The Wacky Wabbit

After Elmer Fudd debuted in the late 1930s, the folks at Looney Tunes decided to make the character look more like the voice actor who voiced him, Arthur Q. Bryan. As a result, the character is much more obese and unattractive. After a few films like this, the studio decided the retooled Elmer was a bad idea and returned to the more familiar version we are used to today.

This cartoon finds Elmer in the desert prospecting for gold. Not surprisingly, Bugs arrives mostly just to annoy him...and delight the audience.

There are several refences to the war (such as war bond posters and the lyrics to the song Elmer sings) but otherwise this is a timeless sort of film...enjoyable and full of the antics we all love.

This time, Elmer Fudd - looking mighty chubby (so as to resemble Arthur Q. Bryan, who did his voice) - is looking for gold out in the desert, but Bugs Bunny keeps playing tricks on him. The gags with the dynamite were probably the best (the crowd behind these cartoons sure had a way with dynamite, as much of their work showed). One can always see how various characters try to undermine Bugs's integrity, but poetic justice prevails. It just goes to show why these cartoons will never get old, no matter what happens. You'd better believe that Arthur Q. Bryan and Mel Blanc are the voices for all time! So seriously Susanna, don't cry for me.

In this very good short Elmer Fudd is a gold prospector in a desert.He is constantly singing"Oh Susana".He has to face the hard conditions of the desert and also a certain Bugs Bunny out to demolish his every hope.One of my favorite shorts.Bugs and Elmer are real threats to each other.Bugs here is quite sinister too.Elmer doesn't even provoke him.The hopeless Elmer seems quite mad in the end when he laughs having taken his own gold tooth out.Serves to point how demented Warner Bros toons can be.Much better than today's sugary toons.

Starting with a cactus encouraging us to buy war bonds, we follow "Elmer" twamping and twudging through the desert ready for his own personal gold rush. Meantime, "Bugs" is carefully camouflaged inside a sheep's skull and after a rousing duet of "Oh Susannah" watches his patsy set about beginning his mining operation. Well, it's really just him, a pick axe and some dynamite! Might "Elmer" have been based on Walter Brennan, I wonder? Anyway, what ensues here is a bit repetitive and after a few minutes I was a little too settled into the obvious dynamic. It's not that cartoons didn't usually follow a formula, it's maybe just that the two characters here don't really engage for me. I always found "Bugs" a bit smug! It's watchable, though - just not very memorable and there's far too much dialogue, too.

A typical Bugs Bunny cartoon. An early version of Elmer Fudd is prospecting in the desert. He brings enough junk to fill a small house. While his intentions are good, he doesn't count on the fact that our erstwhile rabbit is out there. Bugs has no real agenda other than being a thorn in the side of anyone he encounters.