When it strike midnight at the book shop, things go crazy. The characters in the various books of the time begin to cavort. However, what could have been a very clever cartoon becomes a study in the pop culture of post World War II. Frank Sinatra appears and all the female characters go into hysterics. When a thinly clad young Indian maid appears, there is a chorus of wolves (some are actually wolves but most are just male characters). Eventually, Daffy Duck gets on the scene. There is a lot of jazz and he doesn't respond well to it. I just didn't find this one very gratifying. Daffy howls and screams and his encounter with the Red Riding Hood wolf is lame at best.

Of all the cartoons where books, magazines etc. come to life, Bob Clampett's 'Book Revue' is by far the finest. The problem with many of these kind of cartoons is that they rely on cultural references that have been long forgotten, inescapably dating the picture. Although there are many references to popular books of the day in 'Book Revue', it manages to sidestep the detrimental dating effect thanks to Clampett's typically engaging speedy pacing and the inclusion of Daffy Duck as a character. Daffy emerges from the cover of a Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies comic and proceeds to completely steal the cartoon away from all the witty book parodies. Ever the showman, Daffy opens with a Danny Kaye impersonation followed by the highlight of the cartoon, a phenomenal scat version of the Little Red Riding Hood Story. Mel Blanc must be given enormous credit for pulling this off so brilliantly but Clampett makes it all the better by matching this brilliant vocal performance with stunning visual, including the infamous moment in which Daffy turns into a giant eyeball. This is the sort of joke no other director would even attempt and Clampett pulls it off with grotesque glee, 'Book Revue' is so much better than all other cartoons of its kind because it doesn't get hung up on visual pun after visual pun. Instead, Clampett uses these books as the backdrop against which to stage a high speed chase. Unlike some of these reference heavy shorts, 'Book Revue' can be enjoyed whether you get the reference points or not. It's a classic cartoon bursting with energy and ideas.

It's swoon time over Frank Sinatra in the little old book shop and all the female characters who come to life on the covers of books are shrieking and carrying on, even "Whistler's Mother."Musicians and all are not only to life but having fun with the music. All, that is, but Daffy Duck who jumps out of his comic book holding his ears, but then takes over the singing from there. That are a lot of period references here, not just to Frank, but Danny Kaye, W.C. Fields, Jimmy Durante, cigarette commercials and many, many classic books. It's really too wild and crazy to explain. Suffice to say this is wacky Daffy Duck in one of his craziest cartoons. He and director Robert Clampett made a tremendous pair with outrageous animated short films like this. Who else would have Daffy doing scat music to Little Red Riding Hood (a highlight)?As with some other Daffy Duck cartoons, this is total insanity....and a lot of us love it!

Daffy Duck stars in the surreal short that has all the books of a book store coming alive in humorous ways. Fawning over Frank Sinatra, whom Daffy seeks to steal the spotlight from with his Danny Kaye impersonation (and he succeeds I might add). He also goes up against the Big Bad Wolf in this great Robert Clampett short (and pretty much all of Clampetts work on Looney Tunes was indeed great, so for this to be one of the standouts is really saying something). This animated short can be seen on Disc 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2 and also features an optional commentary by Micheal Barrier.My Grade: A+