Duck Hunters' Paradise

A man and wife go out duck hunting, and proceed to shoot about a dozen ducks from the sky, all retrieved by their dog. The skies are so dark with the huge number of ducks that aiming seems superfluous. Just point the gun in the general direction of the sky, pull the trigger, and wait for the dog to fetch the carcass.

Narration is provided by Paul Girard Smith, who does a decent job. However, it's the sort of narration that Pete Smith would have given, and so I can't help but contrast the two. Girard sounds sincere, but that makes his stuff seem less funny. A Smith called Pete rarely sounded as f he believed what he was saying. It was something he was paid to read, and he let you know it. This rendered his enthusiasm over things that were striking more real and made his comments on the workaday shorts like this funnier.

Duck Hunters' Paradise (1933)

** 1/2

Harold Austin Documentary short from MGM takes us along as a husband and wife goes out to a lake in Sacramento Valley, CA to duck hunt. This place is known as a hunter's paradise because of all the thousands and thousands of ducks that are constantly in easy shot. If you are against animals being shot on screen then it's best to stay away from this short as countless ducks are shot. With the warning out of the way, this is a pretty entertaining short, which features some great shots of the thousands of ducks but it also features some pretty good narration by Paul Girard Smith. Smith actually reminded me of a future Smith, Pete, in the type of narration in order to get laughs.

I'm not sure if the two are related as I couldn't find anything on IMDb but there's no denying that their styles are similar. The actual photography here is rather rough around the edges and it's clear that the majority of the film was shot silent but fans of the genre should find enough here to stay entertained for just under ten minutes.