What's Opera, Doc? is a 1957 American Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese. The short was released on July 6, 1957, and stars Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd.

The story features Elmer chasing Bugs through a parody of Romantic composer Richard Wagner's operas, particularly the Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) cycle, Der Fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman), and Tannhäuser. It borrows especially heavily from the second opera in the Ring cycle, Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), woven around the typical Bugs–Elmer feud. Most of the dialogue is performed in recitative. The short marks the final appearance of Elmer Fudd in a Chuck Jones cartoon.

It has been widely praised in the animation industry as the greatest animated cartoon that Warner Bros. ever released, and it has been ranked as such in the top 50 animated cartoons of all time. In 1992, the Library of Congress deemed it "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Plot

Dressed as the demigod Siegfried (and cutting a less than impressive figure as such), Elmer Fudd is pursuing Bugs Bunny when he finds rabbit tracks and arrives at Bugs' hole. Elmer jams his spear into the hole while singing "Kill the wabbit!" repeatedly (to the tune of "Ride of the Valkyries" from Die Walküre). Bugs sticks his head out from another hole and converses with Elmer about the latter's spear and magic helmet. This prompts a display of Elmer-as-Siegfried's magical powers. Bugs flees in fear, and Elmer pursues.

Elmer stops in his tracks at the sight of the beautiful Valkyrie Brünnhilde (actually Bugs in drag). "Siegfried" and "Brünnhilde" exchange endearments and perform a ballet (based on the Venusberg ballet in Tannhäuser). Bugs' true identity is exposed when his headdress falls off, enraging Elmer. Bugs discards his disguise and runs. Elmer's wrath causes a storm to brew, tearing apart the mountains where Bugs has fled. Upon seeing Bugs' lifeless body, Elmer regrets his wrath and tearfully carries Bugs off to Valhalla (per Act III of Die Walküre). Bugs breaks the fourth wall and raises his head to address the audience, "Well, what did you expect in an opera? A happy ending?" before going back to playing dead again.

Voice cast

  • Mel Blanc as Bugs Bunny
  • Arthur Q. Bryan as Elmer Fudd (singing, uncredited)

Production

Originally released to theaters by Warner Bros. on July 6, 1957,

What's Opera, Doc? required about six times as much work and expense as any of the other six-minute cartoons his production unit was turning out at the time. Jones admitted as much, having described a surreptitious re-allocation of production time to complete the short. During the six minutes of What's Opera, Doc?, Jones lampoons Disney's Fantasia, the contemporary style of ballet, Wagner's perceived ponderous operatic style, and even the by-then clichéd Bugs-and-Elmer formula.

In his autobiography Chuck Amuck, Jones singled out What's Opera, Doc? "for sheer production quality, magnificent music and wonderful animation, this is probably our (unit's) most elaborate and satisfying production".

Story development and layout

Michael Maltese wrote the parody's storyline and, in collaboration with Chuck Jones, the comedic lyrics set to Wagner's music, including the duet "Return My Love". Some elements of the cartoon drew upon previous animated works at Warner Bros. Maltese himself had originated the concept of depicting Bugs in Valkyrie-styled drag and mounted on a fat horse. That anti-Nazi short was released by Warner Bros. to American theaters in January 1945, just several months before Germany's surrender to Allied forces in World War II.<!--Herr Meets Hare was not "suppressed" anywhere in the U.S. during WW II; WB opted later not to re-release it in some other formats or to allow other companies to include it in some cartoon collectors' editions.!--> forgot to put the sound effects in. [Chuck] would watch it, and every time he would watch it, he'd give a, 'Hurgh.' Sort of like, 'I can't believe that happened.' It was quite remarkable... You can watch it. Watch the cartoon... When, it's 'Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit?' He's frozen there, and you just see the Dink, dink, dink, dink.' Now you'll hear it. This unofficial, alternative title is derived from the line sung by Elmer to the tune of Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries", part of the opening passage from Act Three of Die Walküre, which is also the leitmotif of the Valkyries.

Operatic legacy

For his 2016 article about the cartoon, "How Bugs Bunny and 'Kill the Wabbit' Inspired a Generation of Opera Stars", Michael Phillips of The Wall Street Journal examined how "a cartoon rabbit and his speech-impaired nemesis" provided many children in 1957 and in the decades thereafter their first, albeit absurd exposure to Wagner's compositions and to the world of opera. Watt, a cartoon historian and owner of an animation art gallery in Toronto, discusses in his article the golden anniversary that two days earlier had marked the initial release of the short, and he assesses its continuing popularity. a half century after its release once again attest to the cartoon's unique composition and appeal, qualities that were even recognized as "special" in 1957 by some film-industry publications. For example, the Philadelphia-based journal Motion Picture Exhibitor, which in 1957 had a readership composed largely of theater owners and managers, reviewed the short in August that year and rated it "excellent". The Exhibitor then prophetically observed, "This is far above the usual run of animated cartoons and should find special favor in art houses, believe it or not." and selected it for induction to the National Film Registry, making it the first short cartoon to receive that honor. Three more Warner Bros. cartoons were later inducted into the registry: Duck Amuck in 1999, Porky in Wackyland in 2000, and One Froggy Evening in 2003. The list, compiled by animation historian Jerry Beck, was the result of his surveying and evaluating the opinions of 1,000 professional animators.

Roger Ebert included What's Opera, Doc?, Duck Amuck and One Froggy Evening in his canon of Great Movies.

Home media

  • VHS: The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie
  • DVD: Looney Tunes: Golden Collection Volume 2/Looney Tunes: Spotlight Collection Volume 2
  • DVD: Looney Tunes: Movie Collection (through The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie)
  • DVD: The Essential Bugs Bunny
  • Blu-ray: Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1
  • Blu-ray: Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection
  • iTunes: Bugs Bunny, Vol. 1 (paired with Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid)
  • Xbox Live Marketplace: October 23, 2007

See also

  • List of American films of 1957
  • The 50 Greatest Cartoons
  • Rabbit of Seville

References

Notes

Bibliography

  • Beck, Jerry and Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Company.
  • Freedman, Richard. What's Opera, Doc?, Andante Magazine, March 2002.
  • Goldmark, Daniel (2005). "What's Opera, Doc? and Cartoon Opera", in Tunes for 'Toons: Music and the Hollywood Cartoon, University of California Press.
  • Schneider, Steve (1988). That's all folks!: The Art of Warner Bros. Animation. Henry Holt & Company.
  • Thomas, Todd and Barbara. "What's Opera, Doc?" – An analysis of the various Richard Wagner operas used throughout the cartoon.
  • What's Opera, Doc? essay [https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/chuck_jones.pdf] by Craig Kausen at National Film Registry
  • What's Opera, Doc? essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 , pp. 532–533 [https://books.google.com/books/about/America_s_Film_Legacy.html?id=deq3xI8OmCkC]
  • Andante Magazine article on What's Opera, Doc? and Rabbit of Seville
  • Intimate Enemies: What's Opera, Doc? followed by Bugs Loves Elmer Redux analyze the cartoon at New Savanna blog.