Author Topic: What's Up, Doc? - A Looney Tunes Group Marathon  (Read 16727 times)

oldkid

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Re: What's Up, Doc? - A Looney Tunes Group Marathon
« Reply #70 on: August 05, 2017, 02:03:10 PM »
Great job, pix!

Now I'm inspired to jump in and do some more.  Maybe this afternoon.
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

oldkid

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Re: What's Up, Doc? - A Looney Tunes Group Marathon
« Reply #71 on: August 05, 2017, 11:07:27 PM »
Prest-o Change-o

Two dogs run away from a dog catcher into a magician's house, full of many magic tricks that trick the duo in many ways.  The early "bugs" is also there to make fun of one of the dogs.

The dogs are adorable and sympathetic, being lost and the house seems to bully them for no cause.  So the final moment of the bunny being punched in the nose feels quite satisfying.  As a result, the gags just cause me to feel pity instead of comic relief.  The animation is fantastic, but it simply isn't funny.

3/5
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

oldkid

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Re: What's Up, Doc? - A Looney Tunes Group Marathon
« Reply #72 on: August 05, 2017, 11:25:45 PM »
Elmer's Candid Camera

This is the first short with Elmer Fudd proper.  There was an earlier character, Egghead, who showed up in a few cartoons, but Elmer has a different voice and similar but distinct features from Egghead.  He is, as always, an innocent, doing a task he had seen others do with no problem, until he faces a rabbit that ruins his whole day.

The task he has here is photography.  He spent a lot of money on this hobby before having his sanity destroyed by the proto-Bugs.  I often feel sorry for Elmer, but at least when he was hunting he was trying to kill a sentient creature.  Here, he just wants a picture.  But to the proto-Bugs, he isn't out for vengeance, just to abuse for fun.

The animation is fantastic again, with great shading and gloss.  But it is a poor substitute for the great teamwork Bugs and Elmer would give us in later years.

3/5
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

oldkid

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Re: What's Up, Doc? - A Looney Tunes Group Marathon
« Reply #73 on: August 05, 2017, 11:37:55 PM »
The Film Fan

This short stuck in my memory all throughout childhood.  I would sing the snippet of the song, "You take the high road" that was in this film, and I knew of "Gone with the Breeze" before I'd heard of the one with the wind.  And it still entertains me.  The puns hit me right in the Dad Humerus, and the meta nature of watching a cartoon before a film about previews before a film must have been fun.  There's no central story, but enough gags to make this a good time.

4/5
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

oldkid

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Re: What's Up, Doc? - A Looney Tunes Group Marathon
« Reply #74 on: August 06, 2017, 12:59:17 AM »
Going to do a few in a row here:

Porky's Duck Hunt (1937)

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x874v
This is the introduction to Daffy Duck, who starts out the short as just an innocent duck being shot at.  During the space of the cartoon, he becomes a silly, dancing duck, willing to help fix Porky's gun after it failed to shoot at him.  Even so, he remains fearful of being shot throughout the short, which in later cartoons he loses.

Disjointed, with some parts that have little to do with Porky's general narrative, the funniest part is right at the beginning, with hunters all shooting at a lone duck, only to all miss.  That was well timed.

Daffy has a long ways to go before he becomes one of the great Loony Tunes stars.

3/5

Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur  (1939)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfVna0EA_L8

I threw this one in because it's one of my favorites from when I was a kid.  Daffy is being chased, this time by a caveman who sounds like Jack Benny.  Daffy is smart, able to plan around the attacks on his person, instead of just acting silly. 

I think I loved this because I used to watch Jack Benny's TV show and "Casper the Caveman" is a good representative of him, including his grumpiness and his sarcastic asides. But best of all, a couple of the gags really work, like the thrown stone becoming sentient and the unexpected finale.   The huge "breathing" duck is an image I kept with me all growing up, for whatever reason.

I still love this one, even if it's only for nostalgic reasons.  4/5

You Ought to be in Pictures (1940)
Here we have Daffy as a well known character, but not on a level as the famous Porky Pig.  So Daffy cooks up a scheme to convince Porky he should be a leading man in features instead of shorts, opposite famous actresses.  Porky is gullible and convinces Leon Schlesinger, the producer of Loony Tunes, to tear up his contract to free Porky to seek other employment.   Leon assures us he knows Porky will be back.

This is a combination live action and animated piece that looks like it was a lot of work to make, but the final product is fun, innovative and wonderfully meta.  Fritz Freleng, the director of the short, had just returned to Warner Bros. after attempting to work at MGM for a time.  The innocent pig turns violent when he realizes the ambitions of the duck, but it all turns out well.  It's clever and we see some of what becomes the genius of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

4/5
« Last Edit: August 06, 2017, 01:48:02 AM by oldkid »
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

oldkid

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Re: What's Up, Doc? - A Looney Tunes Group Marathon
« Reply #75 on: August 06, 2017, 01:17:49 AM »
A Wild Hare

Finally, here we are with the iconic Elmer hunting the iconic Bugs Bunny.  Some of the gags were used, and some of the gags are so cliche that they aren't funny anymore.  But there is a comfort to this age-old hunting story, Elmer's naivete and Bugs' quick wit and varying comic styles, from hand gestures to one-liners to misappropriated dialogues.

My favorite part of the film is Elmer's sorrow at having killed the "wittle wabbit", when that was what he trying to do the whole time.  Just brilliant, and makes me thing, as I have often thought, that Elmer should probably not have a gun and perhaps live in a home where he can be cared for.

