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.

"Book Revue" is a truly excellent Warner Bros. cartoon directed by Bob Clampett. The plot of this wild and wacky cartoon is quite simple: Inside a supposedly quiet little bookshop, which has been shut down for the night, all of the various characters on the covers of the many classic novels come to life and interact with each other. That's what makes this cartoon such a joy to watch! There were other earlier Warner Bros. cartoons of this particular genre, such as "Have You Got Any Castles" (1938), "Goofy Groceries" (1941), "Speaking of the Weather" (1937), and "You're an Education" (1938), but "Book Revue" is arguably the quintessential cartoon featuring still characters/caricatures coming to life.Here are my favorite moments from "Book Revue" (DO NOT read any further if you have not yet seen this cartoon). Among others, there are caricatures of crooner Frank Sinatra, trumpeter Harry James, clarinetist Benny Goodman, drummer Gene Krupa, and a trombonist who could be either Glenn Miller or Tommy Dorsey. (I am a jazz musician myself, so it is quite dear to my heart to see caricatures of these fine musicians in a Warner Bros. cartoon.) A little later, Daffy Duck puts on a blond wig & lavender zoot suit with a large green bow tie, adopts a thick accent, and expresses his disgust for jazz and swing music. Then, defying his principles, he sings a very nutty version of "La Cucaracha" and a fairly bouncy version of "Carolina in the Morning" while his body STRETCHES. Best of all is Daffy's wild scat singing as he tries to warn Little Red Riding Hood about the Big Bad Wolf. Also take note of how Daffy's eyeball greatly ENLARGES upon spotting the wolf; only director Bob Clampett could have thought of such a wild "sight" gag! "Book Revue" is a classic cartoon that contains a great deal of ENERGY, which is a primary characteristic of Bob Clampett's cartoons. Catch this film on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2 Disc 4, with an additional commentary by Michael Barrier, who is quite a knowledgeable animation historian.

Part of the reason that the Looney Tunes cartoons were so great is that they exposed children to high culture. "Book Revue" is one of the many cartoons that does this. Featuring a book store where the literature does impersonations of Frank Sinatra, Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa, and others, they go all out here.One thing that I have to admit is that when I was six years old, I didn't get the references; I mean, how many six-year-old children can identify William Shakespeare or Dante's "Inferno"? I also didn't know that Daffy Duck was doing a skit based on Danny Kaye.But even if you don't get all the jokes, it's still a hoot just for what they show. You're sure to love it.

OK, it's not necessarily the all-time *best* Daffy Duck cartoon (that would be "Duck Amuck" or "Robin Hood Daffy", or maybe "Great Piggy Bank Robbery") but it's my personal favorite - I just love it to bits. Clampett at his high-octane best, taking on the old workhorse "book covers come to life" formula and *demolishing* it (no one at WB ever made another!) with a show-stopping and hysterically funny performance by Daffy. From a spot-on-perfect impression of Danny Kaye playing a homesick Russian gypsy ("*sigh* How different was my little willage...the happy peoples, sitting on their balalaikas, strumming their samovars...") to a mad scat song warning Red Riding Hood to beware the wolf and an all-out battle, the duck just rocks. The concentrated energy of this cartoon blasts off the screen! A slow start, but once Daffy appears onscreen, brother, clear the decks. A definite 10.