Duck Pimples


Duck Pimples is a 1945 animated whodunnit short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The cartoon parodies radio crime stories and film noir dramas.

Plot

's imagination, enhanced by scary stories on the radio and in books, moves him into a seemingly real crime world, which ultimately turns out to be imaginary. Donald's dream is enhanced by the backgrounds that abruptly change each time a new character appears in it.
Scenes where Donald is threatened with a knife and the detective is threatened with an axe were at one time cut, but have been restored for the DVD release.
The cartoon is perhaps the closest Disney ever got to the zany world of Tex Avery, and specifically references his Who? Killed Who? in two ways: the use of an organ instead of a traditional orchestral score, and having Billy Bletcher voice the detective. Additionally, the character of Pauline is an obvious inspiration for the character of Jessica Rabbit in the 1988 feature Who Framed Roger Rabbit. She may have also inspired the character Pauline from Donkey Kong due to similarities between the two characters.

Reception

Cartoon Brew called Duck Pimples "the creepiest Disney short ever made" and its animation a "top-drawer work". The cartoon was included in the DVD Disney Treasures: Wave 5: The Chronological Donald Volume 2.

Voice cast