''Duck Pimples'' is a 1945

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

whodunit A ''whodunit'' (less commonly spelled as ''whodunnit''; a colloquial elision of "Who asdone it?") is a complex plot-driven variety of detective fiction Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an criminal ...

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

produced by

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

and released by

RKO Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, is an American film production and distribution company, historically one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Kei ...

. The cartoon parodies radio crime stories and

film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...

dramas.

Plot

On a dark and stormy night,

Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company. Donald is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit, sailor shirt and cap with ...

attempts to relax by listening to serials on the radio, but the shows playing on each station are dark and disturbing. Turning off the radio, Donald is met at the door by an intimidating looking man who turns out to be a traveling book salesman. The salesman disappears, but leaves behind numerous books. Donald begins to read a crime novel. As Donald reads, he finds the book manifesting into his living room. The world of the novel surrounds Donald, and he finds himself the prime suspect in the story's thievery and kidnapping plot, having to navigate numerous colorful characters. Donald ultimately finds himself back in his living room, where a voice tells him it was all just his imagination.

Censorship

Scenes where Donald is threatened with a knife and the detective is threatened with an axe were at one time cut, but have since been restored for the

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

releases.

Voice cast

* Donald Duck:

Clarence Nash Clarence Charles "Ducky" Nash (December 7, 1904 – February 20, 1985) was an American voice actor and impressionist. He is best remembered as the original voice of the Disney cartoon character Donald Duck. He was born in the rural community of W ...

* Radio actor/Salesman/Dopey Davis/J. Harold King/Donald's conscience: Jack Mather * Pauline: Mary Lenihan * Radio host: Doodles Weaver * Leslie J. Clark:

Harry E. Lang Harry Edward Lang (December 29, 1894 – August 5, 1953) was an American actor who appeared in ''The Cisco Kid''. He was known for working at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio & Walt Disney Productions Scrooge McDuck. Biography Lang was bor ...

* Radio actor/H. U. Hennessy:

Billy Bletcher William Bletcher (September 24, 1894 – January 5, 1979) was an American actor. He was known for voice roles for various classic animated characters, most notably Pete in Walt Disney's ''Mickey Mouse'' short films and the Big Bad Wolf in Di ...

Home media

The short was released on December 6, 2005, on '' Walt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald, Volume Two: 1942-1946''.

Reception

Cartoon Brew Cartoon Brew is an animation news website created by Amid Amidi and animation historian Jerry Beck that was launched on 15 March 2004. Cartoon Dump It also created '' Cartoon Dump'', a weekly podcast showing poorly made TV cartoons featuring ' ...

called ''Duck Pimples'' "the creepiest Disney short ever made" and its animation a "top-drawer work".

Notes

* Several of the characters' names are spoofs on the names of Disney staff members. H.U. Hennesy is a spoof on Disney artist Hugh Hennesy, J. Harold King probably refers to director Jack King, and Leslie J. Clark is a play on the name of another Disney artist,

Les Clark Leslie James Clark (November 17, 1907 – September 12, 1979) was an American animator and the first of Disney's Nine Old Men, joining Walt Disney Productions in 1927. Early life Les Clark was born in Ogden, Utah in 1907, the eldest of 12 ch ...

. * The main title has the word "Goose" crossed out and "Duck" written in.

References

1945 films 1945 crime films 1940s Disney animated short films Donald Duck short films American crime films Films about dreams Films directed by Jack Kinney Films produced by Walt Disney American parody films Films scored by Oliver Wallace Film noir cartoons 1945 animated short films {{Disney-animation-film-stub