Rasgando o Contrato

I don't know any of the details surrounding Bob Clampett's departure from Warner Bros., but in this, his last cartoon for them, was one of the weirdest from a long list of strange entries from him. I don't think he got along well with the new studio imposed producer, Edward Selzer. Leon Schlesinger, the previous one, and the creator of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, let him have all the freedom he needed with zany, wild cartoons as the result. Some, like "Porky in Wackyland" and "The Daffy Doc" are considered by many cartoon historians to be important for the bold liberties he took with art and the use of space. He did things that had never been done before, but Warner Bros. bought out Schlesinger for $1,000,000 and Clampett's star never quite shone as brightly as it did in those heady days.

At the beginning of this cartoon, then, it is significant that we see that Elmer Fudd is becoming disenchanted with his cartoon contract with "Mr. Warner" and tears it up in frustration after once again being the fall guy for Bugs Bunny. What follows is a surreal sequence after Elmer falls asleep. Bugs uses "nightmare paint" to make him dream so Bugs can manipulate him in his slumber to save both of their careers. We have the usual assortment of corny Clampett gags mixed in with some stunning scenes that must have had everyone back in 1946 scratching their heads a little, wondering if Clampett had finally lost his mind. The price that innovative people sometimes have to pay is that not everyone will get it, and I don't think Selzer was anywhere near "getting it", so Clampett got the door.

'The Big Snooze (1946),' a Looney Tunes short directed by Robert Clampett, is basically seven minutes of cultural references: the title is derived from Howard Hawks' classic Bogart-Bacall film-noir, 'The Big Sleep (1946),' and there are throwaway mentions of Bette Davis, Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, Damon Runyon and Mr. Jack L. Warner himself. The film's premise, in some eerie twist of Einstein's space-time continuum, even appears to reference Freddy Krueger and 'A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984),' though greater minds than mine could undoubtedly arrive at a more sensible conclusion. The opening sequence was recycled from the 1941 Bugs Bunny cartoon, 'All This and Rabbit Stew (1941),' with Elmer Fudd substituted for the black hunter from that film. 'The Big Snooze' wanders quite aimlessly through its scenario, but the idea itself is clever enough to last the total running time. As usual, Mel Blanc voiced the wabbit, but Arthur Q. Bryan (uncredited) is responsible the characterisation of Fudd.

In a shrewdly self-referential twist on the usual formula, Elmer, after being outsmarted by the mischievous Bugs for the last time, angrily tears up his Warner Bros. contract and decides to spend the rest of his days fishing. Fearing for his own career, Bugs attempts to frighten Elmer back into acting, and does so by entering into his dreams and systematically turning them into a string of terrifying nightmares, plagued by horrific armies of annoying "wabbits." With the realisation that retirement isn't quite as peaceful as he'd anticipated, Elmer promptly returns to the film set and accepts that it is simply his duty to be consistently suckered by a rascally rabbit. Just as the classic 'Duck Amuck (1954)' derived humour from its self-referential nature, Clampett's film {ironically enough, the last that he made for Warner Bros.} has some fun with the conjecture that Elmer Fudd is a contracted actor on the studio's payroll. The dream sequence is colourful, chaotic and suitably threatening, and Bugs appears to get a lot of enjoyment from tormenting the hapless little hunter.

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.

Elmer Fudd is the doing the normal thing for him: hunting for Bugs Bunny in the woods. Bugs cleverly uses a log and a cliff to repeat the same joke three times, but it's always funny. Finally, Elmer has had it. He tired of always losing "in these cartoons." He takes his Warner Brothers contract and rips it up!

"From now on, its nothing but fishing for me, and no more wabbits," announces Elmer to a stunned Bugs, who pleads with him to change his mind. "Doc, you can't do this to me. Look at all we've been through. We're like Rabbit & Costello," he says. (That's one of the things I love about these cartoons - great, inventive dialog.)

While Elmer's peacefully dreaming, Bugs invades his dream! This is one of the wildest, funniest Bug Bunny cartoons I have ever seen - just brilliant material.

After one time too often falling foul of Bugs Bunny's tricks, Elmer Fudd rips up his contract with Warner Brothers Studios and leaves to get some R&R fishing by the lake. Realising that his strongest career sidekick is important in his own career, Bugs goes after him and enters his dreams to encourage him to return to the job at hand.

The cartoon starts very abruptly and continues in that vein as scenes appear to just jump around very quickly and without a huge amount of internal structure. The plot cleverly acknowledges a reality of contracts (which of course, isn't reality for cartoon characters) and also has some funny asides from Bugs, but it doesn't appear to have a central plot. The dream sequence is colourful and well drawn but not necessarily funny as a result. I never fully got why Bugs took this approach to the problem!

The characters are good. Bugs does his usual stuff but doesn't seem relaxed in the cartoon - the dialogue is edited too fine and close for his style I felt. Fudd has little to do and his character doesn't serve as well as he usually does as a foil to Bugs - he simply isn't given the time to respond in a way he normally is.

Overall, almost any cartoon with Bugs and Fudd is going to be work watching for me, but this one just seemed a bit aimless - like the dream sequence was the original idea and the rest of it was just a thin excuse to get to it. It is all over a bit fast and without any really hilarious action, it is OK but really is a poor entry from this famous double act.