Conrad the Sailor (1942) User Reviews

Chuck Jones directed it just in time

[lee_eisenberg · 7/10 · 29 December 2007]

One of the things that I notice about Chuck Jones's "Conrad the Sailor" is that it got released about two months after the United States entered WWII. I suspect that Chuck filmed it (at least most of it) before we entered, so he didn't realize his perfect timing! But that's just speculation. The cartoon itself is a riot, as Daffy Duck teases Conrad, a deck-cleaner looking like a cross between a cat and a dog (although I think that he's supposed to be a cat) and having a face like the humans chasing Bugs Bunny in "Wackiki Wabbit" and "Hare Conditioned". Daffy makes a complete mess of everything that Conrad does. It's a true representation of Daffy back when his name really described his personality: acting totally silly for no discernible reason. Beyond that, it shows something else: during Chuck Jones's first few years as director, his cartoons were more like Disney cartoons (if you've seen any Sniffles cartoons, you'll know what I mean); but once Chuck's work took a turn for the outright zany, he went all out! Anyway, a timeless classic.

PS: Pinto Colvig, who provided Conrad's voice, also voiced Goofy in the Disney cartoons.

"Look at me--I'm a dive bomber!" . . .

[oscaralbert · 6/10 · 5 May 2016]

. . . apparent Japanese Fifth Columnist saboteur Daffy Duck says to the camera while riding a heavy explosive shell that he's helped to unleash down toward the magazine of an American battleship, DR. STRANGELOVE-style, during the early days of World War Two. The U.S. War Dept. had secretly ordered Warner Bros. to present the Asian Island Nation's Infamous Sneak Attack upon Pearl Harbor in the most humorous vein possible, to boost sagging morale on the Homefront, as well as to brighten the grim outlook of U.S. Naval Personnel, reeling from costly defeat after defeat at the hands of a virtually inscrutable enemy. So it came to pass that this animated Warner short, CONRAD THE SAILOR, cheered up the recuperating future American President J.F. Kennedy (whose boat had been vivisected), along with countless other tars and swabs. Though CONRAD preceded the U.S. Military's "Don't ask, don't tell" Policy by decades, Daffy is shown kissing Conrad full on the lips, as the Navy knew it would need every Gay and Transgendered New Recruit it could get its mitts on to sink Japan's Emperor Hirohito.

Daffy goes overboard!

[Mister-6 · 10/10 · 25 May 2002]

When Daffy Duck (Blanc) feels ornery, others suffer the consequences.

And no one suffers more that Conrad (Colvig) in "Conrad the Sailor", who is simply trying to keep a battleship clean by swabbing the deck, polishing the rails and such. But with Daffy around, nothing stays clean (or sane) for long.

Director Jones and writer Monahan make rotten antics good clean fun as Daffy thwarts Conrad at every turn by switching his mop water with paint, planting a mop on Conrad's head, belittling his cleaning abilities ("You're a slovenly housekeeper!"), besting him in patty-cake and outsmarting a freshly-launched bomb, pausing only long enough to snap a salute to the passing Admiral.

That's Daffy and we wouldn't want him any other way.

Of course, I can't speak for Conrad.

Ten stars for "Conrad the Sailor"; high seas hijinx with a felonious fowl!

Is Conrad a cat?

[slymusic · 27 May 2009]

Directed by Charles M. "Chuck" Jones, "Conrad the Sailor" is a really good seafaring cartoon that pits the one-hit wonder Conrad against the rascally Daffy Duck. Yes, I said "rascally", not "wascawwy".

My favorite sequences from this cartoon include the following (DO NOT read any further if you have not yet seen it). To hear cartoon characters burst into song is usually a real treat for me; right from the outset, the entire ship's crew (including Conrad) gleefully sings a familiar patriotic seafaring song (courtesy of Carl Stalling), which Daffy mocks later on. Daffy catches a mop and does a jazzy step with it (again courtesy of Carl Stalling). Conrad grabs the supposedly unconscious Daffy by the neck, and together they salute the captain (AGAIN courtesy of Carl Stalling). Daffy does the "peas, porridge, hot" routine with Conrad, and he is quite funny as he rides the bombshell ("Look at me! I'm a dive bombah!").

