Calling All Cuckoos

Calling All Cuckoos
File:Cuckoo-title.jpg
Directed by	Paul J. Smith
Produced by	Walter Lantz
Animation by	Robert Bentley Les Kline Raymond Jacobs Art Landy
Color process	Technicolor
Production company	Walter Lantz Productions
Distributed by	Universal International
Running time	6' 09"
Country	United States

Calling All Cuckoos is the 70th animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on September 24, 1956, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal International.

Plot

Herr Spring, a fat German cuckoo clockmaker, finds that after completion of a new clock, he now needs a cuckoo bird to occupy it. He therefore goes out into the Black Forest to find one. Woody Woodpecker hears the clockmaker calling "cuckoo, cuckoo" as he enters the forest, and he decides to humor him, thinking him a little crazy. Woody pretends to be a cuckoo bird in order to live inside the clock and to upset the clockmaker's journey.

After a time, Woody's trapped inside a bird catcher's net, and takes delight in tormenting the clockmaker. A big brown bear, peacefully sleeping in the forest, is rudely awakened by a club in Woody's hands, swung from within the net, resulting in the bear taking his vengeance out on the German. From then on, it is a battle of wits between Woody and the clockmaker trying to capture the elusive Woody.

References

• Cooke, Jon, Komorowski, Thad, Shakarian, Pietro, and Tatay, Jack. "1956". The Walter Lantz Cartune Encyclopedia.