This Is a Life?

In their heyday, the Warner Bros. animation department poked fun at the era's TV shows. One example was Friz Freleng's "This Is a Life?". As always, Bugs is the clever character, with Daffy envying him and plotting to harm him. An unusual twist is that we get both Elmer Fudd AND Yosemite Sam, both showing clips of times that Bugs got the better of them (Sam's misfortune was the especially funny one). And then of course there's the final gag involving a time bomb.* We could be cynical and note that they used footage from previous cartoons, and say that we in the 21st century won't get the cartoon's overall reference. Even so, the cartoon's aim is to be funny and it fully succeeds in that respect.

*I get the feeling that nowadays a movie studio might be less sanguine about making explosives look funny.

This cartoon parodies the old Ralph Edwards show, "This Is Your Life." and does quite well at that. Daffy outdoes himself this time. Granny engages in wish-fulfilment for a great many people in her methods of dealing with someone sitting next to you who does not understand the basic fact that you did not pay good money for your seat to listen to them talk! Daffy gets what he deserves (as usual) and it couldn't happen to a nicer duck! Worth your time. Reccomended.

Enjoyable parody of "This is Your Life," which was a TV show in the 1950s that had celebrity guests who were given a walk down memory lane in front of a live studio audience. The guest here is Bugs Bunny, with Elmer as the host of the program. A disgruntled Daffy sits in the audience stewing over his not being the guest of honor. Sitting beside him is Granny, who doesn't hesitate to show her displeasure at Daffy's interruptions. Nice to see some rare Granny and Daffy interaction. We get some brief clips from past cartoons and then the short ends with a predictable but funny gag involving a bomb. This isn't likely to top anybody's "best of" lists for Looney Tunes cartoons but it's entertaining and fun.

As a huge fan of Looney Tunes and of Bugs and Daffy (also someone who gets great enjoyment out of Elmer and Yosemite Sam), This is a Life? in no way disappointed. It was a personal favourite of a kid, and it holds up now as one of the better mid-50s Looney Tunes cartoons.

This is a Life? contains beautiful animation, both in the footage and in the This is Your Life parody story that frames the cartoon. The backgrounds are bright and lush in colour and meticulous and smooth in detail, all the characters are very well drawn in distinctive Fritz Freleng style. Milt Franklyn's music score is a perfect fit, as always with Franklyn the orchestration is luscious in sound and very clever in how it's used, the rhythms have so much energy and character and, like with Carl Stalling's music, it not just matches all the gestures, expressions and actions of the characters seamlessly but it helps make the action and material even funnier and even more memorable than they already are.

At first, there was the worry that the use of footage/flashbacks of previous cartoons (A Hare Grows in Manhattan, Bucaneer Bunny, Hare Do) would cheapen the cartoon and make it little more than a clip show that was more an excuse to string along pre-existing material which would have most likely made it pointless. But that wasn't the case at all with This is a Life?, considering the story of the cartoon the footage of the previous cartoons served a point, and in a way that was fun and affectionately nostalgic. The writing is razor-sharp and hilarious, with the best lines coming from Daffy, and the gags throughout are every bit as funny with a priceless bomb-wrapped-as-a-gift gag. The story is paced swiftly and never stopped being fun, also because of the premise, the flashbacks and the characters it was very affectionate as well.

Bugs is as smart, witty and endearing as he always is with a touch of arrogance, Elmer is a sweet and suitably befuddled host and foil, Yosemite Sam is hilariously hot-headed and Granny is funnier than in most of the Sylvester and Tweety cartoons she featured in. Hysterically manic and crafty Daffy however steals the show, his jealousy pitched perfectly and never feeling too mean-spirited. The voice acting is great, not just from a peerlessly spot-on Mel Blanc (particularly good as Daffy), but also from Arthur Q. Bryan and June Foray.

Overall, a hilarious and affectionate tribute classic. 10/10 Bethany Cox