Bugs was always much too smart for poor Elmer, but that was part of the fun.  It was dumb Elmer, of course, who was trying to kill, and Bugs, for the most part, was trying to survive with style, wit and humor.  It's a fun combination. 

There are many pairings I prefer over this one, but it is great to see the first one again, set the tone and the famous lines.

4/5
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

oldkid

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Re: What's Up, Doc? - A Looney Tunes Group Marathon
« Reply #76 on: August 06, 2017, 03:41:57 PM »
Tortoise Beats Hare

There are two main gags here: the meta opening in which Bugs is upset at the title of the short; and Cisel tricking Bugs with his friends.  The joy is in watching these themes play out.  I wonder if it wouldn't be better if the trick was kept a surprise until the end, but probably not.  Just like in the original fable, the wonder is in seeing the person of pride fall.  Even if it is Bugs.

Or especially if it is Bugs.  Let's face it, although Bugs is usually saving his own skin with style, he's fundamentally a jerk.  He is mean to the deserving and the innocent with equal glee.  It's nice to see him taken down a peg or two.  Especially by such a humble, but equally smart, character. 

BTW, I found out that the habit of Bugs eating his carrots while talking is something copied from Clark Gable in It Happened One Night:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wcrth90C3D4



4/5
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

oldkid

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Re: What's Up, Doc? - A Looney Tunes Group Marathon
« Reply #77 on: August 06, 2017, 04:08:51 PM »
Hollywood Steps Out

A revue of famous stars, all enjoying themselves at Ciro's nightclub in Los Angeles.  46 stars are in attendance, all with their own gag.  To see them listed and the gags explained (some are easy, some not so much), check out the Wikipedia page.

In our central theatre in Portland there is a blown up photo of all the MGM stars of 1949.  I used to study that photo, trying to find which ones I knew and trying to remember their films at the time.  This short is like that.  So many snippets of so many stars, and the fun of it is recognizing them or not.  It makes for a fine photo, but does it really make a good short?  Forgettable, at best.

3/5
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

Antares

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Re: What's Up, Doc? - A Looney Tunes Group Marathon
« Reply #78 on: August 15, 2017, 08:18:01 PM »
Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt - 3/5

Friz Freleng's turn to take on the new Bugs Bunny character. But I've always felt that Freleng didn't find his stride in WB cartoons, until the war years, which were right around the corner. Not many laughs in this one, and the ending is a bit flat.

Rhapsody in Rivets - 3/5

Another cartoon by Friz Freleng, that is short on gags and just meanders its way through its 7 minute time allotment. You wouldn't have missed much, had you decided to go buy some popcorn or soda, while this was playing between the main film and the B picture, back in 1941.

Wabbit Twouble - 4/5

After Tex Avery, Bob Clampett was my favorite director from the Termite Terrace. His take on Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, is every bit as manic as Avery's, with some good gags and chuckles. This cartoon breezes through its 7 minute time frame.

Masterpiece (100-91) | Classic (90-80) | Entertaining (79-69) | Mediocre (68-58) | Cinemuck (57-21) | Crap (20-0)

pixote

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Re: What's Up, Doc? - A Looney Tunes Group Marathon
« Reply #79 on: October 21, 2017, 03:15:35 PM »


Hollywood Steps Out  (Tex Avery, 1941)

I'm not wired with any facial-recognition skills, so I'm grateful that Wikipedia was able to help me out with all the references in this film. Here's a visual guide:


From left to right: Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche, Adolphe Menjou (hidden), Norma Shearer, and Cary Grant


Edward G. Robinson and Ann Sheridan


Looney Tunes assistant producer Henry Binder and producer Leon Schlesinger


"Smith was 5' 10" tall and weighed 235 pounds at the age of 30."


Johnny Weissmuller


James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, and George Raft


Greta Garbo and Harpo Marx


Bing Crosby


Leopold Stokowski


James Stewart and Dorothy Lamour


Tyrone Power and Sonja Henie


The Three Stooges


Oliver Hardy ("a big man at 6'1" tall and weighing up to 300 pounds")


Cesar Romero and Rita Hayworth


Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland


Lewis Stone (Judge Hardy) and Andy Rooney (Andy Hardy)


"Sally Strand" standing in for Sally Rand


Kay Kyser


Rear: William Powell, Spencer Tracy, Ronald Colman, and Errol Flynn
Front: Wallace Beery and C. Aubrey Smith


Peter Lorre


Henry Fonda with the voice of Jimmy Lydon


J. Edgar Hoover


Boris Karloff, Arthur Treacher, and Buster Keaton


Mischa Auer and Ned Sparks


Jerry Colonna


Groucho Mark and Clark Gable


I found Hollywood Steps Out quite interesting as a pop cultural time capsule but not all that funny or amusing. Then again, I missed about half the references. Perhaps, having put together the above guide, I should watch the film again to see if I get more out of it. The one reference I really felt stupid about missing was Cary Grant's mention The Front Page. It didn't click with me that that was actually a reference to His Girl Friday. Peter Lorre has by far the best line: "I haven't seen such a beautiful bubble since I was a child." Hilarious and perfectly delivered.

Watching this short made me want to have a mini-marathon of films featuring Arthur Treacher and Ned Sparks, since I don't know them well enough to appreciate their caricatures. C. Aubrey Smith and Mischa Auer would somewhat fall into that category as well. I'd throw Henry Aldrich for President in there, too, and Hotel Variety for a little pre-Code Sally Rand.

Grade: C

pixote
« Last Edit: October 21, 2017, 05:53:16 PM by pixote »
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