Studio: Leon Schlesinger Productions
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Produced by: Leon Schlesinger
Short Synopsis
Plot documentation for this short is thin, and this summary follows the surviving film. At a cavalry fort in the Old West, a troop of dog soldiers in blue uniforms marches out of the barracks, and Porky Pig and Daffy Duck are among the men on duty. A sentry patrols the log stockade with his rifle. The fort is under siege from Native Americans, drawn as broad caricatures typical of the period, who surround it and fire volleys of arrows over the wall. Daffy, in his early, screwball form, bounces around the fort and treats the attack as a lark, while Porky does his best to hold the line; at one point Porky stands on a barrel at the top of the stockade, face to face with one of the attackers. The gags come quickly, one after another, all built on the siege, and the battle ends in confusion rather than glory.
Why It Matters
- It is a rare example of a Warner director remaking a black-and-white cartoon almost frame by frame in colour. Freleng's version reproduces most of Bob Clampett's Scalp Trouble (1939), but with new voice recordings, some new scenes and a reorchestrated score, so it is a useful case study in how the studio recycled and refreshed its library.
- It also reuses scenes from other cartoons, Tex Avery's Johnny Smith and Poker-Huntas for the Native American charge and Freleng's own The Hardship of Miles Standish for the archers, which shows how wartime pressures and tight budgets shaped production. Its caricatures of Native Americans are typical of the period and need to be seen in that light.
Notes and Trivia
- The Blue Ribbon reissue is about 49 seconds shorter than the original release.
- It is included on the Looney Tunes Collector's Vault: Volume 3 Blu-ray.
- See also: The Hardship of Miles Standish (1940), Tom Turk and Daffy (1944).