The Duck Doctor is a 1952 Tom and Jerry cartoon directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.
Plot[]
A flock of wild ducks is flying south, and Tom sees them. He fires several shots at them with a rifle and shoots a wild duckling in the wing. That duckling cries out in pain and tries to catch up with his family on one wing, but this does not succeed. The duckling slowly falls to earth as Tom prepares to catch him. The duckling ends up sliding across the ground, hits a rock, and bounces down, where he is knocked out.
Jerry hears the racket, opens his door, and is terrified to discover the cat chasing after the duck. Jerry just manages to hide the duckling in a tree before Tom shows up; then the cat runs away. Jerry listens for a pulse and discovers that the duckling is alive. Jerry splashes the duck with a bucket of water and the duckling wakes up with a start. It begs not to be shot, but when he sees that Jerry has saved him, he explains his situation and clutches his arm. Jerry straightens out the duckling's wing and makes a makeshift sling for it. The duckling cries out in excruciating pain for a few seconds, but soon sees the sling and compliments the mouse on his abilities as a doctor.
Jerry shushes the duck because he sees Tom outside of the tree. The ducks are then heard quacking; Tom perks up when he sees the opportunity to shoot a duck down. This sound also attracts the duckling, who bids Jerry
goodbye and tries to join his flock, knocking over Tom in the process. The duckling cannot get off the ground and soon Tom starts to shoot at him. Tom corners the duck, and just before he plants a bullet in its feathers, Jerry sticks a reed up Tom's gun such that it backfires in his face.
Jerry carries the duckling back to his hole, but soon the duckling hears the ducks again and runs out, only to meet Tom with his rifle again. Tom's shots barely graze the duckling's rear and Jerry is forced to patch it up after hearing the duck's explanation. Tom imitates a duck sound by blowing through a thin tube. The duckling mows over the door and Jerry in order to get out of the hole, but then doesn't see anything. Tom puts the gun to the duckling's head and the duckling barely dodges the point-blank bullet.
After a few more shots, Tom follows the duck into a tree stump, and he fires a shot into the stump, hitting the duck again. Tom then pursues the duckling with the gun again, but accidentally shoots a pig's bottom. The pig shrieks in pain and leaps into the air. Tom looks up, and before he can react, the massive pig has flattened him into the shape of her backside. She then runs away in terror.
The wild duckling passes by Jerry's hole and Jerry pulls him in in order to patch up the duck even more. Less than a third of the duck's body is now visible. Jerry ties the duck to a large anvil to keep him from running away.
Tom stealthily crawls on his belly over to Jerry's hole and uses his caller again. The duckling obligingly comes out, taking the anvil with him. When the duck runs past Tom, the anvil flattens him. Tom fires shots at the duckling as the anvil drags across the ground. the duckling grips onto a tree and the anvil swings around and hits Tom, molding him into a stool shape. The duckling suddenly stops when the anvil gets stuck between two small trees, and Tom is ready to kill the duck when the anvil bursts free and knocks Tom backwards into a water pump.
Then the duckling succeeds in getting in the air, but is held down by the weight of the anvil. Since the wild duckling cannot go anywhere, Tom shoots at the duckling, but instead breaks the rope. The anvil plummets down where Tom is standing directly; quick as a flash, Tom panics and runs back forth but the anvil follows Tom. He realises there is no way out so he digs out a grave and smokes his last cigarette. The anvil then squishes him, killing him and he falls over the grave. The anvil became Tom's tombstone. The duckling shakes off its bandages and he flies off with his family after bidding goodbye to Jerry, who holds Tom's duck whistle.
Notes[]
- Instead of Quacker, the Duckling in this short was previously in the Tex Avery short "Lucky Ducky". Due to this, it is the only occurrence of a Tex Avery character in the original Tom and Jerry shorts.