Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales (1982)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Directors:

Friz Freleng
Chuck Jones
(more)

Writers:

John W. Dunn (story) &
David Detiege (story) ...
(more)

Release Date:

19 November 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Music

Plot:

Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck are rival book salesmen from Rambling House. They each go their separate ways to sell books to folks...

Plot Keywords:

Daffy Duck | Yosemite Sam | Elmer Fudd | Porky Pig | Bugs Bunny

Cast

Mel Blanc	...	Bugs Bunny / Daffy Duck / Porky Pig / Yosemite Sam / Sylvester / Sylvester, Jr. / Speedy Gonzales / Tweety / Genie / Hassan / Big Bad Wolf / Beanstalk Giant / Elvis Gorilla / Stork (voice)
Arthur Q. Bryan	...	Elmer Fudd (voice)
June Foray	...	Granny / Goldimouse / Mrs. Sylvester / Mrs. Elvis Gorilla / Jack's Mother (voice)
Shepard Menken	...	Old Storyteller (voice) (as Shep Menken)
Lennie Weinrib	...	Prince Abadaba (voice)
Bill Roberts	...	Michigan J. Frog (singing voice) (archive footage) (uncredited)

Directed by
Friz Freleng		(classic cartoons)
Chuck Jones		(classic cartoons)
Robert McKimson		(classic cartoons)

Writing credits
John W. Dunn		(story) (as John Dunn) &
David Detiege		(story) &
Friz Freleng		(story)
John W. Dunn		(stories: classic cartoons) (as John Dunn) and
Warren Foster		(stories: classic cartoons) and
Chuck Jones		(stories: classic cartoons) and
Michael Maltese		(stories: classic cartoons) and
Tedd Pierce		(stories: classic cartoons)

Produced by
Friz Freleng	....	producer

Original Music by
Milt Franklyn
William Lava		(as Bill Lava)
Carl W. Stalling		(as Carl Stalling)
Robert J. Walsh		(as Rob Walsh)

Film Editing by
Jim Champin

Production Design by
Robert Givens		(as Bob Givens)
Tom Yakutis		(as Thomas M. Yakutis)

Sound Department
Jim Graziano	....	sound effects editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Mark Henley	....	animation camera operator: Nick Vasu Inc. (uncredited)

Animation Department
Fred Abranz	....	assistant animator: bridging sequences
Jackie Banks	....	animation checker: bridging sequences (as Jacqueline Banks)
Warren Batchelder	....	animator: bridging sequences
Warren Batchelder	....	animator: classic cartoons
Ted Bonnicksen	....	animator: classic cartoons
Bob Bransford	....	animator: bridging sequences
Bob Bransford	....	animator: classic cartoons
Pete Burness	....	animator: classic cartoons
William Butler	....	background artist: classic cartoons
Ken Champin	....	animator: classic cartoons
Gerry Chiniquy	....	animator: classic cartoons
Corny Cole	....	layout artist: classic cartoons (as Cornelius Cole)
Keith Darling	....	animator: classic cartoons
Arthur Davis	....	animator: classic cartoons
Philip DeGuard	....	background artist: classic cartoons (as Philip De Guard)
Bill Exter	....	key assistant animator: bridging sequences (as William K. Exter)
Edward Faigin	....	assistant animator: bridging sequences
Marcia Fertig	....	animator: bridging sequences
Holly Forsyth	....	assistant animator: bridging sequences
Robert Givens	....	layout artist: bridging sequences (as Bob Givens)
George Grandpré	....	animator: classic cartoons (as George Grandpre)
Robert Gribbroek	....	background artist: classic cartoons
Robert Gribbroek	....	layout artist: classic cartoons
Lee Halpern	....	animator: classic cartoons
Ken Harris	....	animator: classic cartoons
Paul Julian	....	background artist: classic cartoons
Terry Lennon	....	animator: bridging sequences (as Terrence Lennon)
Art Leonardi	....	animator: classic cartoons
Abe Levitow	....	animator: classic cartoons
Bob Matz	....	animator: bridging sequences
Bob Matz	....	animator: classic cartoons
Norm McCabe	....	animator: bridging sequences
Maurice Noble	....	layout artist: classic cartoons
Jane Nordin	....	assistant animator: bridging sequences
Tom O'Loughlin	....	background artist: classic cartoons
Manuel Perez	....	animator: classic cartoons
Hawley Pratt	....	layout artist: classic cartoons
Tom Ray	....	animator: bridging sequences
Tom Ray	....	animator: classic cartoons
Virgil Ross	....	animator: bridging sequences
Virgil Ross	....	animator: classic cartoons
Sonja Ruta	....	assistant animator: bridging sequences
Richard H. Thomas	....	background artist: bridging sequences
Richard Thompson	....	animator: classic cartoons
Lloyd Vaughan	....	animator: classic cartoons
Allen Wade	....	key assistant animator: bridging sequences
Ben Washam	....	animator: classic cartoons
Irv Wyner	....	background artist: classic cartoons
Dora Yakutis	....	scene planner: bridging sequences
Tom Yakutis	....	layout artist: bridging sequences (as Thomas M. Yakutis)
Woody Yocum	....	assistant animator: bridging sequences (as Woody Yokum)

