Daffy - The Commando (1943) Online

This is a good cartoon, and a good example of wartime humor - which by 1943, when the war was really beginning to bite back home in the US, had quite an edge.

The phone booth gag is "Is that you, Mert?" a fossilized gag phrase from the period, taken from "Fibber McGee and Molly". It was a catch phrase that audiences of the period would react to as a conditioned response. If you like old cartoons, it helps to be familiar with old-time radio of the period, because the cartoons mined radio for gags constantly (and Mel Blanc was a star in both, as a regular on the number one-rated Jack Benny show). The cartoons are full of show catch phrases, advertising slogans, and caricatures of movie and radio stars and minor characters.

The pinup picture is startling. I remember glimpsing it on my VHS copy and grabbing the remote to rewind and slow-motion. It is quite explicit, and seems like it could have got Friz Freleng in hot water at the time. You can see on the back wall at the first appearance of "Shulz", when he marches across the bunker floor to report.

For real unvarnished Freleng/Warner Brothers wartime humor, check out the "Private Snafu" series, which were intended for distribution to the troops only.

I was nine when I saw this. Granted it was 1987 and WWII was long over, but the magic was still there, no question about it. This is the essential World War II cartoon. I am a WWII buff today, and I think it's in a large part due to this cartoon. It has some great moments: Daffy putting on a hand/puppet show in the spotlight, the fight over a nickel in the phone booth, and a climax of Daffy wacking Hitler over the head with a mallet. A must-see! And if you look carefully, you can see a nude pinup in the Nazi bunker!

This is a marvelous little bit of propaganda using Daffy to help lampoon the enemy, in this case the Nazis. I think my favorite bit is Daffy singing as he parachutes down, although the ending is a close second. Something I find myself wondering when I see this cartoon (which probably means I have way too much time on my hands) is whether the writers on the film Stalag 17 decided to name the guard in their film Schultz after this cartoon's Schultz and if, in turn, Schultz in Hogan's Heros was named after the guard in the film. My, such grand philosophical questions I ponder! Great short and most definitely worth seeking out. Most highly recommended.

Incredibly weird yet entertaining Daffy Duck cartoon, Daffy teases and annoys a German bird (representing a German fighting in the Second World War) - now we have to cheer for Daffy when THAT part comes up! However, this short is also quite disturbing - you are likely not to take it for a light comedy. Warner Brothers must have been pretty brave to make this short - ESPECIALLY while the World War was going on.

For people who are very disturbed by the prospect of WWII and for Germans - not recommended. People who love Daffy Duck and like the prospect of him teasing with the Nazis in the war, will certainly like this cartoon.

Also Daffy, as being around for only six years, is in his old crazy self - very entertaining for any fan of old Daffy Duck episodes.

Despite being slightly disturbing, this cartoon is also actually quite funny.

Enjoy "Daffy - the Commando".

Turner Classic Movies has a Saturday Morning "Cartoon" Alley hosted by Josh Mankiewicz. I happened to turn it on between 12:00 P.M. and 12:30 P.M. yesterday. They showed three Warner Brother Cartoons that were done for the morale of home audiences respecting the war effort in World War II. This was the first one.

I have to admit that I first saw this in the 1960s, when it was shown fairly frequently. Of course some of the humor did not make much sense to me - except that it was destructive. The business of Von Falcon, the Nazi Commandant, cleaning his eye which looked like the sort of monocle that Conrad Veidt wore in ESCAPE was funny, but I could not see the reference. Nor did I understand "Oh is that you Mert?" when Von Falcon tries to use the payphone (the rate of a nickel for the phone call is rather upsetting in 2007 - if one uses a pay phone now it usually is $ .25 for a local call). The reference to Fibber McGee would be a dead loss in 1963, even though Bob Sweeney would be in a drab television version of the Jordans' successful radio comedy.

