Edgar Allan Pooh . . . favor Alistair Sim's 1951 version of A CHR!STMAS CAROL as the most memorably poignant film version of novelist Charles Dicken's Christmas Tale (with Bill Murray's SCROOGED edging out Mr. Magoo's rendering of Ebenezer 21% to 19% for runner-up honors). Certainly only a stone-cold Hearted humbug could maintain even one dry eye during the final scene of Sim's characterization, when a comely maid grants him entrance to his nephew Fred's Christmas evening dinner party, as the house guests sing the ballad "Barbara Allen" in the background. Just a few years after Sim's evocative performance, the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes animated shorts people use ROBIN HOOD DAFFY to build upon World War Two's warm after-glow toward all things English in general (and Sim's aforementioned live-action feature film in particular) by having Porky Pig (assuming the role here of Friar Tuck) warble "Barbara Allen" to Daffy Duck's hapless title character. ROBIN HOOD DAFFY makes it clear that--unlike Bugs Bunny's turn as RABBIT HOOD--Daffy is far less likely than Tiny Tim to be just one of the "Men in Tights," let alone their leader.

Horst in Translation ([email protected]) This 7-minute cartoon from 1958 actually has a bit of a strange premise. Daffy Duck plays Robin Hood or I should maybe say a man in Robin Hood clothes and he tries to convince Porky all film long that he actually is Robin Hood. Of course, it goes all kinds of wrong and his attempts of going against the rich even help them, for example on one occasion when he builds a bridge for the nobleman. But would Robin Hood care if people did not recognize him? Well.. he was rather vain, at least in the famous Errol Flynn movie, so maybe he would. This cartoon was only made 20 years after this famous film. Oh my. Anyway, in the end Daffy realizes it's pointless and finds another position where he will hopefully be more successful. The established trio Jones, Maltese and Blanc made this short film again and it's one of their later works from 1958. I personally did not find this one really funny, there's many better Looney Toons out there. Not recommended.

Erik Lin With the Chuck Jones incarnation of Daffy, you know very well that he'll nearly always lose. Even when he's based on a famous fictional character, he'll generally be supremely incompetent. But how he loses is what makes it entertaining.Robin Hood Daffy feels quite a bit more formulaic in the sense that the elements of dialogue don't seem to interact(a bit hard to explain). Daffy does something stupid, Porky laughs and/or snarks. In other looney tunes shorts, this formula is not nearly as explicit but here it's pretty hard to ignore. The dialogue doesn't really build up to anything is what I'm saying; you already know that Porky isn't going to be convinced whereas with Bugs he still have to put effort into the way he tricks someone. This may be attributed to the fact that Porky isn't really his main antagonist but he still feels rather static. And even when Daffy fails, it doesn't even feel as entertaining as usual. Here it's more just "slamming into things". This doesn't really elicit different expressions on the characters so the sense of pain is lost in the transition. Maybe the sound of the impact is meant to compensate but without a variety of consequences it's more just a gag in a vacuum.Animation wise, the cartoon doesn't feel nearly as lively. Chuck Jones shorts are usually known for being subtler but here they feel particularly restrained. There are some unique aspects such as the bouncing walks of the pony.Overall, it doesn't mean it's an objectively bad cartoon. But there's definitely a sense energy is lacking with the character and the gags. You do see some great poses(which Chuck Jones Shorts are also well known for).

bob the moo Daffy is a Robin Hood type who fights the sheriff and is famous from his wanted posters. His reputation is given a knock when he falls into a river and is laughed at by a fat friar pig (Porky). All Daffy's attempts to prove himself and impress the jolly Friar just seem to backfire and he can't convince him that he is the Robin Hood that Porky seeks.I'm a really big fan of Daffy Duck and always feel that he is at his best when he is in his early persona of being manic and wacky. Even when he becomes more cynical and greedy he still manages to be one of my favourite Warner Brothers characters. Here he is very much the butt of the film's jokes - a role that I'm never totally happy to see him in as I do like him as a character more than a fall guy. However here the jokes are funny and imaginative so I didn't mind so much in this case. The character he plays is basically a fall guy but the ways in which he falls had me laughing out loud - whether it was the rope swing or the shaft fight, I was loving it!I don't like to see Daffy just plain mocked but he takes it very well here and is funny himself rather than just being a patsy. Porky is also good but doesn't manage to steal the show from Daffy in the way he often can in these combination films of theirs. With no other characters to speak of, Daffy carries the film very well and gets the majority of the laughs - I still prefer to see him giving rather than getting, but this is funny nonetheless.Overall this cartoon is very funny with a good sense of cruel wit running through it. Fans of the original little black duck may be upset to see him take such punishment but I personally was relieved that Daffy managed to make this film as funny as he did.