Who Killed Who?
Who Killed Who? is a 1943 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film noir animated short directed by Tex Avery. The cartoon is a parody of whodunit stories and employs many clichés of the genre for humor; for example, the score is performed not by the MGM orchestra but by a solo organ, imitating the style of many radio dramas of the era.
Plot
A live-action host 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, presumably the master of the very large "Gruesome Gables" mansion, is reading a book based on the cartoon in which he appears. 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, and a police detective and demanding to know "Who done it?!", immediately begins to investigate. After checking out the premises and the suspicious "red herring" servants, the officer gives a lengthy chase of the real killer.
The mansion is filled with surreal pitfalls, strange characters—including a red skeleton and a ghost that is terrified of mice—and booby traps that slow and obstruct the detective. Behind a closed door marked "Do Not Open Until Xmas", he finds an angry Santa Claus. The detective 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 out crying.
Credits
- Directed By: Tex Avery
- Story: Rich Hogan
- Animation: Ed Love, Ray Abrams, Preston Blair
Cast
Voice cast
- Billy Bletcher as Evil Laugh, Police Officer, Ghost
- Sara Berner as Screams, Cuckoo Clock Bird, Maid
- Kent Rogers as The Victim, Bulter, Skeletons, Falling Body, Santa Claus and the Masked Figure
Live-action cast
- Robert Emmett O'Connor as Host