User Reviews

. . . and why does he only crow once in a blue moon? Blue rooster "John" is tormented by a sadistic narrator throughout EACH DAWN I CROW. This unseen cackling cretin creates a self-fulfilling prophecy with his constant whispers of impending doom. But how can John survive being shot 11 times by duck hunters and getting blown up by a hand grenade, only to succumb to a falling tree?! And who is the mysterious "Roscoe," invited over for a Sunday chicken dinner with Mr. Fudd's final line of this animated short? Could Roscoe be the unseen narrator of EACH DAWN I CROW? After all, the first step police take in any murder investigation is to find out who benefits from the victim's demise. Has this whole story been a plot on Roscoe's part to get himself a couple of drumsticks? And why is Mr. Fudd chopping down a tree instead of going to church, anyway?

This is a fantastic example of the darker side of WB animation. My introduction to this particular short was on Saturday mornings back in the early '70's, before they started removing Wile E. Coyote falls, burnings, train accidents, etc. from their cartoons. This one works on a few different levels, so I laughed alongside my dad, who shared in my Saturday morning ritual, but he laughed for entirely different reasons. I haven't seen this one shown on TV since I was a kid, and it's only available one one VHS compilation of Elmer Fudd appearances. A real pity... I'd love to see a better transfer on DVD.

To summarize, John the Rooster descends into a self-preservation induced madness while goaded on by the narrator, who continues to remind him that Elmer is planning on cooking him for Sunday dinner. So John takes it upon himself to prevent his own death, eventually spinning out of control, attempting to kill Elmer. Needless to say, he fails, and the last scene shows Elmer checking the oven, with John inside, sitting in a roasting pan, basting himself with a spoon. There are many more clever WB cartoons, but none that make me laugh harder, except perhaps the Wile E. Coyote episode involving a harpoon gun mishap. If you get the chance, watch this one. 7 minutes well spent!

"Each Dawn I Crow" is an 8-minute Warner Bros cartoon from 65 years ago and the title is a play on words from a movie from 10 years earlier named "Each dawn I Die". We follow John the Rooster and a sadistic narrator who makes the poor poultry believe that Elmer is out to kill John in order to eat him for Sunday dinner. So John tries all kinds of stuff to prevent that from happening including trying to get Elmer more interested in ducks. However, Elmer really has no intent to eat John and yet the rooster is always the one suffering. I'd have preferred an ending where John would have put the narrator into the hot water, but nope, John has to suffer again. All in all a mildly funny cartoon, but nowhere near Warner Bros' or the 1940's best despite Freleng, Pierce and Blanc working on it. Not recommended.