffy promptly falls into after singing a little sea song ("over the see, lets go men, we're shovin' right off, we're shovin' right off...again?" *splash*). He appears on the faraway island and calls for the animator give him a close-up, but the animator mocks him, first by reducing the scenery frame while keeping Daffy at background distance ("This is a close-up? (pause) A close-up, ya jerk! A CLOSE-UP!"), and then an extreme camera zoom that leaves only Daffy's eyes visible on-screen.Daffy steps back from the close-up and starts complaining ("Now look, buster. Let's have an understanding.."), but he is suddenly bombarded by a blob of black ink (standing directly under it). The animator draws a stick for him to support it, but it soon breaks and Daffy fights this ink, until it gets all over him. He screams and rips the ink apart. Catching his breath, he demands "Let's get this picture started!", prompting an iris-out to black and a "The End" title card. Daffy pushes the ending scene aside and apologizes to the audience for the problems and starts dancing. The film suddenly slips out of frame, creating two Daffys who get into a fight. One is erased, leaving the other to punch into empty air.Daffy is suddenly drawn into a World War II-era fighter airplane, which he eagerly flies around. However, the animator paints a mountain onto the screen, causing Daffy to crash into it (offscreen). Daffy leaps to safety with a parachute, which the animator changes into an anvil. This was also a Cartoon Network (United States) bumper. Daffy crashes to the ground and in a dazed phase, recites "The Village Blacksmith", while he hammers the anvil which is repainted as an artillery shell, blowing up Daffy ("Under a spreading chestnut tree, The village smithy stands; The smith, a mighty man is he, with large and sinewy (boom) ..hands").Humiliated and enraged, Daffy roars with anger at the unseen artist, demanding to know who he is, and the artist simply blocks out Daffy's cries by painting a door and closing it on him. The animator is revealed to be Bugs Bunny (we see his hand holding the pencil first when the door is closed on Daffy), who comments "Ain't I a stinker?".