- Napoleon Bunny-Part
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Napoleon Bunny-Part Looney Tunes (Bugs Bunny) series Directed by Friz Freleng Story by Warren Foster Voices by Mel Blanc Music by Milt Franklyn Animation by Gerry Chiniquy
Virgil Ross
Art DavisLayouts by Hawley Pratt Backgrounds by Irv Wyner Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures Release date(s) June 16, 1956 Color process Technicolor Running time 7:08 Language English Preceded by Rabbitson Crusoe Followed by Barbary Coast Bunny Napoleon Bunny-Part is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon of the Looney Tunes series, directed by Friz Freleng.
Plot
As he has in previous cartoons, Bugs is traveling underground, only this time he winds up in France at the headquarters of Napoleon Bonaparte, aptly called Headquartiers du Napoleon. Napoleon is shown planning a military offensive and think Bugs is a saboteur, and sends a guard after him. Bugs easily outwits the incompetent guard (who's actually "Mugsy", previously seen in Bugs and Thugs) and then disguises himself as Josephine and asks Napoleon to dance. Napoleon sees Bugs' tail through the disguise and chases Bugs, who slides down a staircase. The guard sees Bugs and points his bayonet, intending to stab Bugs as he slides down. Bugs hops off of the staircase and Napoleon is stabbed instead offscreen-he comes back up the starcase screaming in pain. Mugsy then gets the "point" from Napoleon offscreen-and goes howling in to the air.
Napoleon ends up catching Bugs and orders him into a guillotine. Bugs runs off with Napoleon in pursuit, running down the guillotine platform and then back up and through the guillotine which is still raised. Napoleon follows Bugs but as he runs through the guillotine the blade falls and slices the back of his uniform along with the hair from the back of his head. Napoleon demands an explanation from the hooded executor, who is revealed to be Bugs himself. Bugs then tries to elude Napoleon by hiding in a cannon, but is found.
Napoleon resumes his chase of Bugs, but two men in white coats show up and one says to the other, "Hey Pierre, here's another Napoleon", and Pierre replies, "that's the twelfth one today." "But I am Napoleon!!", the little corporal wails as he's dragged away by them to the nearest insane asylum or "maison d'idiot ("Sure, you are", one of the men nods sarcastically.). Napoleon screams and threatens the men in white coats with death, " I will have you executed for this!!!"
Bugs then looks at the camera and says: "Imagine that guy thinking he's Napoleon...[quickly donning a Napoleon hat] when I really am!". He pulls out a flute, playing "La Marseillaise", which becomes "Yankee Doodle" as he marches into the distance.
Availability
"Napoleon Bunny-Part" is available, uncensored and uncut, on the Looney Tunes Superstars DVD. However, it was cropped to widescreen.
Censorship
- In light of the backlash over an episode of "The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse," where Mighty Mouse's inhaling of crushed flower petals was mistaken for cocaine abuse by media watchdog groups, the ABC version of "Napoleon Bunny-Part" in the mid-1980s cut the scene where Napoleon inhales some snuff and Bugs does the same, only to sneeze all over Napoleon's map.[1][2]
Preceded by
Rabbitson CrusoeBugs Bunny Cartoons
1956Succeeded by
Barbary Coast BunnyCategories: English-language films | 1956 films | Looney Tunes shorts | American animated films | Films directed by Friz Freleng
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