Looney Tunes Appreciation

Golden Collection vol 6

2008-11-19T13:43:00.000-08:00

Yes I know the site hasn't been updated. I not going to give anymore excuses either BUT I will try my hardest to continue. Anyways this post is about LTGC vol 6.

As everyone knows by now, this is the last of the Golden Collection series (although there will be more cartoon boxsets every year - correct me if i'm wrong here) and Jerry Beck, the compiler decided that, as one last hurrah, it was better to fill the set up with rarities and curios.

The result is, one of the best in the whole series. But let's take this slowly.

The first disc is a grab bag of different cartoons. To be honest I wish there were more of these other than the traditional Bugs Bunny (sorry he irritates me) disc. I like the fact that one cartoon will star Daffy and the next Pepe le Pew. It brings me back to the days when I'd watch the old video compilations of the eighties or the Bugs Bunny and Tweety show on Saturday mornings. Rampant eclectism suits the Looney Tunes discs to a tee and this is no exception. In fact every cartoon here is a winner, my fave being Chuck Jones' ultra violent 'Bear Feat'.

The second Disc focuses on, mostly cartoons with a wartime theme in them, with the exception of three shorts which are about the American economy. Again I'm a big fan of this stuff so I was quite excited to see Jones' marvellous Draft Horse for the first time or the still interesting Herr meets Hare (Freleng). Some cartoons don't exactly hit the mark as the jokes are dated (mostly Jones' The Weakly Reporter) and I've seen the educational short on a near weekly basis so I've become numb to them (although the punchline in By Word of Mouse is still brilliant).

Disc 3 is the one that you'll love or hate as it's about the 1932-1935 batch of Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies. To be hinest i'm not a huge fan of this era and I got very restless and irritated at times. The twisted humour is there but the cutsiness and constant propaganda of warner films spoils everything. On the other bright side there is soem great restoration work here and i know that some of these cartoons are so rare that it's a treat to see them for the first time.

Besides Bugs Bunny and so on, there were quite a few one offs that the cartoon studio produced, which were basically springboards for other animation styles and FINALLY the best of the lot are collected on one disc. The creepy 'Chow Hound' , the frustrating 'Fresh Airedale' the artistic masterpiece 'Page Miss Glory' and more. This, for me was what Warner Brothers cartoons were all about and those were the cartoons that I would look forward to on the Looney Tunes video compilations back in the 80's. It's also the disc that I've been rewatching constantly for the past month as well.

One gripe I have with this set is that the special features aren't as great. The commentaries ( which I adore) are sparse, the cartoon specials are dull, The Mel Blanc documentary is way too fawning but the Leon Schleisenger christmas clips are quite interesting and the 11 bonus cartoons are a big treat.

It is a great conclusion but now I'm wondering what will happen next? Foghorn Leghorn and Pepe Le Pew still haven not been given proper treatment. So will they be next?? who knows?

Update

2008-07-29T14:41:00.000-07:00

oh man i slacked big time over here.

but I will continue updating the blog and that's a promise - i want to try finish summarising the cartoons on the next four volumes so that i'll be able to focus on vol 6.

that's not all folks!

Lumber Jerks 1955 (Dir : Friz Freleng)

2008-03-01T21:36:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the long pause. At the moment i'm trying to develop my music blog and this has fallen on the wayside. I will continue updating. I plan to asses every cartoon in these volumes and it will be achieved!

I first came across Lumber Jerks back in the 80's on the Speedy Gonzales video compilation ( I guess they needed a break in the routine) and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Personally the cartoon still hasn't lost it's magic.

The short itself stars the cult characters, the Goofy Gophers ( aka Mac 'n' Tosh), two rodents who speak with upper class British accents and are extremely polite to each other. They were originally a Clampett invention and have been passed down to many directors. Unfortunately out of the nine cartoons they starred in, I have only seen two. Lumber Jerks and 1955's Pest for Guests' ( which was on the Looney Tunes video compilations that were rampant in the 80's), which is equally good.

Unlike Freleng's usual black out gag style, Lumber Jerks is more a character study in the vein of Chuck Jones' later Cartoons. Basically the Gophers have to retrieve their home from a sawmill. It is a very simplistic plot but it gives Freleng time to play around with The Gophers attitude.

Throughout the whole picture the Gophers stay calm and collected, despite the fact that their house ( a tree) has been stolen. Even when avoiding a waterfall these two rodents face their challenge without double takes or anything like that.

The only time when one of them lets loose (some sawdust falls on his head and he pretends to act like a girl) he is quickly brought back into reality and they continue to look for their tree.

Eventually the gophers see their tree being turned into furniture and the cleverly stop the delivery truck and manage to stack the chairs and whatnot into a crude makeshift tree. The fianl shot has them staring at a tv set happy at the fact that they now own a television and wondering when they'll have electricity.

It's also worth noting that Lumber Jerks slyly makes little digs at mass consumption. Most of the trees in the sawmill are practically destroyed to make toothpicks. I'm sure if you look into it, there's an eco moral to the short.

Why Freleng didn't make more character based cartoons during his career mystifies me. He was definitely capable of pulling them off and they were much better than say the Sylvester and Tweety cartoons, which focus on the same plot being repeated constantly. Anyway watch Lumber Jerks and see Freleng expose his true potential.

Canned Feud 1951 ( Dir : Friz Freleng)

2008-02-10T20:56:00.000-08:00

Like all Friz Freleng's cartoons, Canned Fued follows a very simple plotline, that's followed by many gags and then an ending where you sort of raise your eyebrows a bit. Although I'm not a big fan of his cartoons I do admit that he has comic timing and his stories unfold very nicely.

Canned Feud reminds me of Tex Avery's MGM cartoons and I have a feeling they were an influence on this short. They way the gags are centred on one motive is very Avery-ish.

Basically Sylvester's owners go for a holiday in California and forget to leave Sylvester any food after some frantic searching Sylvester discovers a whole cupboard filled with canned fish ( in these few minutes there's a lot of Avery-like double takes). The only problem is that a mouse has stolen the can opener, which means Sylvester has to catch the mouse in order to get the tool.

After electrocuting himself, being squashed by a piano, Falling through the floor ( this utilises Freleng's famous saw gag. The saw gag : when a character saws through a wall and his nemesis saws through the floor, thus giving the immpression that the blade is extra long. Usually the character will fall through the floor) backfires, getting his head blown up and sucked in a vaccuum cleaner. Sylvester decides to use a shed load of dynamite and blows up the house in the process. Finally the can opener lands on him. Estactic he runs to the cupboard only to find it locked and, yes, the mouse has the key. Sylvester screams and then faints.

Canned Fued is a very well structred cartoon and one can see why it was a staple on video compilations and tv shows. It has a classic cartoon feel ( a chase, double takes, cartoon violence) and it is entertaining. Not something I would want to watch constantly but good to see now and then.

Bugs and Thugs 1954 ( Dir : Friz Freleng)

2008-02-08T03:12:00.000-08:00

(sorry the picture and spelling function aren't working!)

Bugs and Thugs is a sort of update or even evolution of the 1946 cartoon Racketeer Rabbit (also by Freleng)despite the fact that one gag is shared. I prefer this version. Mainly because the gangsters Rocky and Mugsy are 'proper' cartoon characters instead of Jimmy Cagney and Peter Lorre look alikes.

Bugs Bunny is off to the bank to withdraw some carrots from his account. After he finshes he decides to hail a taxi but it turns out to be Rocky and Mugsy's getaway car. Rocky robs the bank and jumps into the car, thus making Bugs an instant witness to the crime.

Rocky then plots to kill Bugs and the two goons go find a suitable place to dispose of him. Bugs, then reverts to his usual trickery by telling Mugsy to stop at a gas station. Once out of the car Bugs tries to phone the police but this fails.

The trio drive to a railway crossing and Rocky then tells Bugs to go out and check if there are any trains going by. Bugs again tries to outsmart them by telling them that the coast is clear. The second the car goes on the tracks a train rushes by and destroys everything. As a result Bugs has to fix the car and carry it to the gangster's hideout.

Once they arrive Rocky tells Mugsy to shoot Bugs but Bugs verbally tricks Mugsy into giving him the gun and promptly shoots him. ( Mugsy just faints) Rocky then decides to do the job but then Bugs pretends to be a policeman, which frightens the thugs. He convinces the idiot to hide in the oven and blows them up. Right after ( and this a great scene) a real policeman arrives and the whole oven scenario is renacted. Instead of being blown up a second time. Rocky and Mugsy run towards the policeman and give themselves up.

The cartoon ends with Bugs as a private-eye talking about his job.

Bugs and Thugs works cause it is zippy, full of action and concludes excellently. A very well-rounded cartoon with some unpredictability in it too.

Putty Tat Trouble 1951 ( Dir Friz Freleng)

2008-01-30T20:22:00.000-08:00

As you probably have guessed from the title it is a Sylvester and Tweety cartoon. However there is one small added twist - there is another cat introduced so this time round Sylvester has a rival.

Putty Tat Trouble can be said to be divided in three conscise segments. The first few minutes take place outdoors, then a lengthy scene that takes place in a cellar and the remaining two minutes on a pond.

There really isn't much to say. Both cats battle it out for tweety and in the end fall into lake and catch colds. The cellar scene is a bit boring as it focus on both cats pushing Tweety in their mouth and small gags based on the antiques found in the attic.

It's a no brainer cartoon, yet one that is well animated but to repetative to fully enjoy it.

Kit for Kat 1948 ( Dir Friz Freleng)

2008-01-25T19:59:00.000-08:00

Kit for Kat is one of early Sylvester cartoons. By watching the cartoon you can see that his feartures are still a bit lanky and has something Clampett-esque about him. Although he is not with Tweety in this cartoon, it is worth noting that he had been paired up with that yellow nuisance a year prior to this cartoon.

Sylvester is hungry. He is looking for food in alleyway trash cans. After a few minutes of searching he is joined by a smaller, cuter looking cat, whom he banishes.

It is a cold night and Sylvester needs some shelter so he goes to Elmer Fudd's house and feigns sickness. Elmer takes pity on him and accepts Sylvester in his house.

so far so good.

While Sylvester is comfy and content, Elmer hears a knock on his door and it's the kitten who Sylvester banished earlier. Now Elmer is in a quandary. He can't keep two cats so one has to go out. He advises both cats that he'll make his decision in the morning. Making a big emphasis on the kitten cuteness.

Sylvester, one who knows when he's in trouble, is now plotting to kill the kittem. Naturally all of his plans go horribly wrong. Framing the kitten, keeping him trapped in a mousehole and at one point hypnotising him to beat Elmer up with a baseball bat. Each ploy wakes up Elmer and he gets angrier at Sylvester.

Elemer's breaking point happens when the kitten tries to get the upper hand of the situation and creates even noise to drown out judgement day. Elmer wakes up furious and ready to kick one cat out, but then a hand comes out of nowhere ( deus ex machina? hmmmmm) and gives Elmer an eviction notice.

The cartoon ends with all three rummaging through trash cans.

For soem reason this cartoon would crop up a lot on video compialtions and saturday tv shows. I found boring then and I still do now. There are Freleng cartoons that I like but so far it's been a weak beginning.

Bunker Hill Bunny 1950 (Dir : Friz Freleng)

2008-01-24T20:23:00.000-08:00

Oh dear here we start with Bugs Bunny again. It's not that I dislike the character but, funnily enough I think his cartoons are the weakest out of the whole Looney Tunes stable.But then the ones that are great stand out as bona fide classics ( I'm thinking What's Opera Doc at this point)

Bunke Hill Bunny is, however, not a great cartoon.

So far the four Yosemite Sam/Bugs Bunny offerings on the boxset have been a teensy bit weak. it's on boxset four that the really good ones start pouring in so there will be a bit of a wait.

As with Freleng cartoon, we are plunged straight into the action as the whole picture starts with images of the 1776 Amercian Civil war. The picture then cuts to Yosemite Sam as a Hessian and Bugs as a minuteman battling it out with cannons.

sam then declares that since he's outnumbered Bugs 'one to one' he should surrender. Bugs refuses and this leads to a series of visual gags involving bombs ( the bomb/baseball sequence is great and unmissable) cannons , dynamite and gunpowder ( another very good scene) Sam gives up and anounces that he's a Hessian without agression and joins Bugs in they march into the sunset.

It's a bit difficult to comment on this without repeating myself. It's a solid no frills cartoon. I'll watch it but it's not one I come back to. Plus it's way too similar to 1949's Buccaneer Bunny.

