To Duck .... or Not to Duck is a 1943 Looney Tunes short directed by Charles M. Jones.
Title[]
The title is a play on arguably the most famous line of William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, "to be or not to be." It may also be in reference to the 1942 Ernst Lubitsch film "To Be or Not To Be".
Plot[]
Elmer Fudd is hunting ducks with his dog, Laramore. He shoots Daffy Duck from the sky and apologizes, saying that he is "a great sportsman". Daffy heavily disagrees with this statement, calls out Elmer for not knowing the meaning of "fair play," and says he wouldn't be so tough without his hunting equipment. The duck then proceeds to strip Elmer of his entire hunting gear (including stripping him down to his underwear) and then challenges Elmer to a "fair" fight.
Elmer is unaware that he is being led to a boxing ring surrounded by many duck spectators. The referee of the fight is also a duck. The odds are clearly against Elmer since the referee laughs hysterically while announcing his name, followed by boos from the crowd, with only Laramore cheering from a separate stand, for which he is knocked down by brickbats thrown at him by the duck spectators. The referee starts complimenting Daffy, like Daffy "Good to His Mother" Duck, where the duck spectators cheer for Daffy, with only Laramore booing from a separate stand, for which he is knocked down by brickbats thrown at him by the duck spectators.
Before the match starts, the referee exhorts the two opponents to "fight clean", winking to the audience, who collectively shout, "Oh, brother!", and calls for "no rough stuff—none of THIS! Or THIS! Or like SO!", each time demonstrating an illegal move on Elmer and knocking him silly. Daffy, in turn, picks up where the referee left off, asking, "You mean none of THIS? Or THIS?", manhandling (or duckhandling) Elmer similarly every time. Meanwhile, Laramore, who is watching this somewhat one-sided boxing match from a separate stand, then admits to the audience "You know, there's something awfully screwy about this fight, or my name isn't Laramore.......and it isn't".
Daffy clobbers Elmer with a hammer as the bell is rung. Elmer falls to the mat, and the referee provides a quick ten-count. He declares Daffy the winner and the new champion. Perplexed, Elmer protests, "I'm not the one to compwain, Mr. Wefewee, but I thought you said no wough stuff! none of THIS! Or THIS! Or wike SO!" giving it back to both the referee and Daffy in extreme exasperation.
Caricatures[]
- Jim Jordan - "And all kinds of stuff like that there"
Music-Cues[1][]
- A-Hunting We Will Go (traditional)
- Plays during the opening credits.
- Why Don't You Fall in Love with Me? (by Mabel Wayne)
- Plays when Daffy is in the sky
- A-Hunting We Will Go (traditional)
- Plays when Elmer first appears on screen.
- Song of the Mounted Police (by M.K. Jerome)
- Plays when Daffy pushes Elmer to the boxing ring.
- Brahms' Lullaby ["Cradle Song"] (by Johannes Brahms)
- Plays when the announcer introduces Daffy.
- We Did It Before and We Can Do It Again (by Cliff Friend and Charles Tobias)
- Plays when the announcer and Daffy beats up Elmer.
- Captains of the Clouds (by Harold Arlen)
- Plays at the end when Elmer beats up Daffy.
Availability[]
Cartoon Moviestars: Daffy Duck and Company
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes: Vol. 2, Side 8: The Art of Daffy
Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition Volume 12: Porky and Daffy (1995 Turner dubbed version)
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 6, Disc One
Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 6, Disc 1
TCM Spotlight: Errol Flynn Adventures (1995 Turner dubbed version)
Edge of Darkness (HD)
Streaming[]
Notes[]
- This is the first cartoon to feature both Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd together.
- This is also the first proper appearance of Elmer Fudd in a Looney Tunes short, not counting his voice being heard in Nutty News.
- The duck referee is intended to be the same plump and jovial referee from "Count Me Out". In "Count Me Out", the referee was voiced by Tex Avery, while here the referee is voiced by Mel Blanc, since Avery had already left Warner Bros. for MGM at the time the latter cartoon was made. The referee would later appear in The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries episode "Furgo", where he is named Ducky Wheeze and voiced by Billy West.
- The cartoon entered the public domain in 1971, as United Artists (successor-in-interest to Associated Artists Productions) failed to renew the copyright in time.
- It is the earliest-released color Looney Tunes short to have each of these two distinctions: to fall into the public domain and to have its original opening and closing titles survive; the two color Looney Tunes that preceded it, "The Hep Cat" and "My Favorite Duck", remain under copyright and were given Blue Ribbon reissues; both have been restored on DVD, but each still features the Blue Ribbon titles.
