Daffy Duck & Egghead

Tex Avery's 'Daffy Duck and Egghead' was the second cartoon ever to feature Daffy Duck and his first appearance in colour. Opening with an inventively surreal shot in which the two characters are established as literally nuts, the cartoon then segues (via a very funny caption) into a sumptuous scenic shot which sets the standard for the film's handsome look. An extension on Daffy's first appearance, 'Porky's Duck Hunt', 'Daffy Duck and Egghead' keeps the hunting scenario but significantly extends the duck's role, giving him top billing and throwing the spotlight on him as the undoubted star. Avery's masterstroke here is to remove the straight man from the picture. Whereas Porky had been the straight man in Daffy's previous picture, Egghead is a nuttier character and by cartoon's end he is leaping and whooping like Daffy. The gags are all exceptionally original and very funny and the obligatory musical number, often the weakest element in these early Merrie Melodies, is actually a highlight. Daffy performs the iconic Looney Tunes theme 'The Merry-go-round Broke Down' with enormous gusto and it's so entertaining that his reflection emerges from the water to congratulate him at the song's end! 'Daffy Duck and Egghead' is classic Avery and a must see for any lover of animation. It looks gorgeous, it will make you laugh out loud and even sing along and it played a significant part in elevating the greatest ever cartoon character (in my opinion) to superstar status. A landmark of animation history and American film-making in general.

This is Daffy Duck's second episode - one year after "Porky's Duck Hunt" (which is Daffy's debut). This is also Egghead's debut, a Looney Tunes character not nearly as famous. He became Elmer Fudd, which may be surprising to some people. Egghead is basically a hunter who looks hardly anything like Elmer Fudd - and is hunting Daffy. Daffy, who is incredibly crazy here, is not making it easy for Egghead...

I personally prefer this episode a great deal to "Porky's Duck Hunt", which is quite tedious. This episode is a little boring (but interesting historically, as it shows a man in a cinema) at first, but becomes much better. Daffy keeps the gags going and Egghead is quite a good character, with character which reminded me of Porky. The animation and the theme is good as well.

I highly recommend this to anyone who loves Daffy Duck (particularly people who like him when he's crazy) and all Looney Tunes cartoon historians. Unfortunately, this is not really an episode that most of a modern audience would enjoy, but I myself (even though I am "modern") loved it. Enjoy "Daffy Duck and Egghead"! :-)

Isn't "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" the theme song to the Loony Tunes? Tex Avery was probably aware of this, which would make it an inside joke, adding to the countless gags which the gang at Termite Terrace used, to make each other laugh. I was watching this cartoon recently from their Golden Collection Vol. 3. This one didn't have a commentary, so I thought I'd put that out there, but I suppose most die-hard fans noticed it right away. (I wish there were commentaries for all of them.)

Also, Mel Blanc voiced the turtle referee, and he did a brilliant impersonation of Chico Marx.

While this cartoon is very good for its time (with Tex Avery to boot), I vastly prefer the 40's and 50's versions, which is why I only gave it a 7. Personal preference.

The first bit of humor is in the "disclaimer" which includes the word "roasted" and then we get the customer pond shot at sunrise which, by the way, is beautifully drawn. There's something about these late '30s/early '40s animated shorts and films that have a distinct watercolor beauty to them.

Next we see "Egghead," a prototype of Elmer Food. Another sign of the times was the silhouette of a man in the movie theater and the character on screen talking to him, usually - as is the case here - telling the person to "sit down." When he doesn't, Egghead shoots him!! (I think Bugs Bunny did that once, too, but I'm not sure.)

This very young and smaller-looking Daffy was not the funny guy he was a decade later, almost a wise-guy. This is almost an introduction to this character as Daffy sings a song explaining who he is.

The funnier characters and real-life people in here were the Italian turtle, Ben Hathaway who wrote some clever sight gags into this story and the director, Tex Avery. Just don't expect laughs from the usually-hilarious Daffy Duck.

This is part of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 3.

Directed by Tex Avery this is an early Looney Tunes cartoon which features a lot of hilarious Avery trademark gags. And stars Daffy Duck and The Pre-pubescent Elmer Fudd. It's a great cartoon with the Looney/Cock-eyed first draft Daffy Duck.

3(***)out of 4(****)stars