Who Killed Who?

Who Killed Who? is a 1943 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animated short directed by Tex Avery.[1] The cartoon is a parody of whodunit stories and employs many clichés of the genre for humor.

Who Killed Who?
The original release poster
Directed byTex Avery
Produced byFred Quimby (unc.)
StarringRobert Emmett O'Connor
Billy Bletcher (voice)
Kent Rogers (voice)
Sara Berner (voice)
(all uncredited)
Music byScott Bradley (unc.)
Animation byPreston Blair
Ray Abrams
Ed Love
Al Grandmain (Effects)
(All uncredited)
Backgrounds byJohn Didrik Johnsen (unc.)
Production
company
Distributed byLoew's Inc.
Release date
  • June 19, 1943 (1943-06-19)
Running time
8 minutes
7"55 minutes (edit)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

A live-action host (Robert Emmett O'Connor) opens with a disclaimer about the nature of the cartoon, namely, that the short is meant to "prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that crime does not pay."

The story begins on a dark and stormy night as the victim (voiced by Kent Rogers doing an impression of Richard Haydn), presumably the master of the very large "Gruesome Gables" mansion, is reading a book based on the cartoon he's in. Frightened, he muses that, according to the book, he is about to be "bumped off." Someone throws a dagger with a letter attached, telling the master that he will die at 11:30. When he objects, another letter informs him that the time has been moved to midnight.

True to form, on the final stroke of midnight a mysterious killer in a heavy black cloak and hood shoots him dead with a rather large pistol (how dead he is, though, is a matter of question), and a police officer (voiced by Billy Bletcher, modeled on characters portrayed in film by Fred Kelsey) immediately begins to investigate. After checking out the premises and the servants, the officer gives a lengthy chase to the real killer, finding the mansion to be filled with surreal pitfalls, strange characters—including a red skeleton (a parody of Red Skelton) and a ghost that's terrified of mice—and booby traps that slow and obstruct him. He eventually traps the killer and unmasks him, revealing him to be the opening-sequence host, who confesses "I dood it"—one of Skelton's catchphrases—before bursting into tears.

Cast

Voice cast

Live-action cast
gollark: In practice, they might not really work, I mean.
gollark: Well, yes, but I mean it would be probably problematic to convert them.
gollark: - that would either involve erasing i.e. killing all extant humans, or overwriting/meddling with their minds and bodies (so basically the same thing) - obviously problematic- anthropomorphic animals probably wouldn't work very well either, inasmuch as most animals are quadrupeds and we're bipeds, along with probably a ton of other things- Marxism bad
gollark: no.
gollark: I do not. That would be terrible for many reasons.

References
  1. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 146–147. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7.
  2. https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/hello-all-you-happy-tax-payers-tex-averys-voice-stock-company/


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