Release Date:

September 29, 1956

Main Character(s):

Daffy Duck, Porky Pig

Summary:

Daffy Duck as detective Dorlock Holmes attempts to apprehend a Cockney criminal known as the Shropshire Slasher, only to get numerous beatings. His far more competent partner, Porky Pig as Watkins, convinces the Slasher to give himself up without breaking a sweat.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1400 and was released as a Looney Tune.

This cartoon is a parody of Sherlock Holmes with Daffy and Porky’s respective names here (Dorlock Holmes and Watkins) being puns for Sherlock and Watson.

With this cartoon, Maurice Noble is now back as Jones’ layout artist.

The cartoon is in the 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons book.

The title is a pun for the phrase “deuce you say”.

Two signs in Henry the Eighth’s pub read, “Burton’s Bock Beer” and “Selzer’s Water”, which refer to John Burton and Eddie Selzer, respectively.

Daffy and Porky are the only characters in the cartoon who don’t speak in Cockney accents.

“In an 18th Century Drawing Room” plays during the scene where Daffy gets a woman’s fingerprints while kissing her hand.

“Cold cream guards” is a pun for “Cold stream guards”.

Favorite Scene:

This exchange:

Porky: “Eh, y-y-your name? Eh, s-s-speak up, man!”

Slasher: “Shropshire Slasher”.

Porky: “Occupation?”

Slasher: “Shropshire Slasher”.

What Happens in This One:

Porky narrates through inner monologue, “Eh, w-w-when I glance over my notes and records of the cases solved by the eh, g-g-great detective Dorlock Holmes, one inevitably rises to mind: the c-c-case of the Shropshire Slasher. It all began at our Beeker St. digs one gloomy September night. Oh, a quiet enough evening as I recall it. Holmes was moodily engaged in his favorite p-p-p-uh, pastime: deducting”. Wearing a robe and fez, Daffy is shown obsessed with deducting his taxes, “Let’s see now, uh, I can deduct 6 pounds, 8 shillings for magnifying glasses and gumshoes, two guinea sixpence for entertaining footpads, pickpockets, and sneak thieves, and there’s uh, uh, cabfares. To and from murders”. Daffy then informs Porky, “Watkins, in a moment there will come a knock at the door, heralding the start of the mystery of the Shropshire Slasher. Answer it. My pants are caught on a nail” (animated by Ben Washam).

Porky, also wearing a robe and fez, answers to the knock on the door and a pale-looking delivery man falls front-first into the doorway. Daffy, still wearing the robe but not the fez, runs in and yells, “DON’T TOUCH THAT BODY!” He looks at the delivery man with his magnifying glass and refers to this as, “A clear case of curare poisoning of one of her majesty’s cold cream guards!” The man then moves his head up and says, “Telegram” with an irritated expression. He gets up and informs Daffy, “You’d best have that step fixed gov’nor!” Daffy swipes the telegram out of his hands and flatly replies, “Just for that, you receive no gratuity” (animated by Washam).

After the delivery man leaves, Daffy’s eyes begin to grow very big as Porky narrates, “I could tell by his eh, t-t-t-tense eager expression that Holmes was bringing his immense faculties of observation to bear”. Daffy shouts, “By George, I’ve solved it!” Porky replies, “H-h-have you now, Holmes? That’s ripping, you know”. Daffy was actually referring to deducting as he goes back to his desk, “Yes, by Jove, I can take my old maiden aunt Clatilda as a dependent!” Porky continues his narration, “As I r-r-read the message, I realized we were in for a rum go”. The telegram from “Wireless Telegraph” reads, “Mr. Dorlock Holmes, I ‘ave hes’caped from Dartmoor Prison and am going to start slashing innocent citizens again. You fancy yourself quite a toff but I’ll show you I’m toffer than you are. The Shropshire Slasher” (animated by Richard Thompson).

Porky: “It was eh, th-th-three am precisely when we left Beeker St. on the trail of the Sh-Sh-Shropshire Slasher”. Leaving in their detective clothes, Daffy and Porky walk along the trail as Daffy looks with his magnifying glass along the way and also walks into the interior of a barrel before climbing out (animated by Thompson). Porky: “I-it wanted ten minutes of the hour when we approached a known haunt of the Shropshire Slasher”. They approach the pub “Henry the Eighth’s Fifth” as Daffy enters with an “Ah-ha!”, only to a trip and fall into the ground with his beak stuck in there. Everyone in the pub looks at him as Daffy declares, “I may be down, but the jig is up!” He gets back up and pulls his beak out of the floor. Daffy then collects several stuff and puts them into an envelope such as one man’s cigar ashes and the entirety of a sailor’s beer glass. Porky refers to these as “Clues” before Daffy comes up to him, takes his pipe and dumps the tobacco from his pipe into the envelope. After he gets his pipe back, Porky gives a sheepish smile to the audience (animated by Abe Levitow).