Like so many other Warner Bros. cartoons of this period, "Conrad the Sailor" deftly mixes humor with American patriotism and loyalty. Highly commendable.

Neither Conrad Nor Daffy Offer Much Here

[ccthemovieman-1 · 4/10 · 9 August 2007]

Conrad is a sailor, seen swabbing the deck and singing "Shoving Right Off From Home Again" to himself. He's happy.....until he spots Daffy Duck above on a mast. His day is now ruined; he just doesn't know how badly.

Daffy goes to work, aggravating Conrad in a big way, first by substituting red paint for water in his bucket, later by having a huge torpedo chase he (and Daffy) around the boat. That latter scene is pretty funny but most of this is not.

I have yet to see a Conrad cartoon that had any humor and Daffy didn't hit his stride and become the totally wacky duck until a few years after this. Overall, a lame cartoon.

The manic Daffy makes life miserable for an occasional minor character named Conrad

[llltdesq · 8/10 · 6 December 2006]

For all that it's entitled as "Conrad the Sailor", this is a Daffy Duck short-Conrad is just a rather unfortunate foil for Daffy in this one. As I want to discuss some of the cartoon, this is a spoiler warning:

The cartoon opens up with a rather jolly Conrad swabbing the deck and singing (as only Pinto Colvig can) "Shoving Right Off For Home Again", though some needling from Daffy turns his mood rather sour. Daffy being Daffy, he proceeds to take great delight in harassing Conrad (who had a small part in Porky's Cafe and was in a few shorts all told, including this one-eh, it's a living). He swaps a paint bucket for the bucket of water Conrad is using and then points out the resulting mess by impugning Conrad's abilities. Before long, the chase is on.

Most of the rest of the short features Conrad trying to catch Daffy, with rather painfully funny results, though the chase is intermittently interrupted by the running gag, which is Conrad's Commanding Officer moving across his path, causing Conrad to come to attention and salute him.

The biggest (and best) gag in the short has Daffy climbing into one of the deck guns, belatedly noticing it is loaded-with a wryly tossed off, "Big bullet" remark from the duck-and his attempts to first elude, then ride and finally elude again, the shell when the gun is fired by Conrad. There are some really nice visual gags in this section, which finishes with a hilarious ending.

This short is available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume 4 and is well worth seeing. Recommended.

Has its moments but personally I didn't find it that great

[TheLittleSongbird · 4/10 · 29 April 2010]

There are some good things to Conrad the Sailor, primarily the excellent voice acting of Mel Blanc and Pinto Colvig(original voice of Goofy). The music was very nice, Conrad singing Shoving Right Off From Home Again was a nice touch. One or two of the visual gags are funny, namely the chase around the deck and when Conrad fires the deck gun with Daffy in it. However, what didn't impress is that the other jokes don't work, they are either unfunny or repetitive and the dialogue is lame on the most part. Also the animation isn't up the usual standard, instead of being colourful and solid, it looks somewhat dull, and Conrad especially is drawn poorly. Speaking of Conrad, the only exceptional element to him was Colvig's voicing, other than that he is a very dull foil for Daffy. As for Daffy, we all know he has a wacky, manic and outrageous persona, though he can be cruel as well, but the poor dialogue does not put him to good use. Finally, the pacing, there are some cartoons that suffer slightly from being a little too quick, though others are perfect, but the pacing if anything was too slow here. Overall, it had its moments but sorry I didn't think it was that great, that was furthermore spoilt by an abrupt ending. 4/10 Bethany Cox

An interesting episode.

[Mightyzebra · 8/10 · 3 March 2008]

When I put: "An interesting episode", I'm talking more about how and when and why the episode was made instead of just what happens in it. It is interesting because it was made just before the Americans entered the Second World War, it has a song that was later partly used in "Duck Amuck" ("Over the sea, let's go men" etc) and the actor for the cat Conrad is the same person who voiced Goofy - Pinto Colvig! It is easy of course to recognise his voice - but I was very surprised when I heard it!

