Cartoon a Day: Dude Duck

Dude Duck
1951
Directed by Jack Hannah
Available on: Walt Disney Treasures - The Chronological Donald Vol. 4

The fourth volume of "The Chronological Donald" was also under my tree yesterday, so let's take a look at one of the shorts from that collection, "Dude Duck."

In this short we visit a dude ranch where the horses are bored, that is until a bus load of beautiful girls wanting to ride pulls up. Unfortunately for one horse, Donald Duck also happens to be with the group. The horse that gets assigned to Donald would much rather have one of the beautiful young ladies on his back, so he proceeds to do everything he can to keep Donald off his back.



The first shot of this film really tell you that you're in for some great animation. The shots of the western buttes are beautiful artwork. Completely different than what you might see in a Warner Brothers Road Runner short.


Donald, of course, is always a great character, but the horse really ends up being the star of this short. He has a wonderfully expressive face and a great range of body movement as well. The gags go back and forth, with Donald and the horse each getting the best of each other at times. It was kind of funny to see that this short features a very similar gag to one in yesterday's Tom and Jerry cartoon "Texas Tom." Both shorts feature one character lassoing the other, only to have that character switch places with an angry bull. One of the classic gags of animation, I guess.