| Plane Daffy | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Frank Tashlin |
| Story by | Warren Foster |
| Starring | Mel Blanc Sara Berner Robert C. Bruce |
| Music by | Carl W. Stalling |
| Animation by | Cal Dalton |
| Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 7:18 |
| Language | English |
Plane Daffy is a 1944Warner Bros.Looney Tunes cartoon directed byFrank Tashlin.[1] The cartoon was released on September 16, 1944, and starsDaffy Duck.[2]
The cartoon is aWorld War II propaganda short that depicts Daffy as a messenger battling a female Nazi spy and eventually being confronted withAdolf Hitler,Joseph Goebbels andHermann Göring. This is the firstLooney Tunes short in whichLeon Schlesinger did not participate.
One by one, a company of carrier pigeons falls prey to the seductive charms of the Nazi "Queen of the Spies", Hatta Mari, with the latest, Pigeon 13, succumbing to her allure after being slipped amickey and revealing military secrets. Daffy Duck, a self-proclaimed misogynist, volunteers for the next mission and faces Hatta's attempts at seduction.
Despite being electrocuted by her kisses, Daffy resists and is chased by her around the house, leading to him ultimately swallowing his secret message when she finally corners him. Hatta Mari uses an X-ray machine and broadcasts the message to Hitler and the other leaders of the Axis, only to find it trivial (the message reading "Hitler is a stinker"). 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!"
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 makePlane Daffy one of Warner's best wartime efforts."[3]
