Tuesday, December 30, 2008

The Duck Hunt - January 1, 1932

The Duck Hunt is the 55th film in Mickey's cartoon series. The toon stars Mickey and his best pal Pluto enjoying the thrill of hunting in nature.


The film opens with the Mouse and his pup walking cheerfully and briskly out in the woods. Just look at that beautiful animated reflection on the water.


This toon is full of sight gags such as the inclusion of Pluto's fleas. As Mickey and Pluto march through the forest, so do the fleas from Pluto's back.


Soon the hunters come upon a group of ducks playing in a nearby pond; however, the ducks cleverly manage to make themselves scarce once they sense danger approaching by becoming harmless lily pads.


Luckily Mickey has a plan to lure the unsuspecting ducks into his trap. As he waits in the reeds, he sends Pluto out into the pond with a decoy duck.


Curious of the new stranger, the ducks come out of hiding; one is even brave enough to get close to the decoy.


Meanwhile, Mickey sees his chance and aims his gun; unfortunately, nothing happens when he presses the trigger. Annoyed, the Mouse shakes the weapon vigorously, causing it to fire into the air above.


The bullets manage to hit a tree's branch, which promptly falls into Mickey boat and onto the gun. Unaware he now has a twisted weapon, Mickey shoots and causes a massive hole in his boat.


For a few seconds, it looks like curtains for our hero. Luckily, the pond is only 2 feet or so deep, allowing the Mouse to stand! Still unaware of his broken gun, Mickey again fires. This time the gun breaks in half and flies off.


The broken gun lands on the decoy duck, exposing its true identity. Angered, the real duck calls for an attack.


At once, a gaggle of ducks dives from the sky, picking poor Pluto up and out of the pond by his ears.


Mickey rushes to help Pluto, but his efforts to ground the pup are useless against the strength of the ducks.


The vicious ducks cause all sorts of terrible things to happen to the Mouse. Mickey runs into a flock of geese...


...he is brutally punished as he repeatedly is beaten by a windmill...


...and is dragged across a roof, breaking every tile and eventually running into a chimney.


Finally Mickey is able to stop the duck's attack by wrapping his legs around a weather vane. The ducks manage to twist the Mouse and his pup around and around until the two are thrown off into the sky.


As the pair hurtles towards the ground, perhaps the funniest gag in the film appears when Pluto's fleas parachute off his butt. Hilarious!


All ends well though when Mickey and Pluto safely land in a pair of long underwear. Pluto's fleas also manage to survive the drop as they too land safely back on their host. All together a great cartoon.