Ace in the Hole (1942 film)

Ace in the Hole
Woody Woodpecker series
Directed by	Alex Lovy
Produced by	Walter Lantz
Story by	Ben Hardaway Milt Schaffer
Voices by	Kent Rogers Harold Peary
Music by	Darrell Calker
Animation by	George Dane Alex Lovy LaVerne Harding
Studio	Walter Lantz Productions
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	June 22, 1942
Color process	Technicolor
Running time	6' 43"
Country	United States
Language	English
Preceded by	The Hollywood Matador
Followed by	The Loan Stranger

Ace in the Hole is the fifth animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on June 22, 1942, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal Pictures.

Plot

Woody Woodpecker is at an Army Air Corps military base, and is dreaming of taking one of the planes up in the air. His enthusiasm in this respect gets him into a lot of trouble with his sergeant. Finally, the sergeant, fed up with Woody's actions in trying to imitate a pilot, throws Woody out of the barracks and into the pilots' quarters. Woody reads a textbook ("How to Fly a Plane From the Ground Up"). In the quarters, he stumbles over a clothes tree and into a flying suit. Woody's attempts to zipper the suit get him into more trouble as he knocks over a box of flares, one of which lands in the collar of the flying suit. Attempting to zipper the suit, Woody mistakenly pulls the pin from the flare, and he's violently projected into the air. The suit swells up and bursts, and Woody floats down by parachute into the cockpit of the plane (the PU-2). The sergeant orders Woody out of the plane, but Woody blindly pulls on a lever, and the plane takes off so fast that it leaves all insignia and numbers behind. Finally, the sergeant lassos the plane, and the jolt yanks him out of his uniform. He climbs up to the cockpit, and as Woody opens it, a bomb falls into the sergeant's underwear. The result is disastrous for the sergeant. As we iris out, the sergeant, sitting in a wheelchair with a shotgun on his knee, has Woody clipping every horse in the Army.

Production notes

Ace in the Hole marks the first time Kent Rogers provided the voice for Woody. Woody's original design became a little softer in starting with Ace in the Hole. His bucked teeth began to disappear, as Lantz realized this feature was extraneous. In addition, the beak and feet colors became slightly brighter and more vibrant, and his big chin is gone.^[1]

The title is a play on the card-playing term "ace in the hole" and the "flying ace" who would pilot a fighter plane.

References