As for the episode, I like it. The farce may be overdone somewhat (for me anyway), but luckily it makes up with good jokes and the theme of the episode. There is good singing, good quotes from Daffy and Conrad, though he is horrible to Daffy, is quite a likable character anyway (guess in the same way we feel about Yosemite Sam and Wile Coyote, eh?).

On a Navy ship, there is a cat sailor called Conrad, who is merrily swabbing the deck (easily with our "modern" mop). He sees strange muddy footprints and then the little black duck and is very angry with Daffy that he has wandered on board with muddy duck feet. Hyper antics follow when Daffy decides that he does not like Conrad...

Mainly for people who prefer the older Daffy Duck and farce, enjoy "Conrad the Sailor"! :-)

Could Daffy be working for the Axis?

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 5 February 2022]

"Conrad the Sailor" is a WWII-era cartoon from Looney Tunes. And, like some other shorts by the studio, it has strong propaganda themes and I assumed they were trying to create a likable recurring character in Conrad, though he really WASN'T very likable or interesting. The only interesting aspect of him is that he sounds just like Disney's Goofy...as the same voice actor did Conrad's voice.

As far as the plot goes, for some inexplicable reason, Daffy Duck is trying to annoy Conrad and seemingly undermine America's war effort. Perhaps Daffy was a member of the Axis. All I do know is that the short was watchable but substandard.

Don't miss this Daffy!

[JohnHowardReid · 8/10 · 18 March 2018]

CAST: "Daffy Duck" (voiced by Mel Blanc), "Conrad" (voiced by Pinto Colvig).

Director: CHARLES M. JONES. Story: Dave Monahan. Animation: Ben Washam. Music director: Carl W. Stalling. "The Song of the Marines" by Harry Warren (music) amd Al Dubin (lyrics). Color by Technicolor. Producer: Leon Schlesinger. Leon Schlesinger Studios.

Copyright 28 March 1942 by The Vitaphone Corp. A Warner Bros. "Merrie Melodies" cartoon. U.S. release: 28 February 1942. 1 reel.

COMMENT: Most of the action takes place between a single sailor (presumably Conrad, of course) and Daffy, with occasional time out for saluting the ship's gnomish, be-uniformed captain, and for lots of singing "We're Shovin' Right Off Again".

Despite this apparently rather limited, very simple and slight story line, the pace is actually admirably frantic, with delightful, rapid-fire visual gags that are put across with oceans of verve and even imagination. And yes, even Daffy himself is in rather fine form. Definitely recommended.

One of my least favourite Warner Bros. cartoons of all time

[phantom_tollbooth · 1/10 · 9 January 2009]

Chuck Jones's 'Conrad the Sailor' is a totally lifeless cartoon starring the short-lived Conrad Cat character. Conrad is not much of a character at all, mainly memorable for being voiced by Pinto Colvig (instantly recognisable as the voice of Disney's Goofy). Here he is awkwardly paired with Daffy Duck for a painfully slow-moving chase aboard a ship. Conrad is a sailor (as the title suggests), swabbing the decks and singing happily until he comes across the muddy-footed Daffy whose antics instantly enrage him. Jones's take on this early, crazy version of Daffy was significantly more muted than those of Tex Avery and Bob Clampett and 'Conrad the Sailor' has a similarly draggy pace as Jones's previous Daffy film 'Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur'. The set-up is weak, the execution terrible and none of the jokes hit the mark. There's no sign of the spellbinding talent Jones would eventually prove to be in this cartoon. The ending is also completely feeble in that it's not really an ending at all. The time just seems to run out and the iris closes on the continuing chase. As a long term Daffy Duck fanatic, there are few cartoons that feature the little black genius that don't elicit some sort of positive reaction from me. 'Conrad the Sailor' is one of the exceptions and one of the few Warner cartoons that brings me not one iota of joy whatsoever.