Okay. I've posted the good ones. Now, let's take a look at Yosemite Sam's early 60's failures. "Shiskabugs" (1962) is at least memorable for some good gags, and the memorable reference to an actual rabbit dish, "Hassenpfeffer", but the horrible music and Blanc's strained voice (notice Sam doesn't yell once here)hurt:
And Yosemite Sam LITERALLY goes to Hell in "Devil's Feud Cake" (1963). Oh, Warner cartoons had some bad moments in the 1960's. But this cartoon, a "cheater" using footage from three better 1950's films, and featuring Bill Lava's music at its worst and Mel Blanc's voice at its weakest, makes it the worst Yosemite Sam cartoon ever made. Maybe even the worst Bugs Bunny cartoon ever made. But I'll let you decide after you see the NEXT post in this series! Until then, enjoy (rather, suffer through) "Devil's Feud Cake!"
Don't say I didn't warn you. This is BAD.
Sure you wanna watch it?
Really?
You asked for it.
5 comments:
It feels like by the end of the cartoon they just gave up. There's no explanation as to why Sam is an Arab and both he and Bugs are now in the middle of the desert (for the recycled "Sahara Hare" footage). At least they set up the "Roman Legion-Hare" clip by showing that Bugs was starring in a production of "Ben Hare".
Freleng had previously done the exact same "Devil's Feud Cake" plotline for an episode of the Bugs Bunny Show and it was handled MUCH better that that (Friz must have loved the idea, since he used the idea AGAIN in The Looney Bugs Bunny Movie in the 1980s!).
The Warner people sure seemed a bit behind the times with Shishkabugs and Good Noose. How is a Charles Laughton caricature relevant in 1962?
Oh they both suck, BTW.
I suppose if one hasn't seen "Hare Lift", "Sahara Hare", and "Roman Legion-Hare", this is an OK outing, but for anybody who HAS, this is a bomb. I mentioned on GAC that it's one of my least favorite WB cartoons ever. It has two offenses: It's a cheater, AND it's not funny, thanks to the Bill Lava music not punctuating gags like Stalling/Franklyn could.
The 1960s Laughton revival seems to have come about from "Satan's Watin'" on The Bugs Bunny Show, when Friz turned the Laughtonesque Emperor Nero into the director of the movie, and added a couple of new lines for the new animation. Worked there; didn't work in the other two cartoons (though I'll admit the middle of "Good Noose" wasn't so bad for a 1962 McKimson cartoon. It was the start and finish that stunk).
I would guess that this was one of the last cartoons produced at WB before the studio closed. Seeing as there's only a few seconds of new animation and only new music, sound effects and a couple of backgrounds, it may have been quickly knocked out after the closing was announced.
It's nice that they credited people like Warren Foster and Irv Wyner who had left years before, though.
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