Canary Row 1950 (Dir Friz Freleng)

2008-01-23T20:04:00.000-08:00

Vol 1 Disc 4

I have a certain apathy towards Tweety. The fact that he is annoying, brutal and ruthless bothers me. Also the fact that he think he's so great makes me REALLY want to pulverize that annoying yellow pest. To frank Sylvester should have chewed up that cretin long ago.

ANYWAY

As wikipedia is assuring me Canary Row ( it's a pun - Cannary Row) this is the first cartoon that features Granny, tweety's owner. Mind you she's equally bothersome. Like most Tweety and Sylvester cartoons - or most of Friz Freleng's cartoons, the plot is very simple and build around visual gags. By the way Tweety is a Clampett creation, while Sylvester is a Freleng one (albeit it a slightly evolved version of a Clampett cat, check out 1946's Kitty Kornered).

The cartoon begins with Sylvester and Tweety watching each other from adjacent buildings. As soon as tweety utters his famous ' I thought I taw a Puddy Tat' and 'I did , I did tee a puddy tat!' Sylvester licks his chops and races in the building. Two seconds later and he gets booted out due to the fact that it's a hotel and dogs or cats aren't allowed in the building.

This means that Sylvester has to find a way to get in the building unnoticed.

At first Sylvester tries the direct approach and manages to go up on the window sill but Tweety cries for help and granny comes rushing, chucking the cat out of the building.

After the next incident which involves a drainpipe and a bowling ball ( all gone horribly wrong) Sylvester decides to be more cunning and disguises himself as an organ grinders monkey and although he manages to get into the building, Granny sees through his disguise and wallops him with an umbrella.

Sylvester's next ruse is to dress up as a bellboy ( as he finds out that Granny will be leaving the hotel) in order to collect the cage. Finally Sylvester manages to grab Tweety's cage. As soon as he runs outside and pulls away the drop cloth we find granny in the cage and she again clobbers him with her umbrella.

After two more failed attempts, Sylvester's last plan is to get to Tweety's window by balancing upon a series of tram wires. Suddenly a tram comes by and electrocutes sylvester. The driver of the tram? - Tweety and Granny. Both repeat the 'I tawt I taw a puddy tat'

Sylvester loses again - bah - oh yeah notice the advertisement on the wall about 'Friz Drinks' It was common to but Warner Bros cartoon unit staff names on billboards and adverts.

To sum up the cartoon, it's just your typical cat and bird scenario. Nothing new but nothing bad either. Functional.

Tortoise wins by a Hare 1943 ( Dir Bob Clampett)

2008-01-23T05:51:00.000-08:00

This is the last cartoon on disc three. The next disc will consist of various Looney Tunes.Ten are directed by Friz Freleng and the remaining four by Bob McKimson.

One thing I liked about Bob Clampett was his depiction of Bugs Bunny. For Clampett Bugs is a lesser intelligent stooge who has a tendency of losing his battles. Although Tortoise wins by a hare is a sort of sequel to Tex Avery's 1941 cartoon 'Tortoise beats Hare' you could say that Clampett leaves his own original mark on the cartoon.

Tortoise beats... has a sort of prelude, It starts off with Cecil Tortoise ( a great character) racing against Bugs and winning, despite Bugs is obviously in the lead. We then find out that Bugs was watching a film of the race and that he desperately wants to know the tortoises' secret ( he states at one point that he's so sporty that he has athlete's foot!), so he hatches up a plan.

Bugs dresses up (badly) as an old man and goes to Cecil's house in order to get some dirt out and Cecil confesses (although he sees through his disguise) that his success lies in the streamlined shell, and he shows him the blueprints and he can't help insulting rabbits in the process while doing this.

Bugs gets excited, builds a turtle shell, wears a bathing cap and challenges Cecil to another race and there is a big fuss about it.

To add another dimension to the plot a Rabbit mob have been placing bets on Bugs and are ready to kill Cecil if he is in the lead.

On the big day, Bugs is all cocky and arrogant about his victory while Cecil is his usual laid back self. When they start running Bugs is in the lead and then slips on his tortoise costume and is way ahead.

Then the Rabbit mob spot him and mistake Bugs for Cecil and beat him up. Despite Bugs' protests they wont believe him. This is accentuated even more when we find out that Cecil is dressed as a rabbit and continues to run the race, is getting closer to the finishing line. Bugs finally manages to break free from the thugs and runs for his life and overtakes Cecil but the gangsters catch him again, while another group grab Cecil ( dressed as a rabbit) and run to the finishing line.

When Bugs pulls off his turtle costume the rabbit thugs look at each other and say in unison.

now he tells us!

The leader puts a gun to his head and commits suicide. The rest follow suite.

Typical Clampett. A twisted narrative - it blurs the idea of who is the tortoise and who is the hare, hugely entertaining and gripping as well. My only qualm is that it's not littered with so many double entendres as previous cartoons are ( although detail is as fine as usual - look at the crushed carrots in Bugs' mouth!). This is nit picking though. It's great fun from the first second.

Bugs Bunny gets the Boid 1942 ( Bob Clampett)

2008-01-21T20:32:00.000-08:00

After 12 Chuck Jones shorts, it is a bit refreshing to see a Bob Clampett cartoon, and one of his best ones too!

I love Beaky Buzzard, his idiotic giggling, his slower than a crippled tortoise voice, his politness. This whole cartoon just makes me laugh from beginning to end (and it's Beaky's first appearance). It is one of Clampett's higlights and it's far superior than the Clampett cartoon that was one the Bugs Bunny disc.

We begin with the mother buzzard telling her four children to get food for dinner and three rush off enthusiastically, however Beaky ( here nicknamed killer) refuses to get food ( this is done by Beaky repeating nope nope nope and rubbing his head against his mum's body) so his mother encourages him to get something small, Beaky still refuses so she literally kicks him into the sky.

when he realises that he has to fly, he goes into full Mortimer Snerd ( a famous ventriloquest puppet) mode and begins to sing a country hick song. On spying Bugs he tries to grab him in one fel swoop but he fails and crashes into the ground, due to Bugs giving him the wrong angles to land.

When the dust falls Bugs asks what Beaky's looking for and he takes a awhile to remember, when he does, Bugs tells him to wait so that he'll prepare himself. After Beaky realises that Bugs may be tricking, he reaches down Bugs' warren and a chase begins.

Beaky does manage to catch Bugs but drops him after being tickled with one of his own feathers. Bugs then lands on cattle skeleton and falls in the ground waist up. This gives the impression that Bugs has turned into a skeleton, with only his upper torso as the only living thing. This fools Bugs momentarily and he gets out of the ground and moves on.

Beaky manages to catch Bugs again but then Bugs turns it into some type of dance and twirls Beaky so hard that he lands in the skeleton. Beaky really thinks he's dead and begins to cry. Suddenly Mama buzzard comes along and demands to Bugs why her son his like this. When Bugs pulls Beaky out of the ground she pronounces him as the hero and Bugs begins to blush and giggle stupidly.

.... gets the Boid is Clampett through and through. Zany, cultural references, breakneck animation ( thanks to Clampett's partner in crime, top animator Rod Schribner) and laughs by the dozen. Like most cartoons, it's a chase but one that takes some bizarre detours.

In NO WAY can a summary do justice to this cartoon. I cannot mention every single detail and Clampett's cartoons are brimming with them. I urge you to try find this gem and watch it.

Don't Give Up the Sheep 1953 ( Dir Chuck Jones)

2008-01-20T20:22:00.000-08:00

I can't help liking the Ralph and Sam cartoons. Although it's the same old chase theme that Jones had perfected with previous cartoons, there is a lot of charm. The idea of two characters going to work as friends and yet during their jobs play the roles of enemies is quite intelligent.

The Sam and Ralph cartoons always have the same structure. Ralph is a wolf (not dissimilar to Wil E. Coyote and Sam is a sheepdog. They both punch in for work and seem to be the best of friends.

That is until the whistle that jumpstarts their day begins. They then start to fulfill their roles. The wolf tries to steal the sheep and Sam foils his plans, usually hurting Ralph in the process. Usually during their lunch break they are friendly again but when work resumes they return to their roles till the end of the day. Usually Ralph is a total mess and Sam is triumphant.

Don't give up the Sheep is the first cartoon out of the six that Jones directed ( there is a seventh that was written by Jones but tackled by a different director) and I would say that it's the best one (although 1960's Ready, Woolen and Able comes very very close)

The cartoon starts with Sam punching in for work ( Ralph appears as a colleague from 1954's Sheep Ahoy onwards) and beginning to watch the sheep. Ralph enters the scene and begins to steal Sam's protoge's Like the Wil E. Coyote films im going to list down the various ploys.

1. First Ralph messes with Sam's punch clock
2. Ralph hides under a bush and steals a sheep. Sam hides under a tree and whacks him until he replaces the sheep.
3. Ralph tries to play the pan flute in order to lull Sam. Ralph just gets punched in the face.
4. Ralph digs a whole underground and starts to steal sheep. He accidentally grabs Sam, gets punched and replaces the sheep.
5. Ralph tries to set a wildcat loose on Sam. The wildcat takes a detour and attacks Ralph instead.
6. Ralph swings from a tree in order to swipe a sheep. He gets Sam instead. Luckily Ralph escapes and goes on a tree branch and saws it off. He then finds Sam behind him sawing off the branch, Sam then finds ralph behind him sawing another portion of the branch. Ralph then finds Sam chopping the tree down. Ralph then uses a pickaxe to loosen the cliff edge where Sam is sitting but Ralph's portion of the cliff falls instead. Sam shrugs.
7. Ralph tries to steal sheep while underwater, using a reed as a breathing apparatus. Sam drops a stick of dynamite down the reed. The water bubbles and burbles. Ralph rises to the surface and sinks like a ship.

Sam punches out for the day while his replacement comes over. Sam takes a club and starts beating him. We actually find out it is the wolf in disguise. Sam starts to club the wolf on the behind while Sam's real replacement arrives.Sam hands him the club and he starts his day by beating Ralph on the behind.

It's 7 mins of pure visual gags but it's mesmirising. Like the rooadrunner cartoon we know that the wolf will lose but it's interesting to see how the plans will backfire. In the case of Ralph and Sam it's a three way relationship which gives the chase a bit more of a dimension ( although the sheep are passive) Either way the stalker is the true victim.

Feed the Kitty 1952 ( Dir Chuck Jones)

2008-01-20T09:18:00.000-08:00

Ooooooooohhh this is a big fave of mine. I have watched this one dozens of times and it still hasn't lost it's magic. I actually first came across this one through a Looney Tunes sticker album that was published in 1989 and managed to watch it on the Bugs Bunny and Tweety show a year later. It struck me then and eighteen years later it still makes me drop everything.

Why does it work so well? First of all it's a simple story but what saves it from being a maudlin cartoon about love for another is the bulldog Marc Antony. Within 7 mins he pulls off about a dozen facial expressions and goes through a variety of feelings, with his jowls flapping and over dramatic feelings makes you laugh. What more is that Jones directed six more Marc Antony shorts and they are all fantastic. This is the first one.

We kick off with a shot of a can and two little eyes pop up. At first we are lulled into thinking that this may be some grotesque evil cartoon but then we find out when that's it's a harmless, adorable kitten. The camera pans and we are introduced to the second protagfonist. The hulking bulldog Marc Antony, who runs toward the kitten ( called pussyfoot) snarling and barking.

Pussyfoot doesn't show any fear and calmly climbs on Marc Antony and starts to knead his back. Peace his regained and the dog, instantly falls in love with the kitten.

Now that a friendship is established, Jones brings us to the second part of the plot. Marc Antony arrives to his house with Pussyfoot in tow, We find out that he has a bad habit of bringing junk from outside and leaving. So his owner warns him that he cant bring anything else in the house.

from then on the cartoon focuses on Marc Antony trying to hid Pussyfoot, and he does succeed but he ends up looking like a cretin and his owner begins to doubt his sanity.

the third development occurs when Marc Antony decides to hide the kitten in the flour, just when his owner decides to bake some cookies. She scoops up a cupful of flour and those cat eyes shine from the flour cup.

Obviously Marc Antony is terrified and he tries to save the kitten from this rather grisly fate, but ends up being thrown out of the house. Unbeknowst to him Pussyfoot manages to crawl out of the mixing bowl and hide himself. Marc Antony on the other hand watches his owner blend, roll out and bake the dough and he pulls off the finest double takes on this side of Tex Avery.

