The Daffy Doc (1938) User Reviews

Love Those Corny Signs!

[ccthemovieman-1 · 7/10 · 11 November 2007]

One thing I personally enjoy about these 1930s cartoons are the corny signs that always are posted everywhere. For instance, in the first scene here, we arrive at the "Stitch In Time" hospital, where the sign adds, "As We Sew, So Shall Ye Rip." Yeah, they make you wince with their puns, play-on-words and just plain corniness, but I enjoy them. You'll see this kind of written, dated humor all over in this cartoon, from the Operating Room to Daffy Duck's driver's license plate.

This black-and-white early Looney Tunes cartoon features both Daffy and Porky Pig in the same story. Porky doesn't enter the cartoon until the final two minutes. Daffy, who had booted out of the operating room, goes to find a patient of his own. Poor Porky.

Overall, a decent cartoon full of slapstick, silliness and cornball material: in other words, perfect for early Daffy Duck. I enjoyed this but I like young kids would like this a lot more.

The Merry-go-round Broke Down

[krorie · 8/10 · 3 August 2006]

This is one of the first Warner Brothers cartoons featuring Daffy Duck and Porky Pig together. Daffy is as daffy as always, but porky was really a porker in those days. Apparently director Robert Clampett and Warner decided to put Porky on a diet. In "The Daffy Doc," Porky barely fits in the circle when he exclaims, "Th-th-th-that's all, folks!"

"The Daffy Doc" makes it obvious that the zany surrealistic, anarchistic humor of the brilliant Marx Brothers was the inspiration for the Daffy Duck, Porky Pig cartoons, in particular, the slapstick of Harpo. Compare this cartoon with the hilarious operating scene in "A Day At The Races," released two years earlier. The doc is comparable to Dr. Hugo Z. Hackenbush, while Daffy and Porky fit the characters of Tony and Stuffy.

By the time "The Daffy Doc" appeared on the big screen, Daffy had stolen much of Porky's popularity, hence Daffy and not Porky is actually the star of the film with Porky having only a small part near the end. It was Daffy that first introduced the Warner Brothers cartoon theme, "The Merry-go-round Broke Down," a popular song of the day with new lyrics. But, alas, fame is fleeting. The fabulous hare, Bugs Bunny, showed up the same year "The Daffy Doc" was issued.

The Warner Brothers cartoon characters are by today's standards politically incorrect, since each one had some sort of speech impediment, such as Porky Pig's stuttering. This highlights the need to keep an open mind in a free society. Think of what the entertainment world would have lost had these animated creations been censored.

"The Daffy Doc" is filled with sight gags galore. I won't give any of them away but be sure and notice Daffy's qualifications for being a physician in order to operate on Porky, his sheepskin and his license.

Very enjoyable

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 7 November 2012]

Daffy Duck is one of my favourite cartoon characters, so coming across The Daffy Doc on Youtube by chance I decided that with little else to do that I'd watch it. The story is on the routine and Porky's role is best described as a cameo. But the animation is fine, crisp and clean with good, if later much more refined, character designs. The music is lively and energetic with lovely orchestration. I also liked the humour very much. Some of the signs and dialogue may come across as corny and silly by today's standards, I for one found them most amusing, while the sight gags are a lot of fun with the operation and inflated lung gags absolute classics. Daffy here is terrific with a manic and witty personality that really shines. Porky is pleasant to see but he isn't really given all that much to do. Mel Blanc's voice characterisations are great, even if they'd mature later.

Overall, a very enjoyable cartoon. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Bizarre

[James L. · 2 September 2000]

Surreal and fascinating, it's not terribly funny by todays standards, but still unusual . Daffy is a "quack" doctor who helps to operate on a patient by using various bits of machinery and artillery , before being kicked out and making a patient out of Porky Pig. Daffy hasn't matured in voice , design, or attitude, and Porky is almost a cameo, but the operation and the parts where parts of Daffy inflate after iron lung treatment are classics. Still surreal.

The ending is amazingly dark...but otherwise it's a cute cartoon.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 11 December 2021]

"The Daffy Doc" is one of the earliest Daffy Duck films, having appeared in late 1937 in his first. Here in "The Daffy Doc", Daffy is a doctor who is about as competent and normal as you'd expect for Daffy in the 1930s! In other words, he's totally Daffy!