The plot of this ten minute cartoon is simple. Von Falcon is assigned to keep American commandos out of his area - or else! He spots Daffy Duck parachuting in*, and with the aid of Private Schultz he tries to capture Daffy. Instead Daffy manages to blow up Schultz (with a bomb meant for Von Falcon, and to cause four Messerschmidts to destroy each other trying to hit his plane ("A mess of Messerschmidts", Daffy chortles triumphantly). Finally, however, the German bird momentarily gets the better of Daffy and shoots him out of a cannon. But Daffy remains clever enough to use this to advantage - he is fired towards Berlin, and ends on the platform with Hitler (who is giving a speech), whom he hits on the head with a mallet. All along Von Falcon has called for the loyal Private Schultz, who shows up just to be hit on the head with a mallet. Now it is Der Fuhrer who calls for Schultz, as the cartoon ends.

*Oddly he is singing the old British music hall song, "It's the same the whole world over" as he descends.

It has been pointed out that the hapless Private Schultz in the cartoon may be the origin for the John Banner character in HOGAN'S HEROES. Possibly that may be right. But actually, the character and the constant calling of his name by his superior officer is taken from the movie TO BE OR NOT TO BE by Ernst Lubitsch, and starring Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack, and Sig Ruman. Ruman's character, Col. "concentration camp" Erhardt has an assistant named Schultz, whom he calls whenever he needs a flunky to blame things on. When, at the end of that movie, Erhardt thinks he is in disgrace with Hitler over Lombard, Erhardt pulls out his revolver. We watch behind a closed door and hear the gun fire. There is a pause, and suddenly we hear Ruman yell "SCHULTZ!!" That was probably where the idea of the Private Schultz who is blamed for everything came from.

I should also add that Private Schultz's appearance may have had a later, more lasting version. With him being all helmet, eyes (wide behind glasses) and feet, he is the model for the later immortal Martin the Martian - Daffy Duck Dodgers' evenly fallible rival in the future.

Daffy – the Commando is one of those rare World War II cartoons that rarely see the light of day now. However, for some reason, this cartoon shows up on two videos I had when I was a kid. I enjoyed this cartoon when I was little, but I really had no clue what was really going on. Daffy does his usual hijinks but flustering a couple of odd-looking birds and smashing Hitler on the head with a mallet. It's just so weird to see a scene like that with Hitler speaking in front of his followers. We've seen footage of that dozens of times, and it's just horrifying, but throw in Daffy Duck, a mallet, and you have some good physical comedy!

Now truth be told, I'm not the biggest Daffy fan, especially the early version of Daffy, but this cartoon does provide some good laughs and is an interesting piece of animation history. With Daffy Duck on our side, the enemy doesn't have a chance!

My IMDb Rating: 7/10

Many wartime cartoons ended up being pretty racist, due to how they portrayed the Japanese, but when they portrayed only Nazis, they were quite funny. In "Daffy - The Commando", Daffy Duck parachutes into enemy territory and makes life a living hell for Nazi Kommandant Von Vulture. Finally at the end, Von Vulture shoots Daffy out of a cannon, and Daffy lands next to Hitler, who is making a speech. He promptly conks the Fuhrer on the head with a mallet.

Some people may object to using Nazism for comedy, but remember, Charlie Chaplin did it masterfully in "The Great Dictator". Admittedly, this cartoon isn't on the same level, but it's good for a few laughs.

I have always been a big Looney Tunes fan, and especially of Daffy. Daffy-The Commando is not quite one of my favourites, I'd personally put Duck Amuck, the Hunting Trilogy and Duck Dodgers in the 24.5 Century over this, however it is a very interesting, very funny and very bold cartoon.

The animation is beautiful, especially in the detailed backgrounds and ravishing colours. The music has energy and is fitting with the style of music at the time, the dialogue as always is fresh and funny and the gags are great with the standout being the fight over a nickel in the phone booth.

Story-wise it is exciting and interesting from a historical perspective. For its time, it is quite bold especially with the ending, which could account for why it was apparently banned, but rather than be offended by the boldness I appreciated it.

Daffy has always been one of my favourite cartoon characters due to his manic and zany persona even with some greediness creeping in in some of the cartoons but to me this didn't make him less likable, and he is on top form here. The support characters are also memorable, as well as the brilliant vocal talents of Mel Blanc.

Overall, a great cartoon. 10/10 Bethany Cox

From the characters, it would appear that this episode was the prompt for the situation comedy, "Hogan's Heroes".