What is funny here is that Marc Anthony actually thinks the cute kitten is being ground up and us, the audience knows that the kitten left the mixture. The fact that his owner doesn't even know whats happening makes the situation even funnier. It's grotesque but in a restrained way. It also shows how Jones can make something dark seem funny.

After a while Marc Antony's owner feels sorry for punishing him so she gives him a cookie.. in the shape of a kitten. The dog is already red-eyed and bawling and this offering turns him into a snivelling mess. He places the biscuit on his back and bumps into the real pussyfoot. He is overjoyed and his owner lets him keep Pussyfoot. After telling him that he has to take care of the kitten Marc Antony is sort of regretting his decision but Pussyfoot puts him on the right track again by going onto his back and snuggling into Marc Antony's fur. The cartoon ends on a silent wispy note. It's very befitting for this type of story, so the viewer ends up content and satisfied.

In a sense 'Feed the Kitty' is a very serene cartoon. The lulling pinks and yellows of the background create a calm atmosphere and not to mention that the animation and music is superb. Marc anthony is a very versatile character feelings-wise and Jones subtly uses ( well compared to what Tex Avery or Bob Clampett would have done, it is quite tame) his features to convey this. I also like the way Jones captures the Kitten's actions perfectly. As a cat owner for many years I can vouchsafe that some will climb on your back and fall asleep on it.

The cartoon has also been referenced in both Gremlins and Monsters Inc, so it does have a place in popular culture as well and lets face. Such a heartstring puller as this deserves some recognition.

Baton Bunny 1959 ( Dir Chuck Jones)

2008-01-20T08:43:00.000-08:00

What is it with cartoons and music? they blend so well together, it's almost scary. Well to be more precise Opera, Classical, country or modern instrumentals seem to work well. Funnily enough hip hop and rock don't mix that well with animation ( see the disastrous Space Jam or the equally dire Looney Tunes back in action).

Although Jones did not create as many music based cartoons as Freleng did, the ones he did manage to pull off are some of the most famous ones of all time. What's Opera Doc? (1957), One Froggy Evening (1955) and Long-Haired Hare (1949)

Baton Bunny, However, not a great music based cartoon. It works, It's functional but it does seriously lack the charisma of the previous ones I've mentioned.

The short begins with Bugs walking up to a podium, ready to conduct a symphony.That is, until there is a guy coughing in the aisles and he is quickly ejected ( the best part is that we don't see this, Jones is using sound for us to conjure an image in our minds). Bugs then, very noisily, puts on some glasses (which is the last non orchestral sound we'll hear throughout the whole picture) , selects and sharpens his baton and the whole orchestra kicks off.

Things are going quite smoothly, until a fly arrives and lands on Bugs' nose. This disrupts Bugs' flow of concentration and he whips the musicians into an orchestral frenzy but manages to get rid of it. After some gags involving his ever sliding shirt cuffs and small recreation of the American civil war, the fly returns and drives Bugs berserk and he ends up destroying the orchestra while pursuing the fly.

When he's finished, Bugs finds out that the whole theatre is empty, except for the sound of one person clapping. When he looks down he finds out that it is the fly. Bugs bows down anyways.

It's a sort of cutesy feel good ending. No one loses , no one is tortured. No one has to use wit. In this respect it's sort of functional. Personally i like it but I feel that so much more could have been done. Funnily enough it has the same feel as Jones' Tom and Jerry Cartoons, very solid but a bit slapdash on the whole.

The Hypo-chondri-cat 1950 (Dir Chuck Jones)

2008-01-06T01:56:00.000-08:00

I remember an English professor, telling me that the only thing that is considered taboo in literature and film is the subject of death, more so if the dead act like living people or if a film or book is narrated by someone who is deceased.

In that case I guess that would put The Hypo-chondri-cat in an interesting person cause it is about a cat who thinks he is dead but really isn't.

Out of Chuck Jones' characters I think that Hubie and Bertie are the most sinister and devious in character. They may look like two stupid mice but Hubie's brain is always thinking of new ways of causing some type of mental torture, while Bertie carries it out with glee.

I also think that Claude Cat is the most loserish creation in the Jones stable, even more so than Wile E. Coyote. He never wins, is always tortured and is constantly the victim of anything and everything. He will never be triumphant. Also Claude has never really had a definite features from day one, while his nemesis' ( Bertie and Hubie,Frisky Puppy and Marc Anthony) have always maintained the same type of form.

The short starts off with Bertie and Hubie spotting a piece of cheese in a house and immediately attacking it (well Bertie forgets to open the window and crashes into the glass) Suddenly Claude is on the horizon ( as a yellow cat with a white belly and eye patch) and begins chasing the mice.

so far so good.

but then he passes by the window that the mice opened in order to break into the house and he closes the window, begins to swallow handfuls of pills, check his temperature and get the shivers. Once he gets over it, he tries to chase the mice again, passes by the open window, which Hubie reopens and it's back to square one.

Hubie then thinks of a plan.

He goes and tells Claude that he is looking sickly. Being a hypochondriac, Claude believes him and begins to feel every symptom the mice chuck at him. That is until they tell him that an operation is the only cure. Claude agrees. Obviously when they conk him out, the mice do absolutely nothing.

When Claude regains consciousness he has two cardboard wings and a flour sack gown on him, he goes to the window and overhears the mice staging a chat on how the 'operation failed' and Claude died. The cat then freaks out and the mice tell him that he's dead and point to a grave.That is when he really believes them.

They then tell Claude that he has to go to cat heaven, at first the cat is hesitant cause he doesn't think can fly but he jumps off a cliff and we find out (unbeknowst to him) that there is a helium balloon tied to his waist. Claude waves goodbye and flies off into the dark skies. Hubie and Bert are smug.

On re-watching this cartoon at midnight, I couldn't help thinking that this short is rather sinister and creepy. Considering that it takes place at night adds to this atmosphere.Really it is a film about the afterlife, except in a semi-humorous manner. To evoke such feelings from a cartoon only cements Jones' talent as a cartoon director. Plus it is animated so slickly that every frame is memorable. An odd but nonetheless wonderful cartoon.

Frigid Hare 1949 ( Dir Chuck Jones)

2008-01-04T22:43:00.000-08:00

Frigid Hare is the first pairing of Bugs Bunny and the helpless Penguin ( who turns up in one other cartoon - '8 Ball Bunny' 1950) As a cartoon it's sweet and moves along nicely and is entertaining but like most of Jones' late 40's Bugs Bunny's shorts, it lacks his signature punchiness.

Bugs is off to Miami and takes a wrong turning, landing in the South Pole, where he saves a penguin from a rather dim Inuit hunter. While he is ready to leave, the penguin desperately wants to join him but Bugs has to refuse. However he does give him a top hat and bow-tie as a small gift. After a moment's reconsideration Bugs decides to forsake some of his vacation in Miami and stay in the South Pole. The penguin is delighted.

As Bugs and the penguin are admiring the scenery, Bugs distracts the penguin and kicks him down a hill. ( and the animation of this piece is fantastic) and he slides into the Inuit's sack. Bugs is about to leave the penguin to his fate but then he feels guilty ( see Bugs is a good soul) and saves his new found friend by dressing as a female Eskimo and forcing him to give the penguin as a gift.

Upon discovering that the female Eskimo is Bugs the, The hunter starts to chase him ( it's another great minute of animation) until they reach an ice ledge. Due to their weight it cracks and both fall. Luckily the penguin sees this and throws a bucket of water, which manages to freeze up and stop the ledge from falling. The Eskimo does attempt to catch Bugs again but fails and lands on a whale heading north.

As Bugs is about to leave, the penguin persuades Bugs to stay by whispering in his ear that a 'day' lasts six months. Thrilled at the prospect of not returning to work for a few years, Bugs dresses up in a baggy tuxedo and the two walk away with Northern lights flashing in the background.

Like I said before, this cartoon works and is a pleasure to watch but it lacks a certain amount of wit, It does signal that Jones golden age is just around the corner.

For Scent-imental Reasons 1949 ( Dir Chuck Jones)

2008-01-04T04:42:00.000-08:00

The Title Card

Since I start working again soon, I thought it would be best to squeeze another cartoon today before updates start to become erratic again. Yes I will try to keep the blog up four times a week but when you have a crammed schedule it is difficult.

Right. Personally I think that Pepe Le Pew is one of the most underrated Looney Tunes character. I mean the only cartoon that is constantly broadcast is usually 'For Scent-imental Reasons' and now and then you'll be lucky enough to watch Louvre come back to me. In the 80's there was one VHS collection with 14 of Jones Pepe shorts ( 1947's the Odor-able Kitty and the Arthur Davis directed Odor of the Day {1948} were left out) but it was incredibly difficult to find and I only managed to watch it twice. Hopefully the Golden Collection vol 6 will rectify this and Pepe La Pew will be given his due.

So why do I like Pepe Le Pew so much? I just love the fact that he is oblivious to the fact that he has two completely repulsive character traits. One is that he exudes stink fumes (in fact I always laugh when people melt or die cause of his odor) and the other is that he is very overbearing and will go through any length to achieve his conquest. I'm sure we have met people like this in real life and like the tabby Pepe tries to pursue, we want to escape.

For Scenti-mental Reasons is the fourth Pepe cartoon, but the one where Jones got the character fully formed and is the template for nearly all of Pepe Le Pew shorts. Jones won an academy award for this cartoon and I can see why. It is well animated, very good coloration schemes ( mostly pink, white and green dominates) and it is entertaining. Personally i think 1962's Louvre come back to me and 1961's Scent of the Matterhorn are slightly better but i'm nitpicking.

The cartoon begins with a pansy-ish Frenchman riding through Paris on his bicycle gleefully whistling a merry tune. He walks up to his perfumery and he sees Pepe Le Pew testing out his perfumes. How Pepe got into the shop is not our concern the important thing is that he is in there and, as usual, is unaware that the perfumes have no effect on his stench.

The Frenchman is horrified and quickly runs to a gendarme for help. On realising that he cannot battle against a skunk he flees. The Frenchman stumbles upon a black female cat (well called penelope but does not have a name in this cartoon) and chucks her inside the building. She slides across the floor and hits a white hair dye ( the label is perplexedly in English), which leaves a white stripe down her back. This makes Pepe turn his head and the chase begins.

Here Pepe's egoism shows no boundaries. The cat is trying best to escape him or get rid of his scent and Pepe is under the delusion that she preparing herself for a courting session. Finally she does the intelligent thing and locks herself up in a glass cupboard. Pepe lures her out by putting a gun to his head and pulling the trigger. As the cat gets scared she opens the cupboard and finds out that he is still alive and the chase resumes. The cat is breaking the speed barrier and Pepe is bouncing with that effeminate hop that he debuted in the Odor-able Kitty. This shows that Pepe can be very cool and collected in such a situation.

The Glass Cupboard Scene

When the chase is over the cat decides to jump out of a window and Pepe thinks that she is committing suicide for his love. He runs to the sill and grabs her. Unfortunately she slips out of his hands and he decides to jump out of the window too. Pepe lands in a pot of blue paint ( labelled 'La Paint) and the cat falls into a barrel of filthy water. The paint blocks Pepe's scent and the water clogs up the cats nose, due to all the sniffing that she is doing.

As it happens the water renders the once beautiful cat into a stripe less scraggly creature and Pepe does not recognise her and is continuing the search for the skunk. It is at this point when the tables turn and the cat falls in love with Pepe. He still does not recognise that that was the cat he pursued earlier in the film and becomes frightened ( yet is still polite to her) when she locks up the perfumery and begins to chase Pepe. This time the skunk is racing along and the cat is hopping. Pepe's last lines are :

"You know, it is possible to be too attractive!"

and he zooms off.

There you have it. A twisted love story. Two deluded characters. A veritable soap opera in 7 minutes from one of the most interesting Looney Tunes characters.

Haredevil Hare 1948 (Dir Chuck Jones)

2008-01-03T22:58:00.000-08:00

(Title Card)

Like most of the cartoons on this disc, Haredevil Hare is important as it's Marvin the Martian ( over here unamed)

So the cartoon starts off ( notice how Jones' early cartoons are straight to the point) with Bugs being lured into a rocket ship, with carrots naturally, for a space mission. As the rocket speeds up (featuring some excellent shots) and crashes, onto the moon.

As Bugs is exploring the new territory he bumps into Marvin the Martian, who is planning to blow up the Earth. after a couple of minutes this registers into Bugs' brain and it is up to him to prevent this from happening.