Editorial Department
Treg Brown	....	editor: classic cartoons
Steve New	....	negative cutter (as Steven New)

Other crew
Arthur Davis	....	sequence director (as Art Davis)
David Detiege	....	sequence director
Kathleen Helppie-Shipley	....	assistant to producer (as Kathleen Helppie)
K. Ray Iwami	....	assistant to producer
Bill Perez	....	sequence director

Thanks
Chuck Jones	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Warner Bros. Pictures

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1982) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1985) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• Warner Home Video Española S.A. (1991) (Spain) (VHS)

Other Companies

• C & D Ink and Paint  ink and paint
• Nick Vasu  animation camera

Also Known As:

Bugs Bunny's 1001 Rabbit Tales (USA) (short title)

Runtime:

74 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:F (Ontario) | Canada:G (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Australia:G | UK:U | USA:G | Spain:T

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Quotes:

Daffy Duck: What a way for a duck to travel, underground.

Movie Connections:

Edited from Wise Quackers (1949)

Ersatz, pre-packaged butchery

What makes the Warner Bros. animated shorts created between the early 30s and the late 50s so interesting is that are brought to life through a combination of perfect timing, wonderful writing and a wicked sense of humor. That wicked sense of humor got passed the Hays office in the early 30s probably because the censorship watchdogs assumed that they were simple-minded cartoons and paid them no mind (or they were too busy crabbing about the length of Betty Boop's skirt). These dayts that attitude comes mostly from distributors who routinely pigeonhole these works of comic art as `kiddie fare' (which explains why the great black and white Popeye cartoons of the early 30s are always shown in color) so they routinely chop, cut and trim them to fit a time schedule.

Those same distributors who like to package these great works as `kiddie fare' are primarily responsible for what doesn't work in `Bugs Bunny's Third Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales', the third of Warner Bros. compilation films linking new (rather ersatz) material to introduce old classic cartoons.

The linking premise this time has Bugs and Daffy as book salesmen for Rambling House going their separate ways to try and see who can make more money. Bugs ends up at a castle in Arabia run by Yosemite Sam who demands that Bugs read 1001 stories to his loudmouth son Prince Abba Dabba. The first problem is that the premise is lame and the character of the son is irritating with his loud mouth and hyena whine everytime Bugs refuses to read him a story. Daffy meanwhile has unmemorable incounters with Porky Pig and Elmer Fudd.

The other problem is that the classic cartoons that they include have been cut mostly to fit the storyline of the new linking material. One of the greatest animated shorts ever made was Chuck Jones' brilliant `One Froggy Evening' in which a greedy construction worker finds a box containing a frog that can sing and dance. The downside being that the frog won't sing for anyone but him. This falters all of the man's attempts to make money selling him as an act. The greatest irony of this cartoon is that there are no speaking parts except when the frog sings. The problem in this movie is that new narration by Bugs as he reads the story interrupts the quiet comic flow and worst of all, the hilarious, wicked final punchline is cut off.

I was afraid that this kind of prepackaged butchery was becoming a trend until Cartoon Network put together three shows which really celebrate how important these shorts are. The best is `Toonheads' which has a theme every week showing how different artists interpreted different characters. The others are `The Tex Avery Show' and `The Bob Clampett Show' which spotlight the best works of each artist and allow the viewer to learn a little about what went into their inspiration.

`1001 Rabbit Tales' is an example of a practice in the 1980s of hurling any moving cartoon image at children and assuming that it would stick. Thankfully, that era has passed.

Rating: *1/2 (of four)