Oscarless Cartoons Part 3

Oscarless Cartoons Part 3: Duck Amuck (1953)
 

This cartoon is also considered one of Daffy's best. Directed by the legendary Chuck Jones, Daffy finds himself in a cartoon in which the animator torments Daffy by constantly changing the backgrounds, the frame, his cloths, voice, and eventually Daffy himself. When the cartoon first opens, Daffy is dressed as a musketeer, but soon discovers that the next scene is blank. He breaks the fourth wall and tells the animator to complete the scenery. However, instead of painting a Medieval village like Daffy hoped, the animator paints a farm. Daffy then dresses up as farmer and starts singing 'Old MacDonald Had a Farm'.
 
However, the next scene is a snowy area, so Daffy dresses up in snow gear and starts singing 'Jingle Bells', but the next scene Daffy comes across a tropical beach, and he dresses up in Hawaiian clothing and plays on the ukulele. The animator messes with Daffy again and puts Daffy in a blank background, erases Daffy himself, redraws him as a cowboy, and so on. Daffy even gets turned into whatever this is.

Basically, Duck Amuck is Daffy's equivalent of... the bad place. And the animator at the end happens to be none other than Bugs Bunny.

Chuck Jones explained that in this cartoon, he was proving that the character of Daffy was now something that existed outside his appearance, voice, or cartoon setting, as here he is transformed into many different forms and yet, still remains Daffy. Perhaps Jones was trying to show us that Daffy is now so real that he has a soul.

While Duck Amuck didn't win any Oscars, it did get registered in the National Film Registry in 1999.
That's all I have to say about this week's Oscarless Cartoon. Tune in next week when I talk one of the best cartoons ever made, this time starring Daffy's rival, Bugs Bunny. Next week is 1957's What's Opera, Doc!

My DVD Collection 4.0

My DVD Collection 4.0

Hi, everybody! Last month, my parents bought a condo in Salisbury, Massachusetts! That means I have my own room, and I got a shelf for my DVDs!

The blue DVD case actually contains two sets with two DVDs each.

Volume 1 Disc 1 contains several non-Disney and non-Warner Bros cartoons from the 1930s and 1940s. Some of the cartoon stars on this disc include Felix the Cat, Casper the Friendly Ghost, and Mighty Mouse.

Volume 1 Disc 2 contains 17 Superman cartoons. Years and years before Warner Bros required the rights to DC Comics, Fleischer Studios, who created cartoons featuring Popeye, Betty Boop, and Koko the Clown, made big-budget Superman cartoons that stayed true to the original comic books. These cartoons ran from 1941 to 1944.

Volume 2 Disc 1 contains 26 episodes of the more obscure British-produced TV series Little Monsters. The best way to describe this show is like a cross between The Rugrats and The Smurfs. It's like The Smurfs because the characters were named after their personalities and traits (Boisterous Billy, Revolting Ronnie, Worried Winnie, Forgetful Fiona, etc), while it was similar to Rugrats because the show was about kids facing real-life situations in a humorous way. Little Monsters ran from 1998 to 1999.

And finally, Volume 2 Disc 2 contains several Popeye cartoons, ranging from the 1930s to the 1950s. Some of these cartoons are black and white, while some are in color. There's one Popeye cartoon, Bride and Gloom, that I find very similar to Mickey's Nightmare from 1932.

That's my DVD collection at Salisbury! Now let's see what I have back in Andover, Massachusetts!

These are movies I watched from July 10th to July 19th. That night, I watched Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. However, I do not own Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers or Sky High. They are rentals from the library.

I was so lucky to find Seasons 1 through 8 of The Simpsons on DVD at a school sale! These were when America's favorite non-Prehistoric cartoon family were in their prime. However, starting in Season 9, The Simpsons seemed to steadily drop in quality.

In case you can't see it, the DVD above Teacher's Pet and below Bambi is Walt Disney's Swiss Family Robinson.

The DVD on top of Hugo the Hippo in this pile is 1984's Splash, starring Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah.

The DVD on top of this pile is Jim Henson's The Storyteller.

The black DVD case (the one above The Prince of Egypt and below The Peanuts Movie) is Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

If you're wondering where my DVD copies of Tarzan® and Up are, I sold them, since I now have the two movies on Blu-Ray.

Well, that's my DVD/Blu-Ray collection so far! On August 9th, I'll start posting Pokemon Around the World!

Oscarless Cartoons Part 2

Oscarless Cartoons Part 2: The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (1946)

Another famous cartoon duck got his start in the 1930s, and his name is Daffy Duck, from the Warner Bros 'Termite Terrace'. Much like Disney's Donald Duck, Daffy Duck looked much more duck-like back then compared to what he looks like today. In fact, he was also smaller than his modern-day counterpart.

Daffy Duck, along with Bugs Bunny, gained popularity in the 1940s, in which they were used for WWII propaganda short films. After the war ended, both Bugs and Daffy went their own ways and starred in a number of memorable shorts. Today, I shall talk about The Great Piggy Bank Robbery, starring Daffy Duck.

In this cartoon, Daffy Duck is waiting anxiously for the next issue of Dick Tracy, his comic book hero. When he opens the box, Daffy enjoys reading the book and wishes he could have adventures like Dick Tracy. After he accidentally knocks himself out, Daffy dreams that he's a detective named Duck Twacy.

Twacy discovers that everyone's piggy banks in town have been stolen, and he goes on a chase to discover who the thief is. Twacy then encounters a slew of wacky villains like Pumpkin Head, Bat Man (who is a baseball bat), Pickle-Puss, Doubleheader, Snake Eyes, and Neon Noodle.

After defeating the villains in wacky ways, Twacy discovers the missing piggy banks and starts kissing his own. However, Daffy wakes up and discovers that he actually kissed a real pig instead, and the pig falls in love with Daffy.

What makes this cartoon memorable is that practically 95% of the short takes place in Daffy's dream. None of this is actually happening, but we still get engrossed into the story. Many Looney Tunes fans declare this as one of Daffy's best cartoons ever, and I happen to agree with them. It's a a shame they never incorporated this into the sub-par TV series The Looney Tunes Show. Instead, Daffy would be interested in a show called 'Off-Duty Cop'.

That's all I have to say about this week's Oscarless Cartoon. Tune in next week when I talk about another great Daffy Duck cartoon, Duck Amuck!