At first he steals the dynamite that Marvin is using to blow up the Earth but he quickly calls a martian dog to help him ( by the way Marvin's voice is not as nasal sounding as in later cartoons).

The dog actually manages to steal the dynamite stick ( or space modulator as it is called) but Bugs wins it back by the same argument process which was used in 1951's 'Rabbit Fire' - which consists of reversing the argument's subject.

How Bugs won the Modulator back

Finally Bugs gives the modulator back to Marvin, but attached to a detonator, which he pushes down and blows up half the moon in the process. When his Earth superiors finally manage to reach Bugs, he has one message for the Earth, which is

GET ME OUTTA HERE

as Bugs is dangling from the moon with Marvin and the Dog gripping on to him, he is definitely justified in doing this.

To be honest I'm not a big fan of this cartoon. It's ill paced, gags are sporadic and it doesn't feel rounded out. I can see why Jones sort of redid it in 1958's Hare-way to the stars and copied the ending for 1953's Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century. It's not a bad cartoon but doesn't fulfil it's potential.

Awful Orphan 1949 ( Dir Chuck Jones)

2008-01-02T23:52:00.000-08:00

One thing I noticed about The awful Orphan is it's similarity to Bob Calmpett's 1941 cartoon, 'Porky's Pooch'. Same story and sometimes the same movements. As jones was Clampett's animator for a spell i'm not surprised that he carried on where his unit supervisor left off.

Awful orphan stars Charlie, the annoying persistent dog who featured in the above mentioned Porky's Pooch and his first appearance under Jones' eye ( or pen?) 'Little Orphan Airedale (1947)' All Charlie shorts are the same. The dog wants to be adopted and stops at no means to be accepted by the owner he latches on to.

The cartoon kicks off with Charlie trying to convince a group of people that he is the IDEAL pet. Obviously he fails so he resorts to his usual guerrila tactics and smuggles himself into a canary cage that's being delivered to Porky. Once Porky finds out that he has recieved Charlie, he tries to make every effort to get rid of him by literally kicking him out of the door and sending him to Siberia but Charlie always finds his way back and is Porky's doorstep in a milisecond.

Finally after a fight ( set up by charlie) with a neighbour, Porky decides to keep the dog (even though now Charlie decides to change his mind) and forces him to wear human clothes. The picture ends with the dog dressed as a human and Porky near his feet like a dog. Every time Charlie moves Porky starts to snarl.

I have a soft spot for Charlie cartoons. The fact that he takes full advantage of a situation that he puts himself into is amazing. He's also a very deceitful and nasty character on the whole but gets away with it by looking cute or stupid. Even though I like this Charlie short, my personal favourite is 1950's Dog Gone South, which is genuinley funny (and maybe will be on the sixth volume of the Golden Collection series?)

Hare-Raising Hare 1946 ( Dir Chuck Jones)

2008-01-01T22:52:00.000-08:00

Ok another Bugs Bunny cartoon, yet it marks the first appearance of the red monster known as Gossamer ( although in this picture he's called Rudolph, the name Gossamer was given to him at a much later date)

Unlike most Chuck Jones cartoons the plot is explained within the first 30 seconds. An evil scientist (who is a Peter Lorre look alike) wants to feed his hungry monster a rabbit so he lures Bugs Bunny into his castle using a mechanical female rabbit. Bugs falls for it and enters the scientist's lair , when he starts kissing the mechanical rabbit she explodes and Peter Lorre forces Bugs to meet Gossamer.

and a chase ensues

as Bugs is stalling the monster he asks the audience if there is a doctor in the house. When a person announces that he is a doctor Bugs pauses and and says 'what's up doc' and the chase continues.

after some gags, one good one involving Bugs charging into Gossamer, who is wearing knight armour (which causes The monster to crash into a wall and turn into a tin can.) the chase ends by Bugs making Gossamer feel paranoid about the cinema audience who are watching him.

having gotten rid of the monster, Bugs is ready to leave the castle. However the mechanical rabbit robot shows up again and Bugs ends up chasing her again.

The Bugs presented here is a far cry from the one we all know, but there are some traces of it showing up and in fact Jones gave us a better version in 1952's 'Water Water Every Hare' As a cartoon though it is good but not great.

Fast and Furry-ous 1949 ( Dir Chuck Jones)

2008-01-01T00:05:00.000-08:00

Finally, the first non Bugs Bunny cartoon in this collection. The fast and Furry-ous is the first official Wile E Coyote and Roadrunner film. Although Wile E is a slightly fatter version than the one we know and the desert backgrounds are quite plain, the template of the series is established : A hungry coyote tries to chase his prey, who is faster and luckier than he is but nonetheless and fails constantly, either through his inability to outrun the roadrunner or to the fact that the gadgets that he orders do not work.

Loads of cartoons thrive on the idea of the chase, Sylvester and Tweety, Elmer and Bugs, Tom and Jerry ( Jones directed a few Tom and Jerry flicks as well), early Droopy. In a way you can also say that Donald is in constant pursual of his nephews (but it is stretching it a bit) but I think it was Chuck Jones who put it on an entire new level, not only with his Road Runner series, but with Pepe Le Pew , Bert and Hubie, Sam and Ralph and those awful Frisky Puppy shorts.

What fascinates me about the Road Runner films is that there is one single idea, yet many different ones as well. I personally want to know how each plan will fail and send the coyote to some impending doom. True it is annoying that the Road Runner will never be caught but then it would spoil the series.

Anyway the cartoon starts with Wile E looking at the Road Runner, smacking his lips and rushes off to chase him with a knife and fork.

And it all begins.

The Fast and Furry-ous gags actually start slowly and build up to a climax, something Jones ditched in later cartoons but works perfectly here. Plus the level of violence is not as bad as in later cartoons either. As it would be tedious to mention all the gags in one long paragraph I will list them down and follow the same process with every Road Runner cartoon from now on.

1. A steel plate which should stop the road Runner. RR brakes. Coyote begins chase. RR picks up steel plate and Coyote crashes into it.
2. Coyote uses a boomerang. After throwing it he gets hit by one thrown by Road Runner. A short pause and he gets hit by the one he threw earlier.
3. Coyote creates a school crossing. RR crashes into him with a sign stating that Road Runners can't read,
4. Coyote straps himself to a rocket. Upon lighting it he goes stright up and crashes into a cliff ledge.
5.Coyote plans to push boulder on roadrunner. Boulder falls in opposite direction, crushing coyote.
6.Coyote paints a road and draws a tunnel on a rack face, hoping that the RR crashes into it. RR runs through tunnel easily. Coyote tries to to the same. He gets hurt. RR runs out of tunnel hitting coyote.
7.Coyote plans to blow up RR from a distance. However the detonator blows up.
8.Coyote buys a Super Hero costume, thinking that when he jumps off a cliff he will fly. Coyote jumps off cliff. Does not fly.
9.Coyote buys a fridge and machine that spews snow. He also buys skies. This is so the snow produced by the fridge will make the ground slippery, thus increasing Coyote's speed. Just as he is about to catch RR , he brakes and coyote falls off a cliff.
10.Coyote buys jet propelled shoes, which work however they run out of fuel.
11.Coyote hides behind a billboard, ready to leap out at RR. When he hears the familiar meep meep he jumps out, only to find a bus, which runs him over. RR is in the back of the bus.

so there you go the first of the most elaborate chase films ever.

Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears 1944 (dir Chuck Jones)

2007-12-31T09:03:00.000-08:00

The majority of the cartoons on Vol 1, Disc 3 consists of a good number of monumental shorts so despite the fact that Bugs Bunny features a lot, there is some historical reason.

This cartoon marks the first appearance of Chuck Jones' three bears series. The minisicule bad tempered father, the passive and whiney mother and the huge and blissfully stupid Junyer ( or in this cartoon Junior)

It's quite a simple cartoon as it echoes the story of Goldilocks and the three bears. Basically Pa Bear decides that if they follow the footsteps of the original story, then they'll find some food ready for them. Although they don't have porridge, they use carrot soup and then they go off for a walk in the woods.

Instead of goldilocks along comes Bugs Bunny, who is lured in by the smell of carrot soup. He eats a portion and then goes upstairs in order to take a nap. Yes he does try out all beds and then falls asleep.

When the bears return they are gleeful that their plan is working out and they rush upstairs and overjoyed to find a rabbit in their bed. Once Bugs wakes up the three bears start to chase him. After a couple of gags Bigs tries to flirt with Ma Bear and this works as she becomes smitten with him. From now onwards it is ma bear who is chasing Bugs.

Finally he escapes to his warren and finds Ma Bear there, who smothers him with kisses ( we dont see this) Bugs then emerges and runs away covered in lipstick marks.

As a cartoon it's nothing on the levels of greatness that would occur in Jones' later shorts but it works and it does entertain plus the character of Junyor bear has a lot of potential, something Jones exploited in later films, especially the brilliant 'A Bear for Punishment' (1950)

*edit*

A couple of hours later and after re watching 'A Bear for Punishment' I have come to the conclusion that the Three Bears are a proto type of American cartoon families such as The Simpsons or *shudder* Family guy. Think of it. Although this isn't that prominent in ...three Bears it comes to the forefront in later films.

Elmer's Candid Camera 1940 (dir Chuck Jones)

2007-12-29T21:37:00.000-08:00

Vol 1 , Disc 3

This cartoon is quite pivitol in the Warner Bros canon as it is the first appearance of Elmer Fudd ( who evolved from the similar character Egghead) and a near definite version of Bugs Bunny. Characterwise both Bugs and Elmer are not fully developed. At this point Elmer is too thin and tall and his mannerisms are way too expressive but he still is a dimwit and his speech impediment is there. Bugs (but not called Bugs) is still pudgy and his voice is hoarse with a highly irritating laugh. He's more a prankster in the vein of Daffy Duck than the sly guy who is vengeful.

The plot of candid camera is very simple. Elmer buys a new camera and invades on Bug's territory. This allows Bugs to irritate and play tricks on Elmer. The final minute sees him booting Elemer into a lake - twice. It's not a spectacular cartoon but it's more one that protrays two major characters in a state of development.

Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century 1953 ( Dir Chuck Jones)

2007-12-28T01:32:00.000-08:00

This is the last cartoon in Porky and Daffy disc. From tomorrow i will be focussing on the third disc which is titled Looney Tunes All Stars Party, which is basically a collection of various cartoons ( although Bugs Bunny dominates)

anyway

Duck Dodgers is an absolutely FANTASTIC cartoon and is also one of those must sees. Again, like most Chuck Jones cartoons at this stage, the plot is simple but the gags and dialogue is rich and punchy. Yes it does spoof Buck Rogers but it's satire on a whole new level.

Daffy is Duck Dodgers and he is on a mission to find the rare element Illudium Phosdex. Evidently this can only be found on Planet X. Daffy accepts his mission, along with his faithful sidekick Porky. Oh yeah every time Daffy bellows DUCK DODGERS OF THE 24 1/2th CENTURY. He leaps ten feet into the air and starts glowing. Hilarious

After Daffy works out a complicated route to planet X (well before he accidentally mixes up the gears to his rocket and goes straight into the ground), Porky then discovers that the planets are in alphabetical order A, B, C, D, etc and so the duo go to their destination.

Unfortunately Marvin the Martian intends to conquer Planet X in the name of Mars, which leads to Daffy and Marvin fighting it out. Gags here include a disentegrating ray ( which disentegrates) a bullet proof vest ( which is the only thing stays intact when someone is shot) and bullets that have messages inside them)

this leads to a sort of arms race and eventually Daffy and Marvin use the exact same weapons against each other. Thus blowing up planet x to the size of a ball. Daffy triumphantly the claims Planet X to be the territory of the Earth. By now he cant even stand on it and Porky nonchalantly stutters out 'big deal' ( with Marvin Scrabbling on Porkys legs for dear life)

If you do dig deeper into the cartoon you can also see that it is parodying the arms races that were happening at that time (although i admit Dr. Seuss did a better job in the butter Battle Book) . It can also be seen as man trying to play God. Also worth noting that it was one of the cartoon that was referenced and influenced during the space craze of the seventies, with George Lucas insisting that it be shown before the Star Wars films.

A cartoon so good that in the 00's Warner Bros decided to turn it into a sequel ( which sucks) and a television serial ( which sucks as well) .

Legendary!

Rabbit Fire 1950 (dir Chuck Jones)

2007-12-26T21:51:00.000-08:00

Now this is one of the big ones. The cartoon that is a staple on every Looney Tunes compilation, one that is oft imitated and instantly recognisable to every one , fan or not.

yes it's the first part of 'hunting' triliogy ; Rabbit Fire.

