Who Killed Who?
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| Who Killed Who? | |
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 The original release poster |
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| Directed by | Tex Avery |
| Produced by | Fred Quimby |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1943, USA, theatrical) MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1992, USA, VHS) |
| Release date(s) | June 19, 1943 |
| Running time | 8 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Who Killed Who? is a 1943 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animated short directed by Tex Avery for MGM. The cartoon is a parody of whodunit stories and employs many clichés of the genre for humor.
[edit] Plot
A live-action host (Robert Emmett O'Connor) opens with a disclaimer about the nature of the cartoon, namely, that the short is meant to demonstrate that "beyond the shadow of a doubt, crime does not pay."
The story begins as the victim (voiced by Kent Rogers doing an impression of Richard Haydn), presumably the master of a very large mansion, is reading a book based on the very cartoon he's in. Frightened, he muses that, according to the book, he is about to be "bumped off." Someone throws a letter attached to a knife telling the master that he will die at 11:30. When he objects, another letter informs him that the time has been moved to midnight. True to form, a mysterious killer in a heavy black cloak soon shoots (with a rather large pistol) him dead (though how dead he is is a matter of question), and a police officer (voiced by Billy Bletcher, modeled on characters portrayed in film by Fred Kelsey) immediately begins to investigate. After investigating the premises and the staff, the officer gives a lengthy chase to the real killer. Though the mansion is filled with many surreal pitfalls and booby traps that slow and obstruct the officer, he eventually traps the killer and unmasks him, revealing him to be the opening-sequence host, who confesses, "I dood it", before bursting into tears.
[edit] Oddities
When a pistol is shot from hiding, an individual note is heard for each discharge. After 3 shots, the notes make up the NBC chimes. The "G-E-C" theme had been in use for over a decade at the time the cartoon was released for NBC radio.
The voice of Santa Claus was provided by Avery himself.
The speaking individual among the bodies falling out of the closet was vocally based on comedian Jerry Colonna, whose popularity was rising at the time while working as Bob Hope's sidekick.
There are several jokes about (or originating from) Red Skelton, whose highly popular radio program aired from October 1941 until May 1953(with time off for World War II military service in 1944–45, and a move from NBC to CBS in 1949). These include a crimson-colored human skeleton announcing himself as "Red Skeleton," and the concluding line, "I dood it," which was taken directly from Skelton's "mean widdle kid" radio routine.
The 1930 MGM/Hal Roach short subject, The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case, provided imagery, characters and situations for this film.
Another unique thing about this film is its music score. It was performed entirely on a classical pipe organ, mostly to match the spooky feel of the film. The 1945 Donald Duck cartoon Duck Pimples, the 1951 Mr. Magoo cartoon, Barefaced Flatfoot & the 1953 Woody Woodpecker cartoon Hot Noon (or 12 O'Clock for Sure), share many elements in terms of music score, as they also used a classical pipe organ.
The mansion shown at the beginning of the cartoon is the same mansion (although having a different interior) used in the 1950 Tex Avery cartoon The Cuckoo Clock.
