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Simply A Masterpiece

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I do agree it isn't as good as the Looney Tunes cartoons of the 40s-50s, as it isn't as witty or as clever, and it is perhaps too short at only 7 minutes. However, it is an interesting watch, with a good enough story. There is nothing hugely hilarious, but there are some amusing enough moments, due to some sharp dialogue especially. The animation is fine, the backgrounds are lovely and the colours are vibrant. And the music is wonderful, perhaps a recycling of Carl Stalling's work, but I didn't mind, as he was for me the best composer of the music of the Looney Tunes cartoons. The highlight however is Daffy singing "Monsters Lead Such Interesting Lives", the song is wonderfully sung by Mel Torme, who has a beautiful velvety voice. Daffy is great here and is excellently voiced by the wonderful Mel Blanc, and it was nice to see Dracula, Frankenstein's monster and the Wolfman. Overall, very good and interesting, if nothing hilarious. 8/10 Bethany Cox

So, Mel Blanc lent his voice to a cartoon short for the last time. It was an OK effort. Maybe not quite like their work from the '40s and '50s, but a colorful jab at classic horror flicks, as Daffy Duck dreams that he's performing for an audience of monsters...until he antagonizes Godzilla. And with another Mel (Torme, that is) doing the singing, how can you go wrong? All in all, "The Night of the Living Duck" was a worthy end for The Man of 1,000 Voices. And he left this life the very next year (he was actually the first famous person whose death I was aware of; I was only five years old, but I knew the names of Bugs Bunny's creators). You can luxuriate in Mel Blanc's voices and Carl Stalling's music (happy birthday, Carl!).

This late-80's cartoon is quite easy-going but not that funny. Still, it's Daffy Duck and he's very cute. It begins with Daffy reading a horror comic book (having already read his Mad Magazine) and going crazy when he can't find the second issue of a two-part cliffhanger. In his desperate search a heavy clock falls off his bookcase and whacks him on the head. Now begins a dream sequence in which Daffy is a lounge singer for all the classic movie monsters including Dracula, Frankenstein's monster and his bride, the wolfman, creature from the black lagoon, Leatherface and er...Alfred E. Neuman.Daffy gets over his nerves by swallowing a few cloudbursts of voice tonic, which does wonders for his lisp, thus turning him (almost) into Frank Sinatra. He then sings an easy-going song called 'Monsters Lead Such Interesting Lives' which seems to make everyone happy. As his dream ends he finds his missing comic and all is well. A strange, offbeat Looney Tunes short indeed and a rather somber note for Mel Blanc to go out on. This cartoon was part of Daffy's feature-length Quackbusters cartoon.

I've debated reviewing this one because I generally don't like to discuss significant details, instead preferring to go into atmosphere and general discussion. But this cartoon has one pint that I have to discuss directly, and since there is no plot outline, it can be considered a spoiler. You are forewarned. The cartoon is principally given over to Daffy as nightclub performer to an audience straight out of Universal, for the most part: Dracula, Frankenstein and others. Spraying his throat with Eau de Torme (yes, Mel Torme), Daffy, voiced by Torme, sings,"Monsters Lead Such Interesting Lives". An otherwise unremarkable cartoon is made noteworthy by the voice of the Velvet Fog! The idea still enchants me some twelve years later! It's also why I gave it a nine rather than the seven it would have had otherwise. Mel Torme, I salute you!