What starts out as Bugs Bunny and Daffy trying to convince dimit Elmer Fudd that it is duck or rabbit season descends into a twisted spaghetti-like mess of cross dressing, verbal jokes, visual puns, deceit, a plot twist and loads of laughs.

probably what makes this cartoon stand out is the famous argument, where bugs manages to make Daffy yell out duck season constantly and get shot. Thanks to wikipedia I'll paste the dialogue.

Bugs: "Duck season!"
Daffy: "Rabbit season!"
Bugs: "Duck season!"
Daffy: "Rabbit season!"
Bugs: "Duck season!!"
Daffy: "Rabbit season!!"
Bugs: (reversing the flow) "Rabbit season!"
Daffy: "Duck season!!!"
Bugs: "Rabbit season!!!"
Daffy: "I say it's duck season, and I say, FIRE!"

and it happens again

Daffy: "Let's try that again."
Bugs: "Okay."
Daffy: "I'll start it this time."
Bugs: "Right."
Daffy: (grabs Elmer's rifle and points it to Bugs) "Rabbit season!"
Bugs: (pushing Elmer's rifle towards Daffy) "Duck season."
Daffy: (puts the rifle in front of Bugs again) "Rabbit season!!"
Bugs: (spins the rifle clockwise and aims it at himself, again reversing the flow) "Rabbit season."
Daffy: (grabs the rifle and pulls it toward himself) "Duck season!! FIRE!!!

and a third time
Daffy: "Okay, this time, you start it."
Bugs: "Whatever you say." (aims Elmer's rifle at himself) "Rabbit."
Daffy: (takes the rifle and points it at himself) "DUCK!! FIRE!!!"

Although not a wholly original concept, it works perfectly here mainly because Daffy has got a very distinct character. Yes he is trying to convince Elmer to shoot his friend Bugs but it backfires because of Daffy's character. Daffy is so overexcited that he will actually win against his friend/nemesis Bugs that in the end of the rabbit/duck season argument, he loses.

However during the course of the picture the couple make peace and that's when you see that when their minds are combined they work better. Bugs shrwedness and daffy's forwardness are a good combination. This is seen in the section where Bugs disguises himself as female hunter ( and aptly Daffy is the dog - the follower) in order to seduce elmer.

one interesting bit is when Bugs and Daffy start reading out duck and rabbit recipes so that Elmer will shoot the tastiest one. Fudd then confesses that he is a vegetarian. Again here's another point to think over. Fudd is actually causes a break in a friendship and he has no real purpose for his hunting. It then transpires that the evil is not Daffy, but Elmer and a little bit later he does get his comeuppance because Bugs and Daffy find out that it is Elmer season, Which leads to them collaborating and getting the person who split them up in the firsat place.

All I can say that this is a very strong cartoon that gets better with each viewing and hey if a dialogue cartoon gets on your nerves, there's always the satisfaction of seeing an elephant come out of nowhere and pummel Elmer to the ground!

Golden Yeggs 1950 (dir Friz Freleng)

2007-12-23T21:09:00.000-08:00

Am I the only one who finds Freleng's cartoons a bit unimaginative. True they are solid but they tend to descend to repetition very easily. Sometimes the plot isn't strong enough.

Anyway the cartoon takes place on a farm and Porky, the farmer discovers that Daffy has laid a golden egg ( he is actually conned into doing so) This leads to a news furor and Rocky the ganagster ( it's one of his first appearances) kidnaps Daffy and forces him to lay another golden egg.

In order to stall the process Daffy starts to ask for luxurious demands, which Rocky complies. However after a while he gets fed up and gives Daffy five minutes to lay an egg. To Daffy's surprise he actually manages.

Then the camera pans and we see loads of empty egg cartons and Rocky tells Daffy to fill them up.

It's a typical Freleng cartoon. Good on the whole but no pizazz or anything really special. The version of Rocky presented here is the definite version. Daffy doesnt really have much of a character either. Funnily enough in researching this cartoon, most reviews were incredibly scant and on re watching the cartoon I have tried to plump it out a bit but it's very difficult to as there's no hidden meanings or anything like that. In other words it's Freleng all over.

Boobs in the Woods 1950 ( dir Robert McKimson)

2007-12-15T23:30:00.000-08:00

As every avid Looney Tunes fan knows Daffy has had different character traits over his 80 year tenure at Warner Bros. Starting out as an off the wall insane creature utilised by Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Frank Tashlin and early Chuck Jones, A slightly naive and devious schemer which Chuck Jones used just before he improved his art techniques and the highly irritated, tempermental , coniving backstabber, which he as known as.

Veteran Director, Bob McKimson opts to use the original Daffy in this 1950 short i.e the nutty Daffy, but like most later McKimson shorts, seems a bit clumsy.

The cartoons begins with Daffy singing a song about how crazy he is, which seems rather forced, it's like McKimson is proving to us that once upon a time there was another type of Daffy Duck. When this song finishes we cut to the main plot. Porky is driving for a weekend's rest in the country. As soon as he arrives , he decides to paint the landscape and this is where Daffy comes in and starts acting in an irritating fashion. During the course of the cartoon he manages to ruin Porky's painting, ride an imaginary bicycle, dress up as a sheriff, indian and sabatoges Porky's attempts to fish.

Finally Porky packs up only to find that Daffy has removed the car's motor. As a form of revenge he makes daffy a permanent fixture in the car and drives off.

Although the cartoon is well animated, it's subject just doesn't come off a believable and watching this short can try out your patience. True it is admirable that McKimson wants to return to classic Daffy but it doesnt work out as the Jones one has a more distinctive personality. It's a sort of Boobs in the woods is a sort of proof that it is difficult to retrace the past on an ever evolving character.

Deduce you say 1956 dir (Chuck Jones)

2007-12-12T20:45:00.000-08:00

Just as drip along Daffy spoofed the Western genre, Deduce... sets out to ;ampoon popular detective stories.

Like a detective film, the short opens with Porky narrating the scene - and now the verbal plays start coming thick and fast. The duo live on Beeker street ( Baker Street), Daffy is Dorlock Homes ( Sherlock Holmes) and Porfky is Watkins (Watson).
While Daffy is deducing he hears a knock on the door and when opening it a mailman falls down, not because he is dead but there is a doorstep he trips upon. Anyway he hands Daffy a telegram, which explains that the notorious Shropshire Slasher has escaped.
They track him down to a bar ( after some half baked and punny attempts at finding clues) and Daffy instantly tries to use violence against him. Since the Slasher is way taller and stronger than Daffy, this proves futile. Porky then uses the non violent approach and manages to get Slasher to apologize.

Daffy being who he is becomes jealous and decides to redeem himself by arresting an old woman selling flowers without a licence. It turns out that the old woman is The Slashers mother and Daffy gets a severe beating.

Porky then ends the cartoon by asking a bent out of shape Daffy where he learnt to be a detective. Daffy replies 'Elementary my dear Watkins, Elementary' and collapses.

As a parody Deduce... is excellent. Humour abounds and the viewer is entertained. Although there are similarities to the aforementioned Drip Along Daffy ( after all in this period Warner Bros cartoon studio was a few years shy of closing down so now the cartoons take a slight dip in originality ) but it holds itself nicely as a cartoon. Again it shows that although Daffy is a dominant character he still ends up a loser cause of his ineptitude at dealing with a situation rationally.

The Wearing of the Grin 1951 ( Dir Chuck Jones)

2007-12-12T09:11:00.000-08:00

After a slog of rather uninspiring Porky cartoons, I finally am able to write about one that I like.

The Wearing of the grin is without doubt a product of Chuck Jones' mind. Who else would use a huge cliche, make it surreal and pull it off perfectly? Add that to Michael Maltese's witty script and you have a recipe for an enjoyable 7 minutes.

The cartoon kicks off with the typical classic horror opening. Huge storm and Porky is the weary traveller on his way to Dublin and stuck in the middle of nowhere. He comes across a creepy castle and asks the owner if he can stay for the night. The owner does warn him that the castle is inhabited by leprechauns. Porky laughs it off , shuts the castle door and gets hit by a mace.

while he is in a daze we find out that the owner actually consists of two leprechauns Pat and Mike. Both suspect that Porky is going to stel their gold. When our porcine friend regains consciousness , the leprechauns ( now again as one person) show Porky two his room. After a blunder he discovers that Leprechauns do exist and freaks out. He is arrested by the Leprechauns for trying to steal their pot of gold ( despite the fact that Porky is obviously innocent.) he is sentenced to wearing a pair of green loafers.

After a couple of seconds Porky starts to dance an Irish Jig and moves into a land filled with giant shamrocks, pipes and stereotypical Irish panephernelia. In one excellently animated sequence porky is ensnared into a harp and is falling off a cliff into a vat of gold.

and then he wakes up. Looks at the owner and dashes out of the castle.

the owner smirks , another two pairs of hands shoot out of his coat ( the other leprechaun) and they shake hands triumphantly.

Truest me lots of people use the dream sequence, but how many cartoon directors use the dream within a dream trick? AND then create an open ended conclusion? did the leprechauns infilatrate Porky's mind? was Porky really awake? Jones definitely had the knack of putting his viewers in his cartoons and wearing of the grin is definitely no exception

Porky Chops 1949 ( dir Arthur Davis)

2007-12-12T08:55:00.000-08:00

Yeah I know I've been slacking - BIG TIME. I'm not going to promise consistency this time around. I will assure you that I will get this project finished before volume 6 comes out though.

Right.

Before we actually go on to the cartoon, it's better if we focus a bit on Arthur Davis.

Although the big directors at Warner Bros were Tashlin, McKimson, Clampett , Jones and Freleng , there were some other minor directors and Davis is one of them. His Warners career started as an animator under Tashlin's direction, then slowly replacing Clampett when he left. To tell the truth Davis did not really direct many cartoons, and to tell the truth not many of them are very good either. Animation is sloppy, plots are weak and gags are forced ( the notable exception being the fabulous dough-ray-mee-ow) Unfortunately Porky Chops is one of these.

The plot? , not much . Porky Pig decides to chop down a tree that is inhabited by a rather obnoxious Squirrel, who retaliates by wrapping a steel plate at the base of the tree. To add a bit more to the plot a bear is included in this chase.

and that's it. Obviously Porky loses and the Squirrel and bear win.

Yankee Doodle Daffy 1943 (dir Friz Freleng)

2007-11-28T06:25:00.000-08:00

Say what you want but I've always hated Yankee Doodle Daffy from the day I say it as an 8 year old. It irritates the hell out of me. Banal plot, shallow and horribly animated.

Porky works as a talent scout and plans to take a half day, in order to play golf. In rushes Daffy announcing that his client, Sleepy la Goon is a star in the making. As Porky just wants to play golf, he ignores Daffy and runs away. No matter where Porky goes, Daffy is right behind talking about La Goons talents.

In the end Porky relents and know he'll get some rest if he sees what la Goon offers.

La Goon, a minature, version of Daffy with a huge lollipop and straw hat inhales and begins to sing in a rich voice. But then he stumbles halfway through in a coughing fit.

and that's it.

not funny
not clever
quite juvenile.

The Scarlet Pumpernickel 1950 ( dir Chuck Jones)

2007-11-25T10:12:00.000-08:00

FINALLY, I've got some free time again so the blog will be updated four times a week ( Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday) and things will go back to normal again.

Right

The Scarlet Pumpernickel is, as most will know, a spoof on the book/film The Scarlet Pimpernel and it features the transitional Daffy, which is my personal favourite phase. Jones protrays Daffy as slightly nuts with a touch of cunning. Not the evil schemer that Jones morphed him into.
The scene starts out with Daffy trying persuade a big time director to film an action flick instead of the usual comedy ones. To prove to the director that he is capable, Daffy wheels in a script.

it's a basic storyline, where a princess Melissa has to marry the evil Sylvester, even though she doesn't like him. Eventually, Daffy as the Scarlet Pumpernickel saves her from his clutches.There are some puns and gags. Nothing spectacular though.

The thing about this cartoon is that it features a whole slew of looney tunes characters - Porky Pig, Daffy, Melissa Duck,Mama Bear, Sylvester, Henery Hawk and Elmer Fudd something that wouldnt be seen again until Casablanca Bunny (i'm excluding who framed Roger Rabbit) and Jones gets all the chemistry between the chracters perfectly. In fact the reason why Bugs is left out is simply cause his attitude would clash.Clearly Daffy is the star and he needs this cartoon for himself.

