''Dumb-Hounded'' is a 1943 American

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

directed by

Tex Avery Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery (February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, director, and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of American animation. His mo ...

and written by Rich Hogan. It was the first cartoon to feature

Droopy Droopy is an animated character from the golden age of American animation. He is an anthropomorphic white Basset Hound with a droopy face; hence his name. He was created in 1943 by Tex Avery for theatrical cartoon shorts produced by the Metr ...

. The film was released on March 20, 1943 by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...

Plot

A wolf escapes from Swing Swing Prison (a parody of

Sing Sing Prison Sing Sing Correctional Facility, formerly Ossining Correctional Facility, is a maximum-security prison operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in the village of Ossining, New York. It is about north ...

). Many

bloodhound The bloodhound is a large scent hound, originally bred for hunting deer, wild boar and, since the Middle Ages, for tracking people. Believed to be descended from hounds once kept at the Abbey of Saint-Hubert, Belgium, in French it is called ...

s are freed to search for him, but one of them, Droopy, remains behind, greets and informs the audience that he is the hero of the story. He initially moves very slowly, but he still quickly finds the wolf who tries to escape from Droopy throughout the picture. At one point, he even flees away from Droopy by boarding a taxi, a train, a ship, and an aircraft. However, everywhere he flees, Droopy pops up and sarcastically greets the wolf. Ultimately, Droopy ends the pointless chase by dropping a huge boulder on the wolf's head and crushing him. When Droopy receives his reward, he jumps about in complete enthusiasm, only to pause and inform the audience, "I'm happy".

Voice cast

* Bill Thompson as

* Frank Graham as Killer, Mayor (uncredited)

Crew

*Directed by: Tex Avery *Written by: Rich Hogan *Animation: Ray Abrams, Preston Blair, Ed Love, Irven Spence *Character Design: Claude Smith *Layout: John Didrik Johnsen, Bernard Wolf *Backgrounds: John Didrik Johnsen *Film and Sound Editor: Fred McAlpin *Music: Scott Bradley *Co-Producer: William Hanna *Produced by: Fred Quimby

Legacy

* '' Northwest Hounded Police'' (1946) features Droopy and the Wolf character in a similar set-up. Again, the Wolf flees from Droopy, who keeps popping up in unexpected places. * In the early 2000s a Cartoon Network short ''Thanks a Latté'' features Droopy and the Wolf character in a nearly-similar set-up; where he works at a coffee shop and forces a stingy wolf into giving him a tip when the wolf leaves the shop without paying for his

latte Caffè latte (), often shortened to just latte () in English, is a coffee beverage of Italian origin made with espresso and steamed milk. Variants include the chocolate-flavored mocha or replacing the coffee with another beverage base such as ...

. * In 2020, ''Dumb Hounded'' was released and digitally restored on the '' Tex Avery Screwball Classics: Volume 1'' Blu-Ray by Warner Archive.

References

External links

* 1943 animated films 1943 short films 1943 films 1940s American animated films 1940s animated short films Droopy Self-reflexive films Films directed by Tex Avery Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animated short films Films scored by Scott Bradley Tex Avery's Big Bad Wolf films Films produced by Fred Quimby Films about prison escapes Films set in New York (state) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio short films 1940s English-language films {{short-animation-film-stub