Deduce, You Say!
| Deduce, You Say! | |
|---|---|
| Looney Tunes (Daffy Duck and Porky Pig) series | |
 Lobby card | |
| Directed by | Chuck Jones |
| Produced by | Edward Selzer |
| Story by | Michael Maltese |
| Voices by |
Mel Blanc June Foray |
| Music by | Milt Franklyn |
| Animation by |
Abe Levitow Richard Thompson Ken Harris Ben Washam |
| Distributed by |
Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation |
| Release date(s) | September 29, 1956 (USA) |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 7:00 |
| Language | English |
Deduce, You Say! is a 1956 Warner Bros. cartoon short of the Looney Tunes series, directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese, with musical arrangements by Milt Franklyn. The title is a play on the exclamation, "The deuce you say!"
The cartoon features Daffy Duck as the dim-witted detective Dorlock Homes (a parody of Sherlock Holmes) and Porky Pig as his sidekick Watkins (based on Dr. Watson), as they attempt to locate and apprehend the dangerous "Shropshire Slasher". This episode can be found on the DVD Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1: Disc 2 and on the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2 Blu-ray set, Disc 1.
Plot
Mr. Watkins' narrates throughout the cartoon. Dorlock Holmes lives on Beeker Street in London. Inside of their apartment, Holmes is busily engaged in "deduction" — tax deduction, that is, hoping to write off such costs as "magnifying glasses and gumshoes, taxi fares, to and from murders". Following a knock on the door, a mailman falls into their flat. While Holmes attributes it to curare, a type of poison, the mailman chides him for not fixing the step. The letter says that there is a criminal on the loose named The Shropshire Slasher.
Holmes and Watkins go to a pub where the Slasher is known to hang out. Holmes' attempts to gather clues land darts in his bill. When the Shropshire Slasher is finally revealed, Holmes repeatedly attempts to arrest him, but the Slasher proves much stronger and effortlessly defeats Holmes; meanwhile, Watkins speaks reasonably to the suspect and he not only willingly divulges his identity but is peacefully persuaded to turn himself in to the police.
Just then, a woman arrives selling flowers. Holmes accuses her of selling them without a license and threatens to arrest her. The Shropshire Slasher moans "Mother!" Before Holmes has time to consider what has happened, the Shropshire Slasher grabs him by the neck and starts shaking him violently, causing all of Holmes' possessions to fall out of his pockets. The Shropshire Slasher and his mother then leave. Watkins asks a beat-up looking Holmes in what school he learned to be a detective. Holmes answers: "Elementary, my dear Watkins. Elementary".