It also proves who Looney tunes characters aren't faceless and have distinct personalities and can be given certain roles that suit them perfectly. Or really Jones knew what type of roles these guys would be good in.

Oh and Jones can DO action as well.

The Ducksters 1950 ( dir Chuck Jones)

2007-11-14T20:41:00.000-08:00

The Ducksters is one of those cartoons which is good but requires more than one viewing to fully appreciate it.

The cartoon starts off with Porky bound to a conveyer belt, ready to be sliced up by a buzzsaw and then the whole thing stops and Daffy enters the scene and the audience finds out that we are on a radio gameshow called 'Truth or AHHHHHHHHHHH', where the contestant has to answer a question. If he gets it wrong Daffy springs some sort of punishment on the contestant. Dafyy obviously doesn't want to part with the cash prize so he asks a myriad of difficult or impossible to answer questions so Porky is subjected to many tortures. Probably my personal favourite scene is when a member of the studio audience tells Porky not to answer a question and Daffy whips out a pistol and promptly shoots him.

Finally Porky actually manages to win the prize and he buys the studio and then puts Daffy through all the tortures Porky went through in the cartoon. In other words it's a total role reversal short.

At first the picture seems empty, even lacking in adventure, but peel away the surface and you see a commentary on a censored looney tunes cartoon, and parodies of radio programs and entertainment industry. It's Chuck Jones being his anarchic self and that is what makes 'The Ducksters' a great cartoon.

Scaredy Cat 1948 ( dir Chuck Jones)

2007-11-10T20:48:00.000-08:00

The Porky/Sylvester collaborations ( there are three to my knowledge) are quite unique as Sylvester doesn't talk and plays an incredibly cowardly cat. Throughout these cartoons, Sylvester's cowardice just places Porky into embarrassing or uncomfortable situations, and he replies my insulting Sylvester ( who doesn't talk at all)

Scaredy Cat is the first cartoon in this triliogy and by far the best one.

The scene begins with with Porky, with Sylvester in tow, moving into their new house. The audience already can feel that something is going to happen and so does Sylvester. The only one who is completely oblivious is Porky.

And yes there is something wrong with the house, it is inhabited with a bred of murderous mice (led by a mouse wearing an executioners hood). To make it worse, Sylvester stumles upon them executing the previous owner's cat. This heightens Sylvester's paranoia and to Porky's annoyance he clings onto him for a fair amount of the cartoon.

The mice are intent on killing their new inhabitants and flings axes and knives at them, even trying to push the bed out of the window. As Sylvester blocks all these actions, unbenowst to Porky, he achieves in irritating his master even more and finally he goes out to the kitchen to prove that nothing is wrong. As a result the mice kidnap him and prepare the chopping block.

Sylvester then escapes the house only to be stopped by his guardian angel, who reminds him that Porky looked after him as a kitten and that a cat his bigger than a mouse! Sylvester then plucks up courage and chases every mouse out of the house.

As Porky is thanking his pet for saving him the executioner mouse pops out of a cuckoo clock, whacks Sylvester with a mallet, pulls of his hood, puts on a Napoleon hat and states in a Lew Lehr ( a vaudeville actor) voice

Pussycats is the cwaziest people

and the cartoon ends.

To tell the truth this cartoon isn't funny - at all and as a kid it used to frighten me, especially the bit when Sylvester turns all white and enters Porky's room. However it is mesmerising and keeps you at the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next. Plus it's twisty ending gives you some sigh of relief At this point Jones' cartoons were flawless and this one in particular is a stand out as it is able to grab your attention from the first second and keep you stuck in your chair. Also there is chemistry between Sylvester and Porky, which all leads to an entertaining short.

Drip-Along Daffy 1951 ( dir Chuck Jones)

2007-11-10T09:53:00.000-08:00

Drip-Along Daffy is one of those cartoons that never fails to provide laugh. It's just a non stop barrage of gags flowing thick and fast. I could also say it's the best western I've seen.

The opening minute sets the scene and the tone of the whole cartoon. Daffy is riding on a white modelesque mare with 'Western type hero' written on the screen and trailing after him is porky on a donkey and the words 'Comedy Relief' pop up.

on their travels they come across a town who's population is decreasing on account of the amount of gunfire and crime that goes on ( and there are tons of visual gags emphasising this). As soon as Daffy finds out that the town needs a Sherriff, he pulls out a badge from his waistcoat ( and there's a badge for every occaision) says that he is going to clean up the one horse town and zooms off on his horse tinfoil ( lone ranger parody) while Porky's donkey is trying to keep up the pace.

Daffy then bursts into a saloon in the typical Western cliche pose but as he's drawing his guns he pulls off his trousers as well and he hops out saying that he needs to arrange his 'acoutrements' ( that line makes me crack up)

Upon ordering a milkshake at the bar, the villain of the picture enters. Nasty Canasta. A brute who's ten times larger and stronger than Daffy. When daffy brandishes his gun, Canasta just bites it off ( and Daffy says offhandedly that he needed his dose of iron) .

Canasta then challenges Daffy to a drinking contest. The bartender whips up a drink so toxic and hot that the ice cubes jump out yelping. When Canasta drinks it nothing happens to him. Daffy being the foul fowl he is, tests his drink on Porky and when he finds out nothing happens he orders the drink and downs it.

then ensues both daffy and porky reciting mary had a little lamb and then pacing across the floor, skin green and tongues moving in and out like party toys.

when things reside Daffy challenges Canasta to a typical western duel at dawn. Canasta arrongantly knows he is going to win.

when the pacing starts, Porky winds up a toy soldier in Canasta's direction. Canasta picks it up and the bullet form the toy's gun floors him and Porky becomes sheriff.

the cartoon ends on a double joke. First it focuses on daffy and he said that he was going to clean up the one horse town and the camera moves back and we find out that Daffy is now the sanitation engineer.

we then focus at Porky, who looks at the camera and says 'lucky for him that it is a one horse town!'

and the cartoon ends.

Drip-Along Daffy, besides it's blink and you'll miss it humour also focuses on the underdog winning. In most Chuck Jones' Daffy/Porky collaborations you'll find this a common theme but it's at it's best in this cartoon. In other words Jones likes to protray Daffy as some type of Looney Tune version of Charlie Brown - a loser who tries to overcome his circumstance but falls prey to it. In this aspect one can compare Bugs to Lucy ( dominant and the winner, no matter the situation) and Porky is Linus ( the helper who comes up trumps through accidental means). Technically speaking the name Daffy is a total misnomer now as there is absolutely nothing eccentric or crazy about him . Despite this factor I find that the majority of the late Jones cartoons and depiction of Daffy have more depth and are more interestign in the long run.

Dough for the Do-Do 1948 ( dir Friz Freleng)

2007-11-08T09:30:00.000-08:00

Oh dear it seemed that I slacked a bit on the updates. November has always been a busy month and there are loads of things happening now but it will all calm down and things will flow at a steady pace.

Don't you hate it when directors 'redo' perfectly good films? Well Dough for the Do-Do is sort of like that. I say sort of cause there is only one major change but lets go back in time a bit.

In the 30's Bob (genius) Clampett directed a film called Porky in Wackyland. In this short Porky goes to Africa in order to hunt the elusive Do-Do bird and has many surreal encounters. It's a typical Clampett cartoon. Off kilter, hugely entertaining and gets the laughs rolling from the first second.

Freleng's version is basically a colour update so Clampett's 'everything but the kitchen sink' approach is present. The visual puns are intact and the ending ( Porky captures the Do-do only to discover that there are millions more in hiding) is Clampettesque and makes the short a bit more well rounded.

but it still feels wrong.

Maybe some things that worked shouldnt be tampered with especially if it's a Clampett cartoon. Anyway watch the two cartoons back to back and see which one is slightly better.

Vol 1, Disc 2 : Duck Amuck 1953 ( dir Chuck Jones)

2007-11-03T22:56:00.000-07:00

Disc 2 of Looney Tunes Golden Collection series starts with a bang with the all time classic Cartoon 'Duck Amuck' To summarise the plot briefly Daffy Duck is constantly sabatoged by a unknown artist. Throughout the short's seven minutes Daffy goes through many mutations, background changes, gets duplicated and in the end ( yes there's a false ending as well) gets blown up. Also there are experiments with close ups, sound effects and even silence being a major contributor. In the last few seconds we find out the the artist who has been putting Daffy through these tortures is none other than Bugs Bunny, who finishes off the cartoon winking at the audience and declaring.

Ain't I a stinker?

Just why is this cartoon so important. Most of the time if you read up on Duck Amuck you'll find out that it breaks the invisible border between audience and actor ( the fourth wall). Daffy is losing his temper, screaming and sometimes bargaining with the artist or animator. Thus Daffy is not just a artistic drawing but an actor yet he cannot quit as he is a slave to the pencil at the same time. Notice throughout the cartoon that whenever Daffy rebels the pencil crops up and makes him helpless and even more angry.

this is not the first time this has happened in cartoons. Disney's 1930 Alice movies, protrayed a non animated girl interacting with both the artist and her cartoon situation. For Warner brothers breaking the fourth wall was done from the very start as the first cartoon, Bosko the ink well kid had a character squirting ink at his animator and going through all types of mischief, tormenting his artist ( sort of the opposite of Duck Amuck). More famously the cartoon 'You Ought to be in Pictures (1940-Friz Freleng)' had Porky Pig jumping out of the drawing board and tearing up his contract ( incited by Daffy) and Tex Avery's 1941 short 'Tortoise Beats Hare' had bugs reading and mispronouncing all the credits.

but none of these achieved the inspired lunacy of Duck Amuck and here's the reason why

none of these characters had the extremist personalit that Daffy has. When Daffy loses his temper he goes all out. Funnily enough his other duck counterpart Donald is an extremist as well but Donald lacks wit and the evil streak that Daffy embodies. In fact if you notice Bugs is able to bully Daffy precisely because of his extremist behaviour, which makes it apt that it is Bugs who turns out to be the artist teasing Daffy. In other words Daffy's distinct personality makes this cartoon work so well. No matter how many changes he goes through, he still is the screaming, shifty eyed duck. So daffy, in this aspect is well and truly an actor in every sense of the word but a paradoxical one as he lacks the freedom of the actor and cannot interpret his lines in a unique fashion cause the pencil will come and change everything.

Duck Amuck is one of those cartoons that stick out, has different interpretations and will be under scrutiny for years to come. Already it's more than 50 years old and yet it's still way ahead of it's time and if you want to talk about influence, well wasn't Zemeckis' 1988 film, Who Framed Roger Rabbit all based on this idea of cartoons as distinct personalites? And how many times do we see cartoons and a pencil pops up and redesigns everything in one go? A amazing cartoon through and through

Rabbit of Seville 1950 ( dir Chuck Jones)

2007-11-03T09:44:00.000-07:00

Vol One disc one's conclusion is a very strong one as Rabbit of Seville, despite the fact that it resembles Stage Door Cartoon in plot, is a very interesting cartoon.

The whole sheband starts off with Elmer hunting Bugs and chasing him until they reach a theatre. Bugs then tricks Elmer into performing Rossini's Barber of Seville with him. In Stage Door Cartoon Bugs lures Elmer into a theatre and tricks him into taking part in some silly antics. So this is where the resemblence ends and the cartoon starts to go on it's own tangents.

First of all, like the other operatic cartoon What's Opera Doc, there isn't any conversation. Just singing. However while What's Opera.... is quite serious, The Rabbit of Seville is bombastic and great surreal slapsticky moments.

second Obviously, as the title of the opera suggests, it all takes places in a babrbershop.

As soon as Elmer realises that he has stumbled in a theatre he becomes vunerable and confused as he's not in charge of the situation. Bugs, being the showman that he is dons a barber's costumes and violently shaves Elmer.

Elmer tries to escape but Bugs cuts off his braces and forces Elmer in the chair again and performs his next gag.

First he massages Elmer's scalp and then turns it into a Carmen Mirandesque fruit concoction. Elmer realises and there's a funny scene where Bugs pretends to be a snake charmer and persuades a shaver to chase Elmer, until he shoots it.

both characters then jump into identical barber chairs and Bugs pulls the chair's lever ( which raises the seat) to escape. His nemesis catches on and tries the same thing. Bugs sends him back to the bottom by cutting a sandbag and making sure it lands on Elmer.

after a little waltz Bugs gets Elmer on the chair one more time to perform his final trick.

