This is a black and white short done by the Lantz Studios, part of a series featuring a character named Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. I will be discussing some detail, so this is a spoiler warning:
The short opens with a group of ducks-Papa, Mama and five baby ducks-four white and one black-strolling onto the beach. This is followed shortly by a scene showing Oswald and his dog setting up on the beach. Oswald puts his dog in charge of watching their lunch, in a large picnic basket, warning of dire consequences if anything should happen to "the lunch".
The five little ducks spot "the lunch" and decide that they want it for themselves. The little black duck is the one with the most resourcefulness and is the brains of the outfit, with most of the effort and ideas coming from him.
Several efforts are made to get the basket and its contents, until they finally succeed in taking the basket out to sea. The dog swims out after them, but the little black duck (who's doing all the work here) tricks him into believing that a shark's after him and he races back to shore.
Meanwhile, an octopus spots the ducks and manages to catch them and the Papa duck tries unsuccessfully to save them. It's up to the dog to swim to the rescue. After a struggle with the octopus, what has to be the best animated sequence takes place where the dog emerges victorious. I won't describe the gag, which is excellent and probably the funniest bit in the short.
As the dog brings the ducks and basket safely to the shore, where the two older ducks and Oswald (who suddenly re-appears after being gone much of the cartoon) cheer the rescue. The closing gag is cute, if predictable.
This short is on the DVD Attack of the '30s Characters and is well worth checking out. Recommended.
The short opens with a group of ducks-Papa, Mama and five baby ducks-four white and one black-strolling onto the beach. This is followed shortly by a scene showing Oswald and his dog setting up on the beach. Oswald puts his dog in charge of watching their lunch, in a large picnic basket, warning of dire consequences if anything should happen to "the lunch".
The five little ducks spot "the lunch" and decide that they want it for themselves. The little black duck is the one with the most resourcefulness and is the brains of the outfit, with most of the effort and ideas coming from him.
Several efforts are made to get the basket and its contents, until they finally succeed in taking the basket out to sea. The dog swims out after them, but the little black duck (who's doing all the work here) tricks him into believing that a shark's after him and he races back to shore.
Meanwhile, an octopus spots the ducks and manages to catch them and the Papa duck tries unsuccessfully to save them. It's up to the dog to swim to the rescue. After a struggle with the octopus, what has to be the best animated sequence takes place where the dog emerges victorious. I won't describe the gag, which is excellent and probably the funniest bit in the short.
As the dog brings the ducks and basket safely to the shore, where the two older ducks and Oswald (who suddenly re-appears after being gone much of the cartoon) cheer the rescue. The closing gag is cute, if predictable.
This short is on the DVD Attack of the '30s Characters and is well worth checking out. Recommended.
