Release Date:

August 1, 1942

Main Character(s):

None

Summary:

A barnyard parody of World War II with Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo portrayed as ducks who are eventually done in by a war-hating Dove of Peace.

That’s Not All, Folks:

For the longest time, the cartoon’s ending was lost and abruptly ended with a Jerry Colonna rabbit clubbing himself on the head. The full ending involved the soldier on a war bond poster shooting the Axis ducks down where it then fades into sometime later, where the Dove tells his two sons, named Peace and Quiet, respectively, about the “three that didn’t get away” where it shows the Axis duck leaders’ heads mounted on the wall. “We Did It Before and We Can Do It Again” plays as the subtitles read “If you would like to make this true, this is all you have to do”. A war bond then appears onscreen and the cartoon ends for real. The complete ending was permanently reinstated when the cartoon was restored for the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 6 DVD set in 2008.

Michael Maltese voices the Mussolini duck.

The cartoon no longer airs on television due to heavy wartime theming.

Porky is featured in the intro, despite not appearing.

What I Like About This One:

The music over the opening credits.

At the start of the cartoon, “a seemingly unimportant event” is stated to occur: Mr. and Mrs. Duck are expecting a child in a happy barnyard but Mr. Duck knows something isn’t right when the egg is revealed to be black (“What’s this? A dark horse?”) The egg hatches into the Hitler duck (animated by John Carey).

“And so time passed”. A blur whizzes by and an elderly figure representing time is told by the narrator: “Hey, bud, not so fast” The elderly guy responds: “Alright, but time does fly, don’t it, Johnny?” (animated by Izzy Ellis)

The Hitler duck having trouble pasting posters of swastikas which is how his “artistic endeavors” failed (animated by Ellis).

As the Hitler duck is giving a speech (animated by Cal Dalton), some gullible geese listen with the most gullible being the Mussolini duck (animated by Vive Risto). After the Mussolini duck praises the speech, he remarks that the Hitler duck is a “smart fellow with brains, like me” (animated by Dalton). A card then appears saying, “We apologize to the nice ducks and geese who may be in the audience- The Management”.

One of the Hitler duck’s troops is a Daffy lookalike with Rochester’s voice (animated by Ellis).

The Mussolini duck giving a nonsensical speech and demanding applause via a sign saying so (animated by Dalton). It turns out he only gave the speech to one individual- a small chick attached to a ball and chain who applauds him in a really high voice (animated by Risto).

One of the “storm troopers” (ducks marching through rainclouds surrounding them) gets zapped in the behind by a lightning bolt (animated by Carey).

At a peace conference, the Hitler duck signs a peace treaty but then immediately puts it in a shredder labeled “Treaty Tearer Upper” (animated by Ellis).

The Tojo duck makes his entrance by putting a plunger with a sign labeled “Japanese Mandate Island” on what appears to be a rock but is actually a turtle who angrily chases him with the sign while also whacking him with it. The Tojo duck repeatedly apologizes before trying to convince the turtle that he is actually Chinese instead of Japanese. Of course, the turtle doesn't believe him (mostly due to the sign clearly having the word “Japanese” on it) and retorts, “Yeah, and I’m not turtle soup!” (animated by Dalton)

After he is walked over by the Axis troops (animated by Risto), the Dove has finally had enough and angrily walks up to the leaders, before beating up the Tojo duck without hesitation (animated by Dalton). He then kicks the Mussolini duck in the face and pulls on the Hitler duck’s mustache. Inspired by the Dove’s attacking of the Axis leaders, the rest of the barnyard joins in to beat up the Axis troops (animated by Ellis), with a chick jumping up and down on the pedestal of a trash can for the knocked-out troops to land in (animated by Carey).

Even the man on a war bond poster gets involved and shoots down the fleeing Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo ducks (animated by Ellis). Sometime later, the Dove is telling his two sons about the “three that didn’t get away” (animated by Dalton). The camera pans to the beaten up heads of the Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo ducks all mounted on the wall as “We Did It Before and We Can Do It Again” plays and the cartoon ends with a reminder to buy war bonds to ensure American victory.

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½