He destroys elmer's shoes and pours red paint on them. Cakes his face in Beauty clay and then massages 'figaro fertilizer' in his scalp ( notice that there are 5 fingers not four) which causes some flowers to grow on his head.

Elmer gets fed up and chases bugs with an axe. Bugs returns with a bigger Axe. Then Elmer with a pistol. Bugs with a double barrelled shotgun. Elmer with a cannon. Bugs with a bigger canon. Elmer with a cannon that takes up the screen and then bugs returns with roses and chocolates.

Elmer likes this. Then Bugs offers a wedding ring and Elmer returns in a bride's dress ( at least Bugs isnt in drag ) then Bugs returns in a tuxedo. Both get married and the couple run to the top of the theatre and Bugs chucks Elmer in a cake. Bugs smirks and says 'next'

Rabbit of Seville is a very fun and joyous cartoon. Moving at a pace faster than Speedy Gonzales, it is a pleasure to watch. Yes Bugs resumes the role of the vengeful trickster who triumphs over stupidity but that cultural twist takes it to a new level. The combination of Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese always created faultless cartoons and this is another top notch one.

Ballot Box Bunny 1951 ( dir Friz Freleng)

2007-10-31T10:05:00.000-07:00

Ballot Box Bunny is another one of those quirky Bugs Bunny films that I like. The fact that it has a false ending and one hell of a pun makes it more endearing.

It's election time in some village and Yosemite Sam is running for mayor. Bigs is not interested in the least, until Sam states that he will get rid of all the rabbits. This brings up Bugs' vengeful streak and he runs against Sam for Mayor ( and quotes teddy Roosevelt too!).

As one can guess Sam isn't going to settle for this so he tries his hardest to destroy Bug's reputation.Copying Bugs' campaign tricks ( which backfire) Sabotaging a picnic, creating a contraption that will blow up bugs when he opens a door, rigging up a piano ( something daffy did in Show biz Bugs)

Despite their fighting they find out that the election is won by a dark horse - A mare! A mare for mayor! ( what a pun!) so as a result they indulge in a game of russian roulette. Sam is first and misses. Bugs shoots and as there's the iris closing in we hear a bang. A 2 second pause and the iris opens again and we find out that Bugs missed and shot Sam instead. Sam's closing words are 'I hate that Rabbit' and the iris closes again.

I'm a huge sucker for trick endings so even if this cartoon was rubbish, i would gurantee that an ending like that makes up for everything. Fortunately the short is great so the end just brings the whole thing to another level.

tomorrow will be my last Bugs blog and then i'll be working on Daffy and Porky

Wabbit Twouble 1941 (dir Bob Clampett)

2007-10-29T21:31:00.000-07:00

Now I adore Bob Clampett. He broke every rule in cartooning and you can still see the effects today. Zanyness , bizarre endings, puns littered about even vukgarity. Clampett started it all and he doesn't have one crap cartoon in his repetoire.

however he does have some weak ones and Wabbit Twouble, his first Bugs Bunny film is one of them.

Oh it starts promisingly enough - all the credits are in fudd-speak, that is every 'r' is replaced by a 'w' and elmers car enters the picture by moving to a samba like beat.

but it sort of goes downhill from there.

Elmer wants to go to the countryside for rest and relaxtion but gets none of it as Bugs decides to play tricks on him. ( the usual fare) For a Clampett cartoon this is absurdly normal. Things do pick up when Elmer plays dead cause he hits a bear but really this is Clampett restricting himself.

Eventually Fudd loses his temper cause he can't relax and starts to vandalise the park. As a result he is thrown in jail. Elmer sees the agvantage of this and starts to realx. After a couple of minutes though he finds out that his inmates are bugs and the bear, who is chewing a carrot as well.

the very last minute is typically Clampett but unfortunately the rest of the short doesn't really live up to his other cartoons. If you want to see Clampett firing on all cylinders check out the Great Piggy bank Robbery.

My Bunny lies over the Sea 1949 ( dir Chuck Jones)

2007-10-28T03:01:00.000-07:00

Usually the average Chuck Jones cartoon is linear and knows exactly where it's heading but My Bunny... eschews that COMPLETELY, it almost harks back to the zany style that Bob Clampett perfected in his cartoons. Weird, bizarre and with some surprises, this cartoon is definitely an oddity.

Bugs is on his way Albuquerque but ends up in Scotland and the first thing he sees is a Scotsman playing the bagpipes. Bugs, having never seen such a sight thinks it's a lady being attacked by a monster and tries to help but ends up causing more problems. The Scotsman ( called McCrory) gets insulted and by means of revenge, challenges Bugs to a game of golf.

never has a golf game been treated weirdly. Misdirected golf balls, spontaneous golf pits, golf balls surreally disappearing in and out of holes. This is interesting stuff. Then when you think it can't get stranger McCrory then boasts that he is an expert bagpipe player. Thus from a golf contest it morphs into a music one in a the space of a few seconds.

the scotsman plays the bagpipes and then bugs enters playing the bagpipes as well, but with tons of other instruments attatched to it.

and the cartoon ends.

Now I love weird but this one just doesn't hold itself too well but because of the development, it makes compulsive viewing, there's a certain carefree spirit that's rare in a Jones flick ( or at least later Jones) . Watch, furrow your brow and then laugh.

Big Top Bunny 1951 (dir Bob McKimson)

2007-10-26T19:51:00.000-07:00

Oh dear another Bob McKimson Bugs Bunny cartoon. Big Top Bunny is another weak cartoon in Bugs' hefty canon. Again it's unfunny,cliched and the villian is forgettable.

The cartoon starts out with Bruno the Slobakian Bear ( who's accent is on the point of being degrading) enjoying the high life. He is the star of the circus and is getting lots of accolades.

That is until the ringmaster introduces a new partner for his trapeze act who you is .... Bugs Bunny!. Bruno is instantly jealous and at first gets the upper hand by bullying Bugs but then the rabbit gets wiser and starts wising up to Bruno's antics.

the real and only highlight here is when Bugs challenges Bruno to a high diving contest. Knowing that Bruno desperately wants to outdo him, Bugs suggest some very silly diving heights and things to land in. Eventually Bruno announces that he will dive a 1,000 ft into a block of cement. Bugs further teases Bruno by trying to dive but Bruno's arrogance takes over his common sense and dives.

with the bear's skull cracked Bugs takes advantage and places Bruno in a cannon and blasts him off into the stratosphere.

I don't know why Bob McKimson's films bring out the worst in me. Could be the lack of wit. Sure he tried to play around with the formula ( not on this one though) but they just won't work. However his Foghorn Leghorn series are fantastic ( and there are some others) but his bugs is for the birds.

Big House Bunny 1948 ( dir Friz Freleng)

2007-10-24T09:33:00.000-07:00

Big House Bunny is probably one of the few golden age era Friz Freleng Bugs Bunny cartoons which I don't like. Mind you in theory it has the elements of a great short. There's Yosemite Sam, an interesting plot and some eye opening cartoon violence. but it just falls flat.

Bugs accidentally burrows into a prison's backyard and is immediately arrested and put on duty by Yosemite Sam. After some failed attempts to escape Bugs then focuses on trying to get Sam in trouble with his superiors by sabatoging his plans. Sam gets fed up and kicks Bugs out. Sam's superior hears about this and Sam gets arrested proper.

true sam nearly dies by hanging on a noose and sitting on an electric chair. plus he tortures his boss quite a bit. However the cartoon is just not funny and surprisingly enough it drags a bit too.The botched escape scene is a bit interesting and Bugs does pull off a great switcheroo using his verbal skills but, no pun intentded Big House Bunny fails to get it's stripes - at least in my books.

Water, Water Every Hare 1952 ( dir Chuck Jones)

2007-10-21T21:23:00.000-07:00

Water, Water every Hare is second cartoon to feature cult figure Gossamer, the red hairy heart shaped creature who wears sneakers. However it is a near by near replica of the 1945 cartoon 'Hair Raising Hare' so it doesn't get nay points on originality.

Like the previous cartoon Bugs finds himself in the castle of a mad scientist who wants his brain. In order to catch him, he sends gossamer to fulfill his duties. Bugs being who he is manages to play a few pranks on the monster. The grand finale is when bugs pours shrinking liquid ( or reducing oil to be more precise - and bugs is invisible while doing this) on Gossamer.

The scientist then tries to kill the rabbit himself by throwing an axe at him but misses and hits a jar of ether. Thus ensues a fantastic slow motion chase and Bugs finds himself in the real world again. Just as he's contemplating whther he was dreaming, minature Gossamer passes by.

Theres nothing really to say here. Timing is good, gags are ok but it doesn't have that punch that one would normally find in a chuck jones cartoon.Not even Gossamer is used fully and appears for a grand total of three minutes. Good but not great.

Rabbit's Kin 1952 ( dir Robert McKimson)

2007-10-20T21:02:00.000-07:00

I stated previously that I'm not too fond of Bob McKimson's Bugs Bunny cartoons, well of course there are exceptions and Rabit's Kin is one of them. Here everything is perfect. A villian who's intelligence is disasterous, a running gag which involves verbal and physical actions and some great animation.

The whole thing starts off with a brown rabbit racing through the woods and diving into Bugs' warren. On asking what's the matter, the brown rabbit replies ( in a high sped up voice that's nearly incoherent) that pete puma is after him. Bugs, always willling to help his friend decides to subject Pete to a bunch of tricks.

At first we think that Pete is slightly intelligent ( despite his moronic voice) as he tries to trick Bugs into smoking an exploding cigar. Bugs simply hides it. Then he invites Pete for tea and the running gag starts here.

when Pete asks for sugar lumps in his tea Bugs pulls out a mallet and pounds Pete over the head according to the number of lumps he asks for. In the first sequence Petes asks for three or four lumps so Bugs hits him on the head and four lumps appear on his cranium ( well there's one extra but Bugs fixes that) - and then offers the exploding cigar that pete gave him in the beginnng of the cartoon.

Pete then dresses up as the brown rabbit's mother ( albeit extremly badly and he is caught out in a second) ( also take look at the animation in this part, fantastic) and bugs repeats the lumps gag, except this time with coffee instead of tea. When Pete removes his hat we find out that he has a stove lid on his head, however on removing it the head lumps pop out.

in the third and final scene bugs and the brown rabbit ( called shorty) go to Petes cave and bugs disguises himself as Pete's cousin ( although the disguise is obvious, Pete does not realise that it's a rabbit) and convinces him to light up the oven in order to cook the rabbit. When Bigs asks Pete the amount of coals he needs to heat the oven, he answers a 'whole lotta lumps' catches himself out and begins to beat himself over the head with a mallett. Bugs and the brown rabbit leave the cave while Pete is smashing is skull in.

This cartoon is well known and has a cult audience due to Pete puma. Yes he is an imbecile but a loveable one. Plus his speech patterns are recognisable and genuinely funny. Also his gait, gestures and facial movements are comical and add to his popularity.

Recently Warner Brothers have tried to resurrect him and cast him in Tiny Toons, as the guy who does his voice (stan Freberg) is still alive and is capable of doing his voice but it was a flop. Better to let one offs remain so!

What's up Doc ? 1950 (dir Robert McKimson)

2007-10-18T11:09:00.000-07:00

I have some sort of aversion to Bob McKimson's cartoons, bar Foghorn Leghorn and some here and there, I get irritated by him. His jokes aren't funny, his characters look rubbery and the dialogue is of standard fare, oh and he overuses Raymond Scott's Power House WAY too much! Unfortunately I think his Bugs Bunny filns are rubbish bar the phenominal Rabbit's Kin ( more on that next time) and 'What's up Doc?' isnt one of my faves either but it has one gag which is great and saves the whole short.

Well the whole thing starts off with Bugs talking about his rise to fame. First he starts out as a 'rabbit in a human's world' ( a very memorable quote if there was one) and discovers that he has some musical talent.

then he tries out for vaudeville and gets stuck in a group of chorus boys singing the same song

Oh we're the boys of the chorus
We hope you like our show
We know you're rooting for us
but now we have to go

and this song/gag reappears a couple of times.

finally Bugs gets fed up and looks for better deals but fails miserably.

while he's with other 'failed hollywood Stars ( and thus some great caricatures of Bing Crosby, Al Jolson and eddie cantor) Elmer Fudd passes by and instantly hires Bugs for his vaudeville show.

togehter the duo bring the crowds, however bugs is the stooge and Elmer is the clever one. Bugs gets irritated and pies Elmer in the faces. When Elmer threatens him with a gun Bugs says 'Whats up Doc?' and basically the whole Elmer vs Bugs routine is born and it is a SUCCESS!

at the end of the cartoon Bugs is interupted by a phone call and he tells us that he has a big role. There's a 2 second pause then Bugs appears on stage singing

Oh we're the boys of the chorus
We hope you like our show
We know you're rooting for us
but now we have to go

And that makes me crack up everytime i watch this short.

