Looking at a sleek pointer dog on a billboard advertising Barko Dog Food, goofy Willoughby dreams of being a great hunting dog. He goes off to hunt quail, but crashes into a tree, exclaiming, "Tree." Hearing a noise, he sees a quail, who is trying to keep his topknot up out of his face. When the dumb dog finds out that he is a quail, they take off on a chase all over the forest, but the dog keeps running into trees and pointing them out in a "running" gag. They chase underwater, where the dog sees fish go by, one of which is the quail. They chase back out, the quail using his topknot as a windshield wiper, and the dog corners him. But he gets the dog to "Fetch the stick, boy!" Eventually, Willoughby realizes that the quail has left. The dog runs furiously after the quail, smashing bushes, trees and a log cabin, all of which fall on him. He says, "Lots of trees!"
The original version of this cartoon had the quail repeatedly make a razzing noise in order to keep his top knot from falling over his eyes. Since the razzing noise was considered rude and the Hays Code had rules against rude gestures, rude language, and rude sound effects, it was replaced by a whistle before its original theatrical release.[5][6] The "whistle" version is the version that airs frequently on television, including the 1995 Turner dubbed version, which airs on Cartoon Network and Boomerang and is on The Golden Age of Looney Tunes LaserDisc release.
When the original "razzing" version was discovered in 1997 by Jerry Beck and George Feltenstein, it was originally planned to be included as supplemental material on The Golden Age of Looney Tunes: Volume 5 laserdisc set, but was scrapped when Turner Entertainment and Warner Bros. were unwilling to cooperate.[7] The cartoon would eventually be restored for HBO Max with the "whistle" audio. In 2021, Warner's Motion Picture Imaging (MPI) rescanned and remastered the original version, which was released on the Tex Avery Screwball Classics Volume 3 Blu-ray as a special feature.[5]
Notes[]
The quail in this cartoon is very similar in personality to Bugs Bunny, even uttering phrases similar to Bugs, such as "doc".
In addition, both characters are put up against Willoughby. Willoughby would be paired with Bugs shortly after this film, in "The Heckling Hare".
The film was copyrighted on 15 February 1941, along with "The Haunted Mouse."[8]
Coincidentally, both shorts were theatrically released on the same day.
This is currently the only cartoon restored post-2020 to be available on DVD, as all other releases with these recent restorations are Blu-ray only.
_-_Tree.jpg "The Crackpot Quail (1941) - Tree.jpg (1.16 MB)")
_-_Another_Tree.jpg "The Crackpot Quail (1941) - Another Tree.jpg (463 KB)")
_-_Crash.jpg "The Crackpot Quail (1941) - Crash.jpg (1.18 MB)")
_-_Whole_Lotta_Trees.jpg "The Crackpot Quail (1941) - Whole Lotta Trees.jpg (1.15 MB)")