When the story begins, Dr. Daffy is assisting with an operation but is soon thrown out because of his hijinks....not that the attending doctor, Dr. Quack is much better! So, daffy goes in search of a patient of his own...and that means bashing the unsuspecting Porky over the head and hospitalizing him!! And, according to Dr. Daffy, poor Porky needs surgery!

This is a generally very good and screwy cartoon. But I can understand why the filmmakers did NOT like the ending...it was pretty tack considering the serious polio epidemic and making fun of this and the Iron Lung is about as funny as cancer. As a result, I'm dropping the score a bit due to the ending. Otherwise, it's pretty funny and quite weird.

The Daffy Doc is one of the funny early Daffy Duck cartoons

[tavm · 8/10 · 30 May 2015]

This was yet another Bob Clampett-directed cartoon he made for Warner Bros. (or more accurately, independent producer Leon Schlesinger since he hadn't sold his studio to the distributor yet) which featured both Porky Pig and Daffy Duck. Actually, despite featured billing, Porky has way less screen time than the mallard who basically replaces him as the Looney Tunes star though initially, they team up quite a bit during this time. Anyway, Daffy is a doctor's assistant who just is not suitable for the job (neither is his boss when we find out what he's fixing) so he searches for his own patient. Guess who's the unlucky guy? In summary, The Daffy Doc has plenty of visual laughs if you're so in the mood. This was on the Marx Brothers' disc that has Room Service (the A side this cartoon is on) and At the Circus.

one of the classics

[wetreefertime · 10/10 · 12 June 2004]

this one is funny. i saw it last night when i came home all wasted. its one with the old daffy, those ones are the best i think cuz he is always bein silly. one of the funniest things is right after daffy gets booted for freakin out, and he gets out of the lung, he gets all mad and says "He cant do this to me, i got a sheepskin!". another thing is when they show dr. quack stitching up his "patient" and he says something about daffy being crazy and how he doesn't understand the importance of the procedure. then he pulls the cover off the patient and its a football and he starts playin football. ya gotta see it. and a little reefer wont hurt. peace.

You do not need to be much of a Warnologist . . .

[oscaralbert · 8/10 · 31 October 2016]

. . . to realize that the always prophetic Looney Tuners were cramming in loads of their mainstay Warner Bros.' warnings into THE DAFFY DOC about U.S. Presidents--THEN (1938) and NOW (2016). Warner's Animated Shorts Seers realized that Americans NEVER would KNOWINGLY stand for Commanders-in-Chief whom "paid their water bills" sitting down! That's why DAFFY DOC is packed full of wacky Iron Lung scenes, in an effort to BLOW THEIR WHISTLE against President Frank "The Wheezing Wheeler's" declining health, resulting from a bout with Iron Lung Disease (aka, polio) which left him incapable of pacing his Oval Office (but which was totally COVERED UP by a Corrupt Media). Speaking of Number One Sitters, DAFFY DOC tells you all you need to know about the coming of Crooked Hillary/Obamacare in less than seven minutes. Daffy Duck shows "Patient" Porky Pig that that promise about "keeping your own doctor" is a TOTAL LIE! Daffy actually bludgeons a perfectly healthy Porky to get the pig into a hospital bed, appointing HIMSELF as Porky's new doctor! (Warner is asking WHY any porky young American in the pink of health SHOULD BE FORCED TO PAY for medical services they do not need.) These Looney Tuners then foreshadow this week's outrageous 200% increase in Hillarycare's Premiums by having Daffy trying to take a literal arm and left off Porky in payment for unneeded and shoddy medical services! Please see THE DAFFY DOC immediately, and vote next week for someone who "drains the gecko" STANDING UP!

even cartoon characters have "before they were stars" resumes

[lee_eisenberg · 5/10 · 14 June 2005]

Obviously, the creative process means that you don't necessarily start out perfectly. As one of Daffy Duck's earliest appearances, "The Daffy Doc" is a prime example. Daffy plays an orderly who, after some mishaps, gets thrown out of an operating room. Determined to find a patient, he enlists Porky Pig (against the latter's will). Since Daffy is quite literally a "quack", the operation involves no anesthetic.

The cartoon seems a little less than what we're used to with the Looney Tunes cartoons, but it's still pretty funny. The best part is Daffy's (and later Daffy's and Porky's) unpleasant experience with the iron lung; it shows how "inflation" is more than an economic term.

I wouldn't be surprised if, when people first watched this cartoon, they forgot that the country was going through a depression.