Why Does Daffy Do What He Does?

1948 Cinecolor Answer To What Makes Daffy Duck

I had to look to see if there should be a question mark at the end of this title, but apparently not. What the cartoon reveals, presumably, is what causes Daffy to duck, which itself is a reasonable query, though past cartoons, many in fact, no doubt addressed it. This one finds DD in flight from hunting Elmer and a predatory fox. What Makes Daffy Duck came not long before Daffy morphed to a craven character Chuck Jones used in teamings with Bugs Bunny. The late 40's duck seemed in an identity crisis, what with a war over and his excess energy needing redirection. Bob Clampett had left Warners in mid-1945 and so was no longer there to guide him to increasingly anarchic directions. A summit of daffiness had thus been reached and would not be approached again. Bob's unit was taken over by up-from-animating Arthur Davis, a black sheep director who didn't stay at helming long, though he gets good result with What Makes Daffy Duck. The cartoon was made in Cinecolor, a part economy measure, but mostly result of backed-up work at Technicolor labs that made print delivery uncertain. Did someone at WB have friends at Cinecolor they wanted to help out? For a while, it looked as though the limited color process might click, 1948 a near-peak of what prosperity they enjoyed. Warner DVD looks to have tweaked Daffy's Cinecolor for Blu-Ray release --- I doubt the cartoon looked as good in 1948.