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What Did Elmer Do? (What’s Opera, Doc?)
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Released
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August 26, 2022
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Running time
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20:36
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Video
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Doug: Well, been a hot minute since I've done one of these. So, okay, I didn't, like, officially stop these, uh, I just kinda got burned out for a little bit. (He holds up Chaplin.) And, uh, Chaplin got burned out, too. He just jumped in my lap. And, uh, I kinda wanted to try a few new things. You know, like the Untitled Review Show, which I'm still doing. But I think I'm only gonna do it for bigger movies. I'm not gonna do it for, you know, kind of smaller films, uh, that come out. Mainly so I can do stuff like this again. I just kind of got the second wind going again. Uh, with that said, Elmer kills Bugs Bunny in a cartoon...kinda. Yeah, I know this isn't the darkest cartoon to return with, but you know what? It's one of my favorites. I really wanna talk about it.
(The title card for "What’s Opera, Doc?" is shown.)
Doug (vo): "What’s Opera, Doc?" was released in 1957.
Doug: It's one of the most famous cartoons ever made. It's even in the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry. The first cartoon short to receive that honor. So, it's pretty good. Let's take a look.
(The cartoon opens with the Warner Bros. logo, which changes to Bugs Bunny's head.)
Doug (vo): Now if you're like me, this was your introduction to Wagner...
Doug: ...because this is very clearly doing a satire of Wagner operas, particularly...
(A scene of one of the Wagner operas performed on stage is shown.)
Doug (vo): ...the Ring cycle, The Flying Dutchman, and Tannhäuser.
Doug: Chuck Jones was a big fan of Wagner operas, as I eventually became as well.
(A shot of Chuck Jones working on sketches and drawings is shown.)
Doug (vo): And one of the reasons this one looks as good as it does...
Doug: ...when you compare it to other Looney Tunes cartoons — which also look good, but not usually this good — is because Chuck Jones got so used to doing...
(We are shown a still from the 1957 Looney Tunes short "Zoom and Bored", right before Wile. E. Coyote is startled by Road Runner.)
Doug (vo): ...Coyote and Road Runner cartoons that he could kind of...
Doug: I don't wanna say "slumb at" or doing it in his sleep, but he had the formula down so well that he could kind of get them out pretty quick...
Doug (vo): ...and he could spend more time on something like this where the angles in the backgrounds...
Doug: ...needed a lot more dedication to them.
(We are shown what is unmistakably a ferocious lightning storm. The shadow of a Viking is seen against a mountainside as it's revealed that the storm is being manipulated.)
Doug (vo): And man, does it show.
Doug: Just look at some of these opening shots!
Doug (vo): These backgrounds are done by a guy I know I've mentioned a lot...
Doug: ...named Maurice Noble. And if you're a fan of these amazing backgrounds, there's a really great collection...
(The book "The Noble Approach: Maurice Noble and the Zen of Animation Design" is shown.)
Doug (vo): ...called "The Noble Approach". And what always stands out to me is that he gets these...
Doug: ...really amazing angles that are both somehow very simple but also have a fair amount of detail. It really plays with perspective.
(The giant shadow from before is shown again.)
Doug (vo): Like, you look at this with the mountain there, and you see the little simple trees on top.
Doug: And at the same time, it looks grand. It looks gigantic. But then you kinda see those lines...
(The camera zones in on the detail of the cliffs.)
Doug (vo): ...going down the middle. They're not getting smaller as they go up — like giving the...
Doug: ...impression that you're at a great angle or anything — it's just these flat lines. So he kinda really plays around with perspective.
Doug (vo): Almost like it's saying, "Yeah, these are flat, but we're gonna make it feel big."
Doug: It's still gonna feel grand, even though you know you're watching just line drawings.
(As the shadow's hand moves, the clouds start to part, revealing the sky underneath.)
Doug (vo): And the same thing with the colors — it's not like there's a lot of gradient or...
Doug: ...mixing of colors in this, but just the very simple primary colors and the way they're arranged against each other just really stand out.
