Dangerous Dan McFoo

Even though I've seen many of Tex Avery's Warner Bros. cartoons and know what sorts of things to expect in them, "Dangerous Dan McFoo" was still a hoot. Set in a bar in the arctic, this one portrays a dog with Elmer Fudd's voice taking on an opponent who hones in on the dog's Katherine Hepburn-imitating hubby. Of course, the whole thing is an excuse for a series of gags, the same way that a Leslie Nielsen movie is.

However, there is one scene in this cartoon that I am surprised got past the censors: at one point when the opponent punches Dan, Dan puts his hand over his face, and it looks as though Dan is shooting his opponent the bird! I know that the people behind these cartoons liked the push the limits, but that one just blew my mind! Anyway, a really funny one. It appears on the website Daily Motion...and has French subtitles! The things that we see in life.

Note: this was one of the many WB cartoons released before 1948 that got stripped of its opening credits in the Blue Ribbon reissue.

We first see "Dangerous Dan" and it's not who except to see, but a meek little guy who sounds like Elmer Fudd. In fact, as Mr. Reynolds states in another review here, it IS the voice of Mr. Fudd (Arthur Q. Ryan). The barmaid at the "Malibu Bar" where the action takes place, also is a weird. She looks like Betty Boop, talks like Katharine Hepburn, but is supposed to be Bette Davis. What the.....? Whoever she is, she Dan's girl...but the wolf who just entered the bar doesn't care. He's the obvious villain.

The rest of the cartoon is a boxing match between the two foes, complete with a referee and a very strange way to announce each new round. It was fairly interesting but the very end was lame. The cartoon was a feature in the DVD of the Errol Flynn film, "Dodge City."

"Dangerous Dan McFoo" is a Looney Tunes cartoon set somewhere in the frozen North...probably the Yukon or Alaska. The small dog, Dan McFoo, is roughed up by a larger bully dog. Dan has had enough and decides to fight back, as his Katharine Hepburn-like doggy girlfriend cheers him on in the fight.

This is an odd cartoon because Dan is voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan, the same guy who voiced Elmer Fudd. And, Dan sounds EXACTLY like Elmer as well. As for the quality of the cartoon, it's decent...with nice animation and a few laughs. Nothing memorable here but it is enjoyable.

I ended up watching this because I picked up the blu ray for Dodge City-a Western from the same year this short was released. It is a funny short in large part because it basically does not have a plot. For such a short film it plays like a series of gags and parodies, i.e. Hepburn. It also had one of the darkest gags I have seen in a Tex Avery short. This short is not a classic by any stretch but if you like early American animation this is a good find.

Katharine Hepburn's voice comes out of a Bette Davis lookalike depicted as a gun moll in a western saloon, and Elmer Fudd's voice comes out of DANGEROUS DAN McFOO. Other than that, this is a typical slugfest as performed in most wild west westerns (like DODGE CITY, where this is the featured cartoon on the Warner DVD). The brawl in DODGE CITY is child's play compared to the brawl here, thanks to over-the-top imagination of the cartoonists.

A few funny sight gags are interspersed with the western antics of two gunfighters, one obviously more dangerous than the other, but he ain't "dangerous" Dan.

Amusing, if corny, and filled with all the standard clichés of the western features that would soon dominate the '40s.