. . . World War Two Era Looney Tune, DAFFY--THE COMMANDO finds himself surrounded in the sky by Racist Nazi enemy planes, whereupon he delivers perhaps the most memorable line in his career as a Warner Bros. Headliner: "Messerschmitts! A whole mess of Messerschmitts!" At the time COMMANDO was released, Nazi Air Marshal Hermann "Fatso" Goering's Lufftwaffe had been terrorizing Europe for half a decade, relying largely on the aircraft designed by Nazi Baptist War Criminal Willy Messerschmitt. Willy's slave laborers produced 33,984 of the Bf109-model fighter planes surrounding Daffy, mostly at the Mauthausen, KZ Gusen I and Gusen II Death Camps. While Dutch diarist Anne Frank did not herself construct any of these war planes and was murdered in an unrelated incident, 40,000 of the slaves overseen by Willy were rubbed out during the War (mostly for missing a rivet on Willy's Death Machines). For his "collaboration" with the Nazi's, Willy spent two years in prison (or about 29 minutes per slaying) after VE-Day, and sullied this Earth with his presence well into 1978.

Daffy The Commando (1943)

*** (out of 4)

The nutty Daffy Duck finds himself behind enemy lines and going up against a German idiot who doesn't seem to know who he's dealing with.

DAFFY THE COMMANDO is another World War II spoof that was meant to rally up people in the United States. These political shorts are always interesting to view today and this here is a good one. The majority of the running time has Daffy being pretty nutty as he's constantly getting the better of the German guy who is rather dumb. The film also has a cameo from Hitler who has a rather funny meeting with Daffy. This isn't a classic by any stretch of the imagination but there are enough laughs to keep it entertaining.

"Daffy - The Commando" is a terrific Daffy Duck cartoon made during the Second World War, so you can bet money on the fact that this film lampoons Hitler and his army of fascists, and it does so quite nicely.

Here are, in my opinion, the funniest scenes in "Daffy - The Commando" (don't read any further if you haven't yet seen this cartoon). When Schultz makes his first appearance, he goose-steps into Nazi headquarters, gets malleted on the cranium, and is forced to listen to a bunch of mock German from his superior. Daffy is wonderfully hilarious when he rushes into the telephone booth, then he sticks his head out as he indignantly asks the Nazi commander to wait his turn, and then Daffy politely asks him for a nickel (all in the worst mock German, with English subtitles). And Daffy bouncing wildly in the fuselage of his airplane, after the "mess of Messerschmitts" destroys each other, is a sight to behold.

Directed by the great Friz Freleng, "Daffy - The Commando" is surely a cartoon to laugh at, or laugh WITH, whichever is more appropriate.

One of the 'looney tunes go to war' shorts, as Daffy lands somewhere in Europe to kick some nazi ass. There's a funny scene introducing him, as he's landing with his parachute and he is spotted by a huge searchlight. So Daffy screams: 'Hey, turn off the light!' and obviously, the dumb German guy (or animal, as you wish) does at his command.

Story then gets into a chase that leads nowhere (something with a phone booth, I didn't really get it) and Daffy also takes out half a dozen nazi aeroplanes, before finally getting caught in a huge cannon. But Daffy makes the most of it as he uses a couple of American flags as wings to fly him towards (a real looking) Hitler, he can hit on the head with a huge hammer.

By far not the best in it's genre, but Daffy's never really been my favorite Looney Tune anyway...

5/10.

Having just watched Donald Duck as a Nazi in one cartoon I decided to continue the Duck/propaganda theme and watch this Daffy Duck cartoon – my favorite of the two animated ducks. This one sees Daffy in the role of an Allied Forces commando trying to infiltrate enemy lines while at the same time Herr Von Vulture is on his last warning to stop such incursions.

I was looking forward to this because very early on we see that it is "zany" Daffy, which is my preferred version of his character and one I find very funny usually. I say usually because the comedy here is just a little bit too obvious and I didn't find it quite as funny as I should have done. Some moments are quite clever but mostly it is hammer-hitting as the majority of the action (although the final stroke is a good one). It is a shame because the characters are good – Daffy is in good form and Von Vulture is a funny creation, even if a little obvious. Works as a piece of propaganda but for zany, crazy Daffy, the material here is just too close to "ordinary" to work.