Doug (vo): I mean, this is nothing but blue but look at that. You have the dark blue in the shadow, kind of a normal primary blue on the mountain, and then like a turquoise blue in the background...
Doug: ...and just those three together just are striking and leap off the screen. And this is only the opening shots!
(The camera moves downward, and we finally see the owner of the shadow. It is Elmer Fudd, dressed as the demigod Siegfried.)
Doug (vo): And then that yellow. Yellow is a direct contrast to blue...
Doug: ...so to have that in the foreground — it's clearly gonna catch your eye and it's gonna look closer to you. So, again, these are very simple choices, but they really, really make a huge difference.
(Elmer raises his helmet, and then speaks to the audience.)
Elmer: ♪ Be very quiet, I'm hunting wabbits. ♪
(We are shown Milt Franklyn's name in the opening credits.)
Doug (vo): Milt Franklyn, who has done a lot of Warner Brothers cartoons in the past, really outdoes himself here...
Doug: ...because he really captures the epic grand sound of Wagner's operas with really not that huge in orchestra.
Doug (vo): I mean, the orchestra they usually use — it sounds fantastic and it is traditional cartoony music...
Doug: ...where it's composed every little beat. Every time a character makes a step, you know the music reflects that. But here, he had to mix that in with this giant epic music.
(Elmer happens upon Bugs Bunny's footprints and follows them all they way to a hole in the ground. He then starts jabbing into the hole with his spear.)
Elmer: ♪ Kill the wabbit! ♪
Doug (vo): And he surprisingly mixes them very well.
Doug: That's one of the things I like about this — is that it does show kind of the funny comparisons between the simplicity of these cartoons but also the grand epic scale of mythology. There is, surprisingly, a lot of crossover! I mean, the coyote is seen as like a tragic hero!
(We are shown an image of Sisyphus — the founder and king of Corinth — punished by pushing a boulder up a hill, only for it to roll back down again when it nears the top. For comparison, a shot from the 1955 Looney Tunes short "Guided Muscle" pops up, showing Wile. E. Coyote about to roll a wrecking ball down a hill to hit Road Runner, only to have it roll up a stone serac and land on top of him.)
Doug (vo): You know, it really is pushing the boulder up the hill!
Doug: I mean, there are a lot of comparisons!
(The camera pans over to the right to show Bugs Bunny pop out of a different hole.)
Bugs: Kill the rabbit?
Doug (vo): All of this is the traditional...
Doug: ...Bugs Bunny short that really should be credited to Tex Avery.
(Shots from the 1940 Looney Tunes short "A Wild Hare" are shown.)
Doug (vo): He (Tex Avery) kind of set up the formula of Elmer Fudd chasing Bugs and Bugs outwitting him.
Doug: Even the idea of being "killed"...
Doug (vo): ...so to speak, and acting like he's dead and Elmer saying...
Doug: ..."What have I done?" I mean, that's been done even before this. This one just sticks to it a little better, because in every cartoon, he (Bugs Bunny) never is dead. In this one, even though he has to come back to life to clarify that he's dead, he is dead in it!
Elmer: ♪ I'm going to kill the wabbit! ♪
Doug (vo): That's once again Arthur Q. Bryan as Elmer Fudd...
Doug: ...who, sadly, did not get credit until years later. Again, I've talked about this before, but Mel Blanc had his contract where he was gonna be...
(The camera focuses on Mel Blanc's name in the credits.)
Doug (vo): ...the one person who did all the Looney Tunes, credited as the only one to do all the Looney Tunes...
Doug: ...when it — clearly, he didn't, but he did a lot of them. He did the majority of them.
Elmer: ♪ And I'll give you a sample! ♪
Doug (vo): Arthur Q. Bryan honestly does...
Doug: ...a decent job singing, but not as good as Mel Blanc. Mel Blanc really knocks it out of the park — both being very soothing with his voice, but very funny with his voice, too.
Doug (vo): And that's very tricky to do. Uh... I actually say...
Doug: ...there's very few people who can do it — who can sound very smooth but also really, really funny, especially when there's a conflict or trying to tell...
Doug (vo): ...a story with humor in it like this.
