Line #32 WesternAnimation/WhoKilledWho


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/who-killed-who-movie-poster-1943-1020198063_3910.jpeg]]
2
3	"Who Killed Who?" is one of the early WesternAnimation/TexAveryMGMCartoons, created in [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation 1943]]. The short is a pastiche of {{whodunnit}} cases.
4
5	Beginning with a live-action announcer proclaiming the cartoon as an educational example of how crime doesn't pay, it is set in an old, spooky house on the "[[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace Gruesome Gables]]". The elderly owner is murdered (''how'' dead he is, though, is a matter of question) and, seconds later, a crafty detective arrives to investigate -- but he finds out that the house is a haunted and wacky place, where finding and unmasking the murderer might prove very problematic.
6	----
7	!!The cartoon short provides examples of:
8	* AdaptationDecay: The victim reads a book based on this very short and is horrified to learn what becomes of him. Unfortunately for him, this is an averted trope.
9	* AndThatsTerrible: The victim sees a note announcing he's about to die at 11.30, and exclaims (with a lisp), "Why, this is terrible! I can't die at 11.30!" -- cue a second note, "P.S. OK, we'll make it 12."
10	* {{Arrowgram}}: The victim of a potential murder receives a note attached to a dagger that reads "You will die at 11:30!"
11	-->'''Victim:''' Heavens! I can't die at eleven-thirty! ''[a second dagger with another note is thrown in; it reads "P.S. Okay... we'll make it 12:00"''
12	* BarelyMissedCushion: As he falls dead, the victim halts, pulls a mattress from {{Hammerspace}}, and restarts falling toward it. However, he suddenly turns and lands completely the other way, hitting the floor.
13	* BasedOnATrueStory: Parodied. The announcer in the opening says the cartoon is “condensed from authentic criminal records.” Considering the actual content of the picture, this is a complete put-on.
14	* BlackCloak: Worn by the killer, along with a black mask.
15	* BlandNameProduct: The cuckoo clock is a "Booolova", a pun on Bulova.
16	* BornInTheTheatre: Done with a black silhouette of a "theater patron" who moves around despite the detective's order of "Everybody stay where you are! Don't nobody move!", followed by him knocking out the guy with a club and exclaiming "That goes for you too, bub!"
17	* TheButlerDidIt: Averted in this case, but he does act very suspicious, so he might have done some other crime not uncovered yet.
18	* ByTheLightsOfTheirEyes: Parodied when the eyes visible beyond a door peephole are left shut out when the peephole closes abruptly, forcing them to knock on the door to be let back in.
19	* ClickHello: The killer gets the drop on the detective in this fashion. Unfortunately for the killer, he's out of bullets.
20	* CreatorCameo: Tex Avery provides the voice of SantaClaus in his brief appearance.
21	* CreepyChangingPainting: Of a comedic variety, of course--a painted woman in a bathsuit who has hastily covered herself by the time the detective peeks at the painting again.
22	* CruelMercy: The victim is sent a note warning he will die at 11:30 p.m. When the victim says he can't die then, the killer agrees to make it 12:00. Subverted as the clock ''immediately'' turns to show 12:00.
23	* CuckooClockGag: The victim receives a note that he will die at midnight. When the clock chimes midnight, a skeletal bird emerges and says "At the sound of the gun, it will be exactly 12:00."
24	* DemBones: Who's there? A regular skeleton, and a red one (a ShoutOut to comedian [[Creator/RedSkelton "Red" Skeleton]]). Earlier on, a skeletal cuckoo in a clock calls out the time.
25	* TheDogWasTheMastermind: [[spoiler:The murderer is ''the live-action announcer.'']]
26	* DramaticUnmask: "Now we'll see who done it?!"
27	* EekAMouse: Happens to a ghost, [[ThroughAFaceFullOfFur who promptly blushes]].
28	* ElongatingArmGag: Two instances: first, the cop stretches his leg to a door on the other end of a spacious hall; then when the killer has him at gun point and tells him to "reach for the ceiling", the cop stretches his arms all the way to the ceiling, three stories up.
29	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The detective bursts in shouting.
30	* ExtendedDisarming: The detective demands to "see the gun here on this table". He turns off the light. A few seconds later, he turns the light back on and ends up with a pile of various weapons reaching up to the ceiling.
31	* GenreRoulette: And how. The narrator sets this up to be a 'RippedFromTheHeadlines' true crime story, the opening makes it looks like a HauntedHouse movie, and the cast of characters is out of Creator/AgathaChristie.
32	* HandCannon: {{Exaggerated}}. The gun used to "kill" the victim is larger than the shooter.
33	* HauntedHouse: The setting, complete with at least one ghost and at least two skeletons.
34	* HeyYouHaymaker: When the detective gets the drop on the killer.