This is by far, one of the best cartoons in all Looney Tunes cartoon history.

Sadly, it has been banned in most places for poking fun at Nazis and Hitler (both of which were very deserving targets for jokes at the time. And still are, in some cases.)

Daffy outsmarts a couple Nazi birds, but eventually gets caught by the head vulture, who shoots him out of a cannon. Daffy soars into the sky, showing off his American pride, and then smacks Hitler on the head with a mallet. Truly classic.

Great cartoon, made during one of the worst times in history. 10/10

Historically speaking, this is a pretty important film, as it helped solidify the public in the war effort against the Nazis. However, from a purely aesthetic point of view, it's not one of the better made or entertaining Daffy Duck films ever made.

Daffy appears behind German lines and spends most of the film annoying a Nazi officer and his flunky, Schultz. Again and again, Daffy outwits them until the end, when he is shot by a howitzer and he lands in the middle of one of Hitler's speeches. Oddly, while it was a cartoon, Hitler looked very realistic. The film ends with Daffy bashing Hitler over the head with a mallet.

On Google videos, this cartoon short appears under the heading "banned cartoons" and whether or not Warner Brothers actually banned or at least pulled it from circulation in unknown, though considering most of the public have no interest in WWII propaganda cartoons, I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

WE'VE JUST RE-SCREENED this 1943 Warner Brothers' Looney Tunes Short. In a sense, it was our first viewing. We hadn't seen it in some time and perhaps it was being taken for granted. Such is the fate of those who rely too much on recollection.

BEING THAT THIS cartoon is now 71 years old, we feel reasonably certain that much of the goings on are now rendered not understandable to many or even most present day viewers. This was the very middle of World War II and all of Hollywood was waging war and doing its part to support the war effort. That meant that there'd certainly be plenty of 'messages' interwoven into the weekly movie fare.

IN SHORT, WE'LL call it what it is, Propaganda! NOW THAT'S A word that has taken on such narrow meaning because of its nearly always used in reference to 'the Enemy.' It is, however, a legitimately proper word to be used in regards to instruction meant to clarify or indoctrinate* one's own people in policy, procedure and purpose.

IN TODAY'S SUBJECT title, we find our favourite aquatic manic, Daffy Duck, thrust into a nightmare of a surrealist cartoon world, which is run by anthropomorphic animals. Although this is all an illusion and we know that it is being played strictly for laughs, there is always tiny tidbits of irony and truth behind each and every gag.

UNFOLDING LIKE A cross between a bad dream and copy from the daily newspapers of the day, DAFFY THE COMMANDO serves a two fold purpose. It allows the wartime movie goer to unwind a little and forget the harsh realities of the times. Secondly, it conditions our inner psyche about the serious business that we all faced.

CONSTRUCTING THE GAGS in a sort of rapid fire, machine gun approach, the Writer, Michael Maltese and Director Fritz Freleng used time tested gags. Tailoring their recycling to the War, it was merely packaged in the manner of the situations appropriate.

FOR EXAMPLE, WE have: Daffy's nonchalant and irreverent attitude to the Nazi fetish for the totalitarian, Daffy's using their searchlight for the purpose of projecting finger shadows on the sky, the Robot-like foot soldier 'Schultz' and the 'Nazi German' Vulture Officer's resemblance in caricature to either Eric von Stroheim (Rommel in FIVE GRAVES TO CAIRO), Raymond Massey (character in DESPERATE JOURNEY) and Conrad Veidt (CASABLANCA, Major Strasser).

OTHER THAN SO much topical humor, such as gag reference to "Blavkouts" and the Nazi Vulture's reference to telefon operator as being "Myrt" from Radio's FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY, we thought that the humor flowed freely and was followed by equally generous portions of laughs! FOR OUR MONEY, this is a true 'Tour de Force' for Daffy.

NOTE * 'Indoctrination', now there's yet another word with bad co native meanings!