Duck Amuck | |
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Merrie Melodies (Daffy Duck/Bugs Bunny) series | |
Directed by | Charles M. Jones |
Produced by | Edward Selzer (uncredited) |
Story by | Michael Maltese |
Voices by | Mel Blanc |
Music by | Carl Stalling |
Animation by |
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Layouts by | Maurice Noble |
Backgrounds by | Philip DeGuard |
Distributed by | |
Release date(s) |
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Color process | Technicolor |
Running time | 6:56 |
Language | English |
Duck Amuck is an American surreal animated cartoon directed by Chuck Jones and produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. The short film was released in early 1953 by The Vitaphone Corporation, the short subject division of Warner Bros., as part of the Merrie Melodies series. It stars Daffy Duck, who is tormented by a seemingly sadistic, initially unseen animator, who constantly changes Daffy's locations, clothing, voice, physical appearance and even shape, much to Daffy's anger. Pandemonium reigns throughout the cartoon as Daffy attempts to steer the action back to some kind of normality, only for the animator to either ignore him or, more frequently, to over-literally interpret his increasingly frantic demands. In the end, the tormenting animator is revealed to be Bugs Bunny.
In 1994, it was voted #2 of The 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field, losing only to What's Opera, Doc?, also made by Chuck Jones and also written by Michael Maltese. It remains one of the most notable Warner Bros. animations, and has been inducted into the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
The short was included on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1 DVD box set (with optional audio commentary by noted animation historian Jerry Beck), The Essential Daffy Duck DVD box set, and the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1 Blu-ray box set. The short inspired the 2007 Nintendo DS game Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck.