What makes the Warner Bros. animated shorts created between the early 30s and the late 50s so interesting is that are brought to life through a combination of perfect timing, wonderful writing and a wicked sense of humor. That wicked sense of humor got passed the Hays office in the early 30s probably because the censorship watchdogs assumed that they were simple-minded cartoons and paid them no mind (or they were too busy crabbing about the length of Betty Boop's skirt). These dayts that attitude comes mostly from distributors who routinely pigeonhole these works of comic art as 'kiddie fare' (which explains why the great black and white Popeye cartoons of the early 30s are always shown in color) so they routinely chop, cut and trim them to fit a time schedule.
Those same distributors who like to package these great works as 'kiddie fare' are primarily responsible for what doesn't work in 'Bugs Bunny's Third Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales', the third of Warner Bros. compilation films linking new (rather ersatz) material to introduce old classic cartoons.
The linking premise this time has Bugs and Daffy as book salesmen for Rambling House going their separate ways to try and see who can make more money. Bugs ends up at a castle in Arabia run by Yosemite Sam who demands that Bugs read 1001 stories to his loudmouth son Prince Abba Dabba. The first problem is that the premise is lame and the character of the son is irritating with his loud mouth and hyena whine every time Bugs refuses to read him a story. Daffy meanwhile has unmemorable incounters with Porky Pig and Elmer Fudd.
The other problem is that the classic cartoons that they include have been cut mostly to fit the storyline of the new linking material. One of the greatest animated shorts ever made was Chuck Jones' brilliant 'One Froggy Evening' in which a greedy construction worker finds a box containing a frog that can sing and dance. The downside being that the frog won't sing for anyone but him. This falters all of the man's attempts to make money selling him as an act. The greatest irony of this cartoon is that there are no speaking parts except when the frog sings. The problem in this movie is that new narration by Bugs as he reads the story interrupts the quiet comic flow and worst of all, the hilarious, wicked final punchline is cut off.
I was afraid that this kind of prepackaged butchery was becoming a trend until Cartoon Network put together three shows which really celebrate how important these shorts are. The best is 'Toonheads' which has a theme every week showing how different artists interpreted different characters. The others are 'The Tex Avery Show' and 'The Bob Clampett Show' which spotlight the best works of each artist and allow the viewer to learn a little about what went into their inspiration.
'1001 Rabbit Tales' is an example of a practice in the 1980s of hurling any moving cartoon image at children and assuming that it would stick. Thankfully, that era has passed.
Those same distributors who like to package these great works as 'kiddie fare' are primarily responsible for what doesn't work in 'Bugs Bunny's Third Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales', the third of Warner Bros. compilation films linking new (rather ersatz) material to introduce old classic cartoons.
The linking premise this time has Bugs and Daffy as book salesmen for Rambling House going their separate ways to try and see who can make more money. Bugs ends up at a castle in Arabia run by Yosemite Sam who demands that Bugs read 1001 stories to his loudmouth son Prince Abba Dabba. The first problem is that the premise is lame and the character of the son is irritating with his loud mouth and hyena whine every time Bugs refuses to read him a story. Daffy meanwhile has unmemorable incounters with Porky Pig and Elmer Fudd.
The other problem is that the classic cartoons that they include have been cut mostly to fit the storyline of the new linking material. One of the greatest animated shorts ever made was Chuck Jones' brilliant 'One Froggy Evening' in which a greedy construction worker finds a box containing a frog that can sing and dance. The downside being that the frog won't sing for anyone but him. This falters all of the man's attempts to make money selling him as an act. The greatest irony of this cartoon is that there are no speaking parts except when the frog sings. The problem in this movie is that new narration by Bugs as he reads the story interrupts the quiet comic flow and worst of all, the hilarious, wicked final punchline is cut off.
I was afraid that this kind of prepackaged butchery was becoming a trend until Cartoon Network put together three shows which really celebrate how important these shorts are. The best is 'Toonheads' which has a theme every week showing how different artists interpreted different characters. The others are 'The Tex Avery Show' and 'The Bob Clampett Show' which spotlight the best works of each artist and allow the viewer to learn a little about what went into their inspiration.
'1001 Rabbit Tales' is an example of a practice in the 1980s of hurling any moving cartoon image at children and assuming that it would stick. Thankfully, that era has passed.