Daffy is seen talking to a tall blonde woman, “Lady Ashtabula. The last time we met was at Ascot, was it not? Ascot, not? Oh, you’re still a fine figure of a woman!”, saying this while kissing her hand, putting her fingers on a stamp pad, and then putting them on a chart to examine her fingerprints. Looking at the chart with his magnifying glass, Daffy realizes, “Egad! These look like a WOMAN’S fingerprints! Could it be possible that the Shropshire Slasher is a-” The woman then informs her husband, “Oh, Alfie! This calve’s annoying me!” Alfie, a tough guy at a dartboard, asks, “Oh, is he, now?” Daffy comes up to him, believing he might be the Slasher, “Oh ho! Alfie, is it? Where was you on the night of-?” Offscreen noises are heard. Daffy walks back into view with the darts in his beak and remarks, “Well, he’s eliminated HIM as a suspect!” (animated by Levitow)

The bartender asks Daffy, still with the darts in his beak, and Porky, “What’ll it be now, gov’nors?” Daffy orders, “Hot buttered gin” while Porky orders, “Eh, n-n-nut brown October ale o-over the rocks”. Daffy grumbles, “Trifle with me will ya, ya ruddy coaster mongers!” A sword suddenly flies into the table and gets stuck in it. Daffy turns around so fast with his magnifying glass that it causes the darts to come out of his beak as he shouts, “A clue!” Porky only responds sarcastically, “Eh, r-r-really, Holmes. You-you never cease to amaze me”. Something is also carved onto the sword’s hilt, “Please Return to 30 Pudding Lane and Oblige the Shropshire Slasher”, along with the small “Return Postage Guaranteed 3A4207” (animated by Ken Harris).

Daffy realizes, “That weapon belongs to none other than… the Shropshire Slasher!”, with the Slasher himself being shown in the doorway. He then walks up to the Slasher while telling Porky, “Watch me and learn, Watkins”. Unimpressed, Porky asides, “Amazing fellow”. Approaching the Slasher, Daffy is at first calm, “I say, old chap. Beastly weather we’re having what!”, before he begins shouting, “HA! Deny it if you dare! And deny too that you’re the Shropshire Slasher! Thought you could match wits with the great Dorlock Holmes, did ya!? Why, you fool, you!” He then goes into a laughing fit while continuing, “Why, you poor chap! It’s too ridic- it’s ridicu- it’s ridic- me (animated by Thompson up to here)- you”. Watching this, Porky gives a somewhat embarrassed smile to the audience (animated by Harris).

Daffy then attempts to walk the Slasher by the hand, “Come along now, my man. We have an engagement with Scotland Yard”, only to slip and fall, due to the Slasher just standing still. “Mustn’t keep the bobbies waiting you know”, Daffy continues as he struggles to get the Slasher moving, “Let’s go!” He then gets down and informs, “I think it only fair to warn you that I have studied jiu-jitsu”, before continuing to try and get the Slasher to move, “You may be big, but I’m small!” The Slasher then lifts up his left arm- the one Daffy was tugging on- before Daffy continues tugging on it, “Really! (strains) I fail to see how you hope to withstand my superior skill! (strains)” The Slasher only responds by flexing his very large muscle and then holding Daffy by the neck while pointing him forward (animated by Thompson).

With a mangled neck, Daffy walks over to Porky and instructs him in a very hoarse voice, “Take over”. Porky goes up to the Slasher with a notepad and asks him, “Eh, y-y-your name? Eh, s-s-speak up, man”. The Slasher answers, “Shropshire Slasher”. When Porky asks, “Occupation?”, the Slasher again answers, “Shropshire Slasher”. Daffy, having removed his detective hat and coat and stripped down to his pants, decides to have another go at confronting the Slasher, dismisses Porky, “Alright, Watkins! Enough of your bumbling!” Porky tells us, “Eh, b-b-bumbling upsets Holmes, no end” (animated by Harris).

Attempting to fight the Slasher, Daffy begins jumping up to him, “Very well, you rodder! I’m gonna tackle you acka-pello! I’m brown as a nut and fit as a lath! Toy with me, will ya?! Why, with my fierce energy, I’ll- I’ll- (grunts)- Do not take it amiss if I slap you silly!” (animated by Thompson) With Porky watching as Daffy is presumably slapping the Slasher around, he comments, “Eh, b-b-bit rough on the Slasher, but the foolish cove asked for it”. Daffy comes back in dazed, and with his pants covering his whole body down to his legs, “You may resume your interrogation, Watkins-s-s” (animated by Harris).

Porky walks up to the Slasher and asks him, “Eh, n-n-now look, old boy, eh, how’s about returning to prison? Eh, there’s a good chap”. The Slasher politely agrees, “Yes, sir. I want to do what’s right I do!” Daffy begins putting his detective clothes back on before a very small Cockney woman walks in with flowers, “Care to buy some pretty pretties for your doxie, gov’nor?” Daffy then accuses her and threatens, “That does it! I’m gonna haul you in! Hawking dandelions without a license!” The Slasher realizes who this woman is as he exclaims, “Mother!” Realizing he’s screwed for threatening the Slasher’s mom, Daffy meekly asks, “Mother? Mother? Really?” before the Slasher beats the tar out of him one final time. During said beating, Porky and the entire room vibrate from it, with Porky holding onto his hat while he watches. After the Slasher finishes, Porky calmly lights his pipe. The Slasher then leaves with his mother informing, “I’ve promised the nice gentleman I’d give meself up now, Mother!”, to which she replies, “You always was a good boy, Slasher!” Porky asks a dazed Daffy, “Eh, t-t-tell me, Holmes. At what sort of school did you learn to be a detective?” Daffy groggily replies, “Elementary, my dear Watkins. Elementary” (animated by Harris).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