Doug: It sounds easy, but it's surprisingly difficult.
Bugs: ♪ Might I inquire to ask... Eh... ♪
Doug (vo): Don't know if I've mentioned this before, but Mel Blanc...
Doug: ...hated carrots. Like, it actually made him choke. But nothing sounded like a carrot. they tried every other vegetable. Nothing worked. So every time he'd say the line, he had a trash can next to him. When they stopped recording, he'd go... (spits) ...every single time.
(Bugs comes across Elmer, who is still jabbing at the hole with his spear.)
Elmer: Yo-tow-ho! Yo-tow...
(Elmer stops, and glances in Bugs' direction.)
Doug (vo): One of my favorite little throwaway...
Doug: ...jokes here is when Elmer freezes, the little ruffles at the edge of his armor...
Doug (vo): ...start to fall very slowly.
Doug: You don't even see them all fall. It's such a weird little detail, but it really makes me laugh.
(Elmer demonstrates his helmet's magical powers by conjuring up a thunderstorm. Lightning strikes a tree that Bugs is standing next to.)
Doug (vo): Look at that. That's only two colors: blue and black.
Doug: Yet you feel the depth of field. You know the thing on the left there...
Doug (vo): ...is really, really close. You know Bugs and that little tree that just got struck are a fair distance away...
Doug: ...but in between the foreground, and what's really in the background...
Doug (vo): ...those little trees there, and again, that's just black and blue. No other detail. It's all silhouetted...
Doug: ...yet you can make that out. So simple!
(It isn't shown in the review, but after Bugs slips away, Elmer realizes that Bugs is the rabbit he's hunting, and then grabs his spear and speeds down the rocky steps. After a brief chase scene — which lasts for about a handful of seconds — Elmer is seen coming to a screeching halt. We then are then shown what Elmer is staring at. Surrounded by a ring of trees and with a bright light shining down, we see that Bugs is disguised as the valkyrie Brünnhilde and is riding on a plump horse.)
Doug (vo): Oh, my God! Look at that!
Doug: First of all, get the laughs out at how hilarious...
Doug (vo): ...that giant horse is! And of course, Bugs doing the typical drag thing that he does in a lot of cartoons...
Doug: ...but just this shot!
Doug (vo): The way the trees circle around, but it's not quite a perfect circle, either. It's a little bit like a spiral...
Doug: ...and that's one of the things I love about this. Is that it is these simple shapes, but they're just distorted enough where they're not too familiar.
Doug (vo): You get the low angle of it. You really feel like you're looking up at this because you have the shadows in the foreground...
Doug: ...and then, like — you know, the perfectly lit spotlight in the center — but then, everything else is lit just enough.
Doug (vo): And you see the reflection of the light on the trees there to give a little bit of green to really highlight it and draw focus to where your eye is supposed to go.
Doug: It's just — it's... Oh, I love this cartoon!
(The plump horse trots down the hill toward Elmer.)
Doug (vo): Now, it should be pointed out that...
Doug: ...this isn't the first time this idea has been done with Bugs Bunny. There was actually another cartoon made during World War Two...
(The title card for the 1945 Merrie Melodies short "Herr Meets Hare" is shown.)
Doug (vo): ...called "Herr Meets Hare" — that's a pretty good title.
Doug: And it's directed by Friz Freleng, and there is a scene where Bugs goes into a Wagner opera.
(We are shown a clip from "Herr Meets Hare", where Bugs dresses up as Brünnhilde and rides a horse.)
Doug (vo): They play this music — they play Tannhäuser — and he's riding a giant horse to fool the bad guy.
Doug: Now, is it possible Chuck Jones saw that and said, "Ooh, I kind of want to go off of that and take a similar idea similar approach." Totally. I mean, a lot of these cartoons do reuse a lot of ideas — a lot of similar jokes. And they do that because — again — the idea was these will be shown in the theater, and then you never see them again.
Doug (vo): I mean, there wasn't really VHS. Yeah, there definitely wasn't a national preservation of animation or Library of Congress to preserve these things. Again...
Doug: ...this was the first short, uh, that was ever preserved for this. So it's not something that's uncommon. It's not something you necessarily look at and say, "Oh, thief! Thief!" Especially because Chuck Jones is obviously such a fan of Wagner. I mean, he's talked about a vibe. I mean, he can go through great detail. I mean, you just..
Doug (vo): ...watch this. You see how he enjoys it. But, uh, yeah. I think it's a different enough take...
Doug: ...but at the same time, it should be acknowledged something similar has been done before.
(Bugs and Elmer dance ballet.)
Doug (vo): And these moves — they actually did study ballerinas...
Doug: ...and how they move to get it a little bit more...elegant and smooth. Which — again, these aren't super complicated moves, but — again...
Doug (vo): ...in a Looney Tunes cartoon, you didn't usually see movement like this, and it didn't...
Doug: ...take time to show movement like this.
(Bugs starts playing "hard to get" with Elmer.)
Doug (vo): I think what's...
Doug: ...one of the most phenomenal things about Noble's work is that in almost every shot, there's that great depth of field because he kind of chooses these three points to focus in on: the foreground, the middle ground, and then the background. And there's always something there. There's always something to pinpoint it with these simple shapes.
Doug (vo): Like here. You have in the foreground that pillar there, you have in the middle ground the two pillars there with the flowers going around them, and then in the background, you have the silhouetted tower there. And that's...
Doug: ...such simple shapes, yet you just get this wide range from it.
Elmer: ♪ Return, my love... ♪
Doug (vo): And what I love about this, too, is that you have these wonderful angles.
Doug: Again, Noble was so good at drawing your eye to where it's supposed to be and drawing focus to in such a creative way. But then they'll kind of add this iris here...
(Visual effects are added around Elmer as he ascends the staircase.)
Doug (vo): ...around him (Elmer), and they'll play with the color in that. That looks more like a post-lighting effect...
Doug: ...but again, it adds another dimension to it. It isn't just the, uh, flat drawings there, which — that would've been enough — you know, just the the shapes and, uh, the lines there. But by adding...
Doug (vo): ...that iris there, it suddenly ups everything a little bit more. It gives even more dimension. And...
Doug: ...that's one of the things I love about this cartoon — is it keeps playing with styles a little bit. Not in a jarring way, but in a way that you do register.
(Bugs is lounging about on a cushioned seat while waving a handkerchief.)
Elmer: ♪ A longing burns deep inside me. ♪
Bugs: ♪ Return... ♪
Doug (vo): Now listen to that singing!
Doug: Isn't that both like kind of smooth and nice sounding but really funny too? Like, they just make it kind of shaky enough where it's getting a laugh...
Doug (vo): ...but not so much where it's annoying to listen to? And again, that's — trust me, I know! I've tried to sing...
Doug: ...funny and stuff, and it is very difficult to do! I don't even think I always achieve it, but, uh...they did. I think they did such a good job of it.
(Bugs' headdress suddenly drops off and bounces down the steps — a few at a time. It is here that Elmer starts to realize he's been fooled.)
Doug (vo): So then you get the very standard part...
Doug: ...of a Bugs Bunny cartoon where the disguise falls off. Elmer realizes — you know — he's been tricked. But, again, what I like is that in most cartoons, he gets angry and tries to kill him (Bugs) and stuff like that. The chase continues.
(Bugs pulls Elmer's helmet down over his face and quickly dashes off. Along the way, he discards the rest of his disguise.)
Doug (vo): But in this, he feels like betrayed! He can't believe like his true love...
Doug: ...was lying to him! It wasn't even his true love! And again, that's very big! That's operatic! So he reacts in this very big, operatic way!
(Bugs is still fleeing as fast as his feet can take him.)
Doug (vo): And that's my favorite shot in the whole thing.
Doug: The tilted angle, the colors of just...
Doug (vo): ...pink and red but black and gray and white — they all contrast beautifully.
Doug: I was so fascinated with this shot, I tried to, like, play around with it to figure out why it was so good. I think I had like...
(One of Doug's pictures he drew as an illustrator is shown.)
Doug (vo): ...a fallen angel or something. Like that doesn't make much sense, but I was so in love with this shot...
Doug: ...like I had to recreate and figure out what made it so special. And again, you can just look at this. I mean, you have the...
Doug (vo): ...the three points there — the foreground, the middle ground, the background — but, I mean, there's even more layers to it.
Doug: When you see, like, the columns there and you realize the...
Doug (vo): ...black bar on the left is the continuation of the column, but then you also realize the on the right is the column kind of — they're circling around, and you see that again with the circle of the clouds there. Just such simplicity. That makes it feel so massive and so huge!
(Elmer finally removes his helmet from his eyes. He is so enraged, and the environment around him changes color.)
Elmer: I'll kill the wabbit!
Doug (vo): And look at that — exact same background.
Doug: All you changed was the color.
Doug (vo): The contrast of the red against blue from the pink to the white...
Doug: ...I mean, just instantly changes the mood. I mean, phenomenal! I — that's why I love cartoons, man.
Doug (vo): They just take the most fascinating, interesting things of life that we see, and they...
Doug: ...find the simplicity of it. They say, "Hey, you know these really complicated things that make us feel these giant things? They're not always as complicated as they seem."
Doug (vo): Sometimes it can be just changing color and what our senses interpret.
Doug: ...I mean, this this is why a lot of people say this is one of the greatest cartoons ever.
(Elmer conjures up violent forces of nature.)
Elmer: Typhoons! Hurricanes! Earthquakes! SMOG!!!
Doug (vo): So Arthur Q. Bryan...
Doug: ...couldn't quite get this last line to sound as big and epic as Jones wanted, so Mel Blanc actually stepped in and dubbed his voice there because he actually has done Elmer's voice a couple times in the past. And I don't know if Bryan knew that, but you can tell, 'cause — you know, uh... "Typhoons! Hurricanes! Earthquakes! SMOG!!!" (laughs) It's very Mel Blanc!
Elmer: Hurricanes! Earthquakes! SMOG!!!
Doug: So Elmer "strikes the rabbit"!
(Elmer ultimately summons gigantic bolts of lightning. The bolts strike at the place Bugs has just fled to, and the rock formations come tumbling down.)
Doug (vo): Lightning hits him (Bugs). He's really in a good mood. He thinks he got him (Bugs), and he's going down.
Doug: Again, you see the colors going from these...
(Elmer races to the spot hit by the lightning.)
Doug (vo): ...reds and blues and purples to a little softer.
Doug: He's back to his normal color palette here now...
Doug (vo): ...which really works, because we're about to slowly transcend into yellow.
Doug: And because he's wearing yellow, that's — again — a pretty good transition.
(Bugs is sprawled out on the ground.)
Doug (vo): And here you go. You got the yellow spotlight...
Doug: ...beautifully lit. I mean, good God!
Doug (vo): I mean, that's just so operatic!
Doug: Dramas, tragedies — there's always somebody dead and usually somebody carrying that person. Again, you see this in, like, comic books nowadays, too. I mean, these really are like... It's grand mythology, it's grand imagery, it's grand opera... I mean, this is just such classic stuff that you see in big epic stories.
Doug (vo): And again, it's both pretty funny, but pretty sad, too. I mean, the imagery of...
Doug: ...Bugs there. I mean, the classic and the operatic melodrama dead pose...
Doug (vo): ...with a flower dripping water on him on his eye to make it look like a tear.
Doug: And it's so over the top, but you legit feel the emotion. One of the reasons because you have seen this scenario so many times where Elmer wants to kill Bugs. And when he does, he feels bad — which is very, very funny and still strangely relatable — whenever people get angry and they want to hurt someone and then they're like, "Oh, maybe I overreacted" kind of thing — even though he's a hunter. I mean, there's so many layers why this is funny, but there's also so many layers why you legit feel emotion for it, even though it's happening in such a quick amount of time.
Elmer: (sorrow) ♪ What have I done? I've killed the wabbit! ♪
Doug (vo): I love particularly...
Doug: ...when a kid sees this for the first time. Like a little, little kid. Because there are kind of these confused emotions. They recognize this as dramatic.
