Qué Pesadillas

As usual, Elmer Fudd is hunting Bugs Bunny. Bugs puts another one over him. He has had enough and quits on the spot. He rips up his WB contract and goes fishing. Bugs finds him napping while fishing. It is a trip into his dreamland and Bugs turns it into a nightmare.

I like the turn and going meta. I am less convinced of the dreamland sequence. I can think of many ideas for dreams including Elmer Fudd turning into a rabbit being chased by Bugs Bunny dressed as a hunter. Most of all, I don't buy the ending. If he gets hounded by Bugs in his nightmare, he would never go back to his job. This is adventurous although I have questions.

Bob Clampett's final short for Warner Bros. is a classic Bugs & Elmer cartoon. Elmer's tired of the routine they're in where he chases Bugs but never wins. So he tears up his contract and quits the cartoon! Bugs, determined to get Elmer back, invades his dreams (like Freddy Krueger) leading to some surreal and wacky imagery. The music is bouncy and cheerful. The voice work from Mel Blanc and Arthur Q. Bryan is expectedly flawless. The animation is beautiful with well-drawn characters and backgrounds and lovely Technicolor. The dream stuff is amazing. Funny gags, lines, and fourth-wall breaking makes this one any Looney Tunes fan will want to see.

I own the compilation that 'The Big Snooze' is featured on. From the get go....the stand alone cartoon seems pretty much like any of the other Bugs Bunny 'toons. Fudd chases 'wabbit'....wabbit makes him look like a sucker....and so on so forth. Until....Elmer has finally decided he's had enough. At first....seems Elmer is going to finally be free. Or so he thinks. After all....as Bugs put it....'think of your career. And for dat matter think of my career.' From there it just goes into the category of just plain silly. The 'nightmare paint' and the other touches bringing a surreal sense to the whole thing. And then there was 'da Super Chief!' Not to mention the book....aptly titled '1001 Arabian Nightmares.' And of course....what would a cartoon like this with that 'wascally wabbit' be without some clever misdirection from the craziest hare in the world....thereby allowing him to run amok. Elmer after stopping [Why did 'she' stop?] : 'Have any of you girls ever had an experience like this?' Oh sure Elmer....you should've known better when that rabbit set you up by skewing your expression of [surprise] anger over being the 'fall guy' once again. Of course if you had....the cartoon would've been ruined. And to think what we would've missed along the way if you had stayed retired. All in all....not to be missed. If you can find the compilation tape still. 'Bugs vs Elmer.'

Big Snooze, The (1946)

*** (out of 4)

Elmer Fudd, tired of being abused by Bugs Bunny, decides to tear up his contract to Warner and go on vacation. Bugs needs him back so the rabbit invades his dreams to cause a nightmare. This is certainly a wild short but I've never found it to be a funny one. What does work here are the amazing colors inside the "nightmare", which look absolutely stunning in their remastered form. The visuals are certainly the main reason to watch this film as there aren't too many laughs. The film starts off with a chase, which would normally end a cartoon but here the gag is somewhat funny. The best sequence is the famous one where Elmer is tied to the train tracks and a train of rabbits run over him.

In this last Bob Clampett Looney Tunes short, Elmer Fudd is thoroughly appalled by the treatment he always winds up getting from Bugs Bunny, so he decides enough is enough, tears up his Warner Brothers contract and commits himself to fishing for the rest of his days. Bugs is mortified of course (for his own job security mind you) and when he finds Elmer dreaming, he takes a sleeping pill and enters his pleasant dream to turn it into a nightmare. This is a hilarious if a wee bit surreal cartoon that can be seen on Disc 1 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. It also features an optional commentary by animator Bill Melendez that is pretty good.

My Grade: A