35	-->"Peek-a-boo."
36	* HyperspaceMallet: How the detective finally incapacitates the killer.
37	* ItWasADarkAndStormyNight: The cartoon begins with a stormy night, with the (live-action) narrator saying the trope name word-for-word.
38	* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: Gruesome Gables.
39	* LargeHam: The detective.
40	* LiteralMinded: The killer sticks the detective up in the middle of the mansion's rotunda. When told by the killer to "reach for the ceiling", the detective actually stretches his arms all the way up to the ceiling a story above.
41	* TheLivingDead: Though the victim has just been shot dead, he poses with a top hat for his autopsy picture for a split second, baffling the detective. When the detective peeks, the victim tells him to "not get nosy, bub".
42	* MaleGaze: PlayedForLaughs -- a flashlight spot scans a wall full of hanging pictures, including one of [[GoingFurASwim a scantily clad woman with a fur coat]], but when the spot returns to the picture, the woman is covered up.
43	* MediumAwareness: The victim is reading a book called "Who Killed Who? [[LogicBomb (From the cartoon of the same name)]]." This is also how he learns of his impending murder.
44	* {{Novelization}}: An in-universe example.
45	* NoIndoorVoice: The detective shouts almost every single line.
46	* ObviouslyEvil: As a gag, when the detective pushes a button marked "RING BELL FOR SUSPECTS," the butler, maid, and chauffeur come in -- and they all look rather sinister. It then turns out that they're actually pretty cheerful.
47	-->'''Detective:''' Okay, which one of you mugs bumped off the ol' boy?! Whodunnit?!
48	-->'''Suspects:''' Awwww, now wouldn't YOU like to know!
49	* OminousPipeOrgan: Heard throughout the short. It is meant to emulate the organ music used in the radio dramas that the cartoon is spoofing.
50	* PeekABooCorpse:
51	** A closet that holds ''hundreds'' of corpses that fall out one by one, for (presumably) a very long time. Lampshaded:
52	--->'''Random corpse:''' Ah yes! Quite a bunch of us, isn't it?
53	** Also when the detective is taking a picture of the body covered by a sheet. The victim sits up and poses, then falls back under the sheet. The detective lifts up the sheet:
54	--->'''Victim:''' Now let's not get nosy, bub.
55	* RedHerring: The butler, maid, and driver. Of course, they do have a large assortment of weapons.
56	* RogerRabbitEffect: Sort of -- the live action and the animated characters aren't seen together, but some clever cutting [[spoiler: in the ending]] makes it look like this.
57	* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: The detective, though first he uses a small pitch pipe to find the correct octave to achieve this.
58	* ShamefulShrinking: More like "Fearful Shrinking," as it happens to the detective upon encountering a ghost.
59	* ShoutOut:
60	** The three shots fired from the killer's gun at the victim replicate the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBC_chimes NBC Chimes]].
61	** To go with the "Red Skeleton" mentioned above, the killer's confession of "I dood it" was a catch phrase from one of Skelton's comedy routines.
62	** The voice of the victim is an imitation of popular character actor Richard Hayden.
63	** The voice of the corpse who says "Ah, yes. Quite a bunch of us, isn't it?" is likewise an imitation of comedian Jerry Colonna.
64	* ShowSomeLeg: The detective resorts to this to catch the killer.
65	* SpinningClockHands: When the victim receives a message that he is going to die at midnight, he looks terrified at the cuckoo clock; there's still a few hours left, but then the hands suddenly spin all the way to midnight.
66	* StealTheSurroundings: After the ExtendedDisarming sequence, the detective says they'll try it again. He turns out the lights, and when they come back on, ''everything'' in the room (including the bookcases and pictures on the wall) is gone.
67	* SurpriseSantaEncounter: Western UrExample: The detective sees a door marked: "Do Not Open Until Xmas." Scoffing, he opens it, and runs smack into a ''very'' irritated Santa.
68	-->'''Santa:''' Listen doc, [[CantYouReadTheSign can't you read?]] ''(bops detective on head)''
69	* ThroughAFaceFullOfFur: A variant -- the blushing ghost. How is that even possible?
70	* TickTockTerror: Played for Laughs with the creepy cuckoo clock, which rapidly hits the top of the hour so that the chimes play Chopin's "[[StandardSnippet Funeral March]]" before the victim gets offed.
71	* ToothyBird: The skeletal cuckoo bird in the clock has a beak full of small but sharp teeth.
72	* VisualPun: Once again, "[[Creator/RedSkelton Red Skeleton]]".
73	* WrapAround: The detective drops a vase into a pit in the floor; after a while, it falls on his head from above. Later on, he himself falls into a pit on the ground floor and, after a lot of noise, comes crashing down the stairs that lead to the upper floors.

Context WesternAnimation / WhoKilledWho