Elmer: (sadly) ♪ Poor little bunny! Poor little wabbit! ♪
(Elmer holds Bugs in his arms as he briefly glances upward, shedding tears.)
Doug (vo): The kids are really with Elmer when he says...
Doug: "What have I done? Poor little bunny!" And he says it in such a funny way that we as adults laugh, but kids... I mean, I remember when I was watching this as a kid...
Doug (vo): ...I didn't cry at it or anything like that, but there was kind of this new emotion I wasn't used to.
Doug: And again, there's a lot of crossover between comedy and tragedy. I mean, they're — the difference between them is thinner than people think, and I think this is kind of proof of that.
(Elmer carries Bugs off, walking towards a set of rocky stairs with a bright light shining down from the skies..)
Doug (vo): Gorgeous shot there of him (Elmer)...
Doug: ...carrying him (Bugs) to whatever you want to say it is — Heaven, Valhalla — just up that mountain!
Doug (vo): You don't know if he's (Elmer) gonna bury him (Bugs) or what. I mean, that's whatever left open, and...
Doug: ...you're not even supposed to think that much about. It's just the emotion of the moment and the visuals bringing you that emotion, and it looks spectacular. The only issue I have that has almost nothing to do with this is that you hear those violins. (imitates violin playing)
(Violins are heard playing as a silhouetted Elmer carries Bugs.)
Doug: Absolutely beautiful! I can't find that anywhere outside of this short. There's a lot of recordings of this, and it always leaves that violin part out — even in, like, the audio recording. You can listen to this on a DVD...
Doug (vo): ...just the music part, and it's not there. It's just a big "bom bom bom bom".
Doug: And I don't know why I can't even find it in a Wagner opera where it's this version of...
Doug (vo): ...Tannhäuser, but it doesn't have the violins in there...
Doug: ...and I love that bit! And I wish I could find it somewhere outside of just the short, but I — at least, I could not find the recording. Maybe it's out there. Maybe somebody out there has found it. But, uh... I can't find it anywhere outside of this short.
(The same recording is played once again.)
Doug (vo): And of course, both for the kids and...
Doug: ...because it is funny, we get the final line here. Bugs comes back to say...
(Bugs suddenly rises up and glances toward the audience.)
Bugs: (to the audience) Well, what'd you expect in an opera? A happy ending?
(The cartoon ends.)
Doug: But he does die! He goes back to dying! So there you go! It still still counts as a Dark Toon! And again, when I have seen kids watch this, they still kind of question at the end, "Well, is he dead? Is he?" You know — like they get so involved, they don't even necessarily see it as a joke anymore. They really wanna know, "Well, did he make it out? Does that count? Does that mean he's alive?" Of course, you gotta point to another Bugs Bunny cartoon: "No, he's right there. He's right there."
Doug (vo): I love that, because the mood is so effective and the imagery is so effective...
Doug: ...and even the simplicity of the story is so effective. Kids do really get drawn into it, and adults then can get drawn into...
Doug (vo): ...the artistic style, and...again, the simplicity and hilarity of the story...
Doug: ...and the amazing music. This is one of my favorite cartoons of all time, and it's a lot of other people's favorite cartoons of all time, too.
Doug (vo): Is taking this art form and saying, "You know, there might be more here than the average person is giving credit to."
Doug: And this is why characters like Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd — why they last — you know, today. I mean, like decades! Decades later. They are timeless characters, and we do see something of ourselves in them.
Doug (vo): And we do see when they elevate to something bigger like this in a little seven minute cartoon.
Doug: It can still feel grand and epic, but also really, really funny.
Doug (vo): What did you guys think? Did you grow up with this? Did you get introduced to Wagner this way?
Doug: Have you listened to Wagner after seeing this? If not, I highly recommend it, man. If you like this music, Wagner's absolutely phenomenal. I — I really, really can't recommend it enough. Or maybe...do you not like this cartoon? Do you think it's overhype?
Doug (vo): Do you think like a lot of other cartoons have done this stuff better, even before this came out?
Doug: I love to know your thoughts on it, man.