Maestro Pernalonga

I love the bugs vs Elmer opera cartoons. My two year old daughter loves them too which means I have seen this about 30 times. This one of the ones I still like to watch but if splitting hairs I'd say not as good as what's opera doc or the rabbit of Seville. Enjoy

Long Haired-Hare may be the only cartoon short with the distinction of incorporating a hilarious, epic lesson in harmonic physics as a climatic punch-line.

Bugs Bunny is happily playing the banjo and singing at his hole. Opera singer Giovanni Jones is practicing at his home nearby and is furious at Bugs for interrupting him. He tracks down Bugs and breaks Bugs' banjo. The conflict escalates and Bugs declares, "This Means War".

The first half is fine. It nicely builds a good conflict. After This Means War, I expected Bugs to take the fight right away to Giovanni's home. The concert is still fine, but the delay does lose some of the steam temporarily. It all comes back with Bugs doing his great conducting. That is another one of Bugs' classic moments.

Here Bugs takes his revenge on an opera singer named Giovanni Jones and does so with hilarious consequences. The last few minutes are absolutely priceless and one of my all time favourite endings in a Looney Tunes cartoon. Mel Blanc is brilliant as Bugs and Nicolai Shutorov gives a bravura singing performance as Giovanni(though when I first saw this cartoon I could've sworn it was Nelson Eddy). The animation is wonderful, the music is a joy, the gags come by thick and fast and there are a lot of them. In case you are wondering, when Bugs is walking between the orchestra and the members are whispering "Leopold", that is a reference to Leopold Stokowski. Overall, this is a real jewel for Looney Tunes and opera fans and I am both. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Bugs is lying on a rock happily playing some folk music while opera singer Giovanni Jones is in "the house down the hill" (quite a modern looking house for 1949, no?) rehearsing. After being constantly disrupted by Bugs's music, Giovanni violently puts it to an abrupt end. Little does he realize what Bugs has in store for him during his performance that night...

Being a late-1940s cartoon, we see our favorite rabbit at his most aggressive (before the more "kid-friendly" Bugs of ten years later). As such, Chuck Jones' generally dark/violent humor is in full force here, and is very funny due to some clever jokes and excellent timing. My favorite being the sometimes cut-from-TV scene where Bugs dresses like a bobbysoxer asking for Giovanni's autograph, only to give him a stick of dynamite rather than a pen. Giovanni's pose when he was getting ready to sign his name was simply priceless! Highly recommended!