'What's up Doc?' outstays it's 7 minute duration quite a bit but the build up to the chorusboy gag is worth it. Yes it does seem like McKimson (and writer Warren Foster) put everything as filler ( to be fair the song what's up Doc? is presented here in it's entirety and it works) but a good conclusion can make up for an average cartoon.

Bully for Bugs 1953 (dir Chuck Jones)

2007-10-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

Bully for Bugs has got to be one of my top three 'Bugs revenge' cartoons, the other two being 1949's 'Long-Haired Hare' and 1951's simply brilliant 'Bunny Hugged' There are some more I like but it these ones I always return to. Not only is the humour and gags fast paced and flowing but each movement is practically memorable.

Bully... actually had a very interesting genesis. When Leon Schlesinger left the Warner Brother Studios, Eddie Selzer took over ( and that's when the best looney tunes were created - imo of course). Selzer had no sense of humour or a love for cartoons so when he said something Jones and co would do the opposite and it would lead to a great short.

ANYWAY

Jones wanted to do a short on bullfightin and Selzer refused, so Jones did it anyways and created one of the most well known Bugs Bunny cartoons. However originally the matador was going to be the baddie but when Jones actually attended proper bullfights ( and music director Carl Stalling recorded bull fight crowds - with great difficulty) he found out that he pitied the bullfighter and reversed roles.

The cartoon starts off with bugs accidentally tunneling into a bullring and facing a frightened matador. Perplexed at the matador's cowardness bugs stay pondering his predicament while the bull notices him and breathes on his tale. This irritates Bugs and he starts giving the bull a tongue lashing. The bull butts Bugs into the air and ..

'of course you that this means war'

as usual Bugs starts employing his little bag of tricks. An anvil hidden behind his cape, the famous nose slapping dance and a shotgun which the bull accidentally swallows.

Bugs is always one for great finales so when the bull runs out of the stadium for one super killing, bugs plans one of the biggest booby traps he's ever made.

As the bull charges he slips on some grease, goes flying into the air, goes over sandpaper covered in glue, passes over a match, the friction of the sandpaper causing it to light up, which sets off a barrell of TNT which explodes as the bull enters the area and makes hin crash into a wooden target.

Bugs then appears with the end written on his cape.

The astonishing thing about this short is how breathtaking it is. The audience is left in suspense for a full 7 minutes and not once will you take a breather. All the tricks here are true classics, the nose slapping dance being the most memorable.The best Bugs bunny cartoon ever? maybe?

HIgh Diving Hare 1949 (dir Friz Freleng)

2007-10-14T00:35:00.000-07:00

High Diving hare is quite an interesting cartoon as it runs for a full seven minutes on one gag. That is Yosemite Sam running up a ladder and falling into a tank of water. It's as simple as that

basically Bugs is running a sideshow and his main act, a diver called fearless Freep, who Sam adores is sick. This leads Sam into some type of outrage and tries to force Bugs to jump off the diving board. This all backfires and it's Yosemite Sam who falls into the tank and it's the usual cliches which Bugs pulls off i.e. tricking Sam to cross over a line and sam falls off.

there is one shot which focuses entirely on the diving board ladder only and sam falling down and then climbing up the ladder and then falling down again. We don't see what happens above or below. I remembered reading Scott Mccloud's 'How to read Comics' and he says that the white trench between comic panels contain actions which the reader has to figure out. This falling scene is like that. Freleng shows you Sam falling but it's up to you to picture the methods.

other than that it's quite a weak cartoon, which doesnt really have a high humour level. Saying that though I personally think that the Yosemite Sam/Bugs pairings are way better than the Elmer Fudd ones, Sam's a more intelligent villain and exudes more character.

Long-Haired Hare 1948 (dir : Chuck Jones)

2007-10-12T21:10:00.000-07:00

ahhh Long-Haired Hare, one of my favourite cartoons. Unfortunately it was heavily censored back then, so I never got to watch it properly until now. Although nearly every Chuck Jones/Michael Maltese ( as he wrote the scripts) Bugs Bunny cartoon deals with revenge, this one is pulled off in a spectacular manner.

The cartoon starts off with Bugs playing an old showtime tune, A rainy night in Rio on a banjo. Nearby an Opera Singer is practising for his big night, however Bug's singing is interrupting his rehearsal and he storms over to Bug's warren and destroys the banjo. Bugs then proceeds to annoy him further by playing a harp, in which the singer closes his head in it and then a third time with a tuba ( the opera singer then ties bugs' ears to a tree and pulls his body down causing bugs head to knock against the tree several times). After a pause Bugs states his Groucho Marx pilfered sentence

of course you know that this means war.

cue to the big opera night and the singer is confident and excited about his singing role. As usual if one notices the typical Bugs revenge films, he starts slowly and builds the revenge to a climax. Here the beginning prank is banging the opera room roof so that the singer moves about a bit.

now the pain starts seeping him.

bugs then sabatoages the singer's voice with alum ( and his head shrinks)

pretends to be a female fan ( Bugs in drag again!) and gives the singer a stick of dynamite instead of a pen. You can guess the results, and then as a finale, he dresses up as famous conductor Leopold Stokowski, who used his hand to conduct, (bugs does likewise) and keeps the singer on a high note ( including one highly inspired gag where Bugs keeps his glove in mid air while buying and recieving a pair of mail order earmuffs within 2.5 seconds) until the whole opera house crumbles and bruises the singer completely. When the final boulder falls on his head, Bugs whips out a banjo and strums 'Good Evening Friends'

It's a revenge cartoon, but one thing with bugs is that say unlike Daffy Duck who instigates, Bugs will only react when provoked and even here he shrugs off the opera singer's early bullyings in a very friendly manner.

but when he's riled he will pull off an act of revenge that's extremist and painful. There's one quote in what's up doc where Bugs says that he was a rabbit in a human's world. I think this phrase is excellent in summing up this cartoon as indeed he is one BUT he's always in control, never to be domesticated by us humans.

Rabbit Seasoning 1952 ( dir Chuck Jones)

2007-10-12T12:03:00.000-07:00

I was afraid that I would be inconsistent in my updates so please do not expect this blog to be updated on a daily basis. Probably when I get into the routine of updating more frequently, things will improve. Bear with me :)

Rabbit Seasoning is the second part of the 'Rabbit Fire Triliogy' To sum up briefly. This is a series of three cartoons in where Daffy and Bugs try to outwit the rather dim hunter Elmer Fudd. The twist is that both Daffy and Bugs dont really work as a team and constantly betray each other. Usually it's daffy who instigates the trouble in the first place by trying to convince Elmer that it is Rabbit ( or Wabbit) season and that ducks should be left alone.

Each of the cartoons take place in the major hunting seasons - summer, fall and winter. Rabbit Seasoning takes place in the Fall.

The premise of Rabbit seasoning is simple. Daffy convinces Elmer to shoot Bugs, Bugs manages to get out of the situation using various means ( more a bit later) and Daffy gets shot ( well usually his bill is the only thing which suffers)

Rabbit Seasoning is more violent than the classic Rabbit Fire as there's more gun usage. It's also worth noticing on how Jones uses daffy's detatchable beak as a running gag all throughout the picture ( in fact it's more off his face than on) and again Bugs dresses like a female in order to trick elmer, and Jones does manage to make bugs genuinely sexy (im not joking) . However it's a zippy cartoon and has the famous pronoun argument. Thanks to wikipedia i'll be able to paste this conversation :

Bugs: It's true, Doc; I'm a rabbit alright. Would you like to shoot me now or wait 'til you get home?
Daffy: Shoot him now! Shoot him now!
Bugs: You keep outta this! He doesn't have to shoot you now!
Daffy: He does so have to shoot me now! [to Elmer] I demand that you shoot me now!
[Elmer raises his gun. As Daffy sticks his tongue out at Bugs, he is shot. Daffy walks back over to Bugs, gunsmoke pouring out of his nostrils]
Daffy: [to Bugs] Let's run through that again.
Bugs: Okay.
Bugs: [deadpan] Would you like to shoot me now or wait till you get home.
Daffy:[similarly] Shoot him now, shoot him now.
Bugs: [as before] You keep outta this, he doesn't have to shoot you now.
Daffy Duck: [re-animated] Hah! That’s it! Hold it right there! [to audience] Pronoun trouble. [to Bugs] It's not "he doesn't have to shoot you now", it's "he doesn't have to shoot me now"
[Pause]
Daffy: [angrily] Well, I say he does have to shoot me now!! [to Elmer] So shoot me now!
[Elmer shoots Daffy again]

See with this argument ( and the wabbit season/duck season one in Rabbit Fire) on really understands the Bugs/Daffy/Elmer relationship.
Bugs is always in charge
Daffy tries and fails due to his extremest personality
Elmer is a follower, who obeys without using reason.

If you check out other Jones directed bugs/daffy cartoons, you'll notice that Bugs will always win at the end of the day and Daffy will suffer due to the fact that he doesn't use his full potential in rationalising the situation, as he is perfectly capable of doing so.

Eventually it is this pronoun mix up which leads to Daffy being shot in the end and again, his bill is somewhere else and he uses his infamous ' you're despicable' statement against bugs.

As the second part of the triliogy, Rabbit Seasoning is an excellent follow up. Maybe not as funny or monumental as 'Rabbit Fire' but nonetheless entertaining.

Baseball Bugs (1946) Friz Freleng (Dir)

2007-10-10T10:35:00.000-07:00

It's sort of funny that this cartoon is the one to kick off, on what can possibly be a ten volume series but anyways what's done is done.

The short starts out with a baseball game between the octogenarian (and older) team Tea Totallers ( and one makes a statement which harks back to Clampett's Baby Bottleneck, which is a refrence to radio star, Fanny Brice's similar quote) and the odious Gas House Gorillas, who cheat and win their way throughout the game.

However the Tea Totallers ( nice pun) have a fan in the form of bugs bunny, who vehemently talks badly against the G-H Gorillas. This results in him having to single handedly beat the team and take over where the tea totallers left off ( which isn't very good)

As usual brains will always win over brawn and Bugs uses his usual tricks.

Verbally confusing a team player who has sabatoged the 'fair' umpire.
Distracting team players with pin ups
And so on.
The game continues until there is one point remaining between Bugs and The Gorillas and the brutes are up (the player using a tree instead of a normal bat). Obviously the ball gets hit and literally soars out of the grounds. Bugs is determined to catch it, hails a taxi ( and one of the Gorillas is the driver) , hops on a bus and rushes to the Empire State Building and yes he catches the ball. As The Gorillas start arguing with Bugs, The Statue of Liberty concurs ( again another throwback to a radio star of that time) and it ends with Bugs imitating her.

Baseball Bugs isnt really one of my top Cartoons, Freleng has done much better and funnier Bugs ones but it is entertaining in its own way. However the batboy pun is great and the pinball imagery (when bugs throws a ball and it bounces against the Gorilla's heads) is executed well. It's good but not great.

Introduction

2007-10-10T10:24:00.000-07:00

First of all this blog will be focusing on Looney Tunes ( and Merrie Melodies) since Warner Brothers are releasing every single cartoon (from their golden era roughly from the late 30's to early 60's) on the Golden Collection Series, I thought ( or rather a friend of mine suggested) that it would be a good idea so start a blog analyzing each cartoon.

If you do look up the cartoon titles on major sites like imdb or wikipedia, you'll get scant information and i'm sure that there are other sites doing the same thing but it's an experiment i'd like to try.

I will try update daily but I can't promise this, however i'll try my best. Plus I will not analyse each cartoon in chronological order but in the order they appear on the boxsets. So far I have vols 1 & 2, with 3 and 4 on the way ( 5 can wait a bit longer)

I will not include trivia regarding censoring or things like that. What you'll get is a brief summary of each cartoon and my impressions on this. One thing I do gurantee is that I will watch the cartoon before I comment. I won't be pasting youtube links or pics either as the former will be defunct after a couple of weeks and sometimes it can happen to the latter as well.

So as a last question - why did I choose Looney Tunes?

will first of all I've been watching them obsessively since the age of 8 and I'm showing no signs of stopping. Now that the Golden Collection sets have been appearing on the market, I am now able to have the whole collection.

So Let's Begin!