Now that I'm up in my sixties, the world situation being what it is, I can scarcely laugh at anything anymore. Then again, there's "The Wise-Quacking Duck" which can still make me laugh till the tears gush out.
Half my life, I couldn't decide which is the funniest cartoon ever made, this one or the Fleischer Popeye cartoon "Vim, Vigor & Vitaliky", featuring Bluto in drag as a woman, taking full advantage of his newfound ability to pummel Popeye. As of now, the present film is the victor.
Cartoon scholar Greg Ford, in assessing director Bob Clampett's style, said that his "anything-for a laugh temperament prophesied today's sick, or black, humor." You need go no further than the present film, an absolute plethora of gags and funny, funny stuff. Some other critic said that being able to make it through a Clampett cartoon is to risk fainting.
Clampett developed the early, "zany" version of Daffy to its absolute apex--the antithesis of Chuck Jones's more popular version of Daffy as a greedy, jealous jerkface. Jones and Clampett had a legendary rivalry at the Warner Brothers studio, trying to top each other in their "auteur" efforts; Jones absolutely HATED Clampett's versions of both the duck and the rabbit.
Only two characters occupy this cartoon, Daffy, and a wussy little bald guy named "Mr. Meek"--an obvious impersonation of the Wallace Wimple character, voiced by Bill Thompson, in the vintage radio comedy "Fibber McGee & Molly". He's stalking the barnyard with an axe, telling the audience if he doesn't get his wife a duck for dinner, she'll cook his goose.
Mr. Meek makes his first swipe, prompting an IMMEDIATE eye-to-eye confrontation with Daffy: "WATCH IT, BUB!!!!!" His sudden action cut must take merely five or six frames of film to achieve. Then drawing back he says, "Say, you're liable to hurt somebody with that thing!" Daffy then snaps his beak against Meek's nose, making the latter sound like an auctioneer.
Mr. Meek then makes a bunch more swipes as the duck hides in a haystack, until he deals what he's convinced is the final, fatal blow. But unbeknownst to him, Daffy does the screaming, ketchup-spurting routine, as well as the rigor-mortis routine. The little man treads slowly home in a sobbing fit. Therein he dazedly meets Daffy, pouring a cup of coffee for him, then doing the "one lump or two" routine. Then Daffy sings "Mammy's little Poopie likes shortenin' bread" while dancing aound in four pies, before the twerp finally recognizes him and is decked with one of them.
From here on in, I'll leave you to witness the rest of the cartoon; Daffy oversteps his rights on many an occasion here, which might seem rather cruel to you (but remember--he was wanting to KILL Daffy!).
And think of this: Was the final gag supposed to be a reference to (*gasp!*) GASSING people in WWII concentration camps??!??
I'll close with the summary of one more cartoon historian, Jerry Beck: "The duck at his daffiest!"
