Cartoon a Day: To Duck...or Not to Duck

To Duck...or Not to Duck
1943
Directed by Chuck Jones (as Charles M. Jones)
Available on: Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 6

We've talked before about how there are several different versions of Daffy Duck. "To Duck...or Not to Duck" is an interesting short that somewhat transitions between the looney Daffy and the indignant Daffy.

Here he plays the Bugs Bunny role. Elmer Fudd is hunting when he shoot down Daffy. Daffy then starts in with the "how dare you" attitude and ends up switching things around to turn the scenario into a boxing match between the two.

What's interesting is that this doesn't feel like a Chuck Jones short. It seems to lean a little more toward the Bob Clampett style. Some of the extreme poses that you can catch Daffy and Elmer doing if you freeze frame at the right moment are examples of this. Elmer's dog being the lone member of the crowd rooting for Elmer (and getting pelted with tomatoes because of it) also feels more like a Clampett gag to me. Regardless of whether it's the normal Jones style, it's a funny short.