A-Lad-in His Lamp

Plot synopsis:
Bugs finds Aladdin's lamp while digging a rabbit hole; believing it was junk, he starts to clean it so he could use it for an ashtray, and a genie appears and tells him to make a wish. Calling him "Smokey", Bugs reluctantly starts to make multiple wishes, only to be interrupted by the genie each time; Bugs ultimately requests two carrots, which the genie produces. Smokey remarks that he wants to return to his home in Baghdad and Bugs, imagining how fabulous it must be, wishes he could go to Baghdad. Smokey then puts him in the lamp and fires him it like a cannon, as the two fly off to Baghdad, with Bugs flying like an airplane ("Hey, look fellas, I'm a 'hare-plane'!"). Before they arrive in Baghdad, the aerial view depicts two bodies of water named Veronica Lake and Turhan Bay; when in the city, the view includes places such as "The Brown Turban", the Temple Bell telephone company with a sign for Persian to Persian calls, and Mad Man Hassan's used magic carpet lot.
Bugs and the Genie in the lamp arrive in Baghdad, but Bugs' flying in the air sputters and conks out and Bugs and the lamp fall into the Royal Palace of Caliph Hassen Pfeffer (built on a GI Loan), first angering the Caliph, who then wants the lamp. When Bugs refuses ("Eh, correction, doc. Bugs Bunny's lamp!"), the Caliph threatens Bugs at swordpoint ("Just a minute, doc. Let's not start splitting hares!"); after Bugs escapes the sword, a chase starts. When Bugs hides behind a door and ladies shriek, forcing him out of that room, Bugs points out it is a harem ("Er, uh, a 'hare-um', I think."), which encourages Smokey to pop out and take a peek himself ("Oh, that was a harem, alright! I know a harem when I see one!")
Bugs' attempts to get the lazy genie's help fail: successive attempts find Smokey bathing ("Oh fiddledee-dee-dee! Don't I even get a chance to take a bath? Now, don't bother me!"), eating ("Oh, sweet spirits of camphor! Can't a man get any nourishment around here? Now, go away!"), and beating Bugs with a stick. Bugs quickly tries to escape from the Caliph by taking a magic carpet, rigged with an outboard motor. On the magic carpet, Bugs tries again but interrupts the genie, who is kissing a female genie; her disappearance prompts Smokey to leave, but only after threatening Bugs, "Now you've done it! You've made me simply furious! If you disturb me once more, I'll beat you to a pulp!".
At this moment, the magic carpet runs out of gas, making Bugs crash land back into the palace and the Caliph has the lamp now. When the Caliph tries to get the genie out of the lamp, in spite of Bugs warning him not to, having remembered Smokey's earlier threat if he's disturbed again, ("You'll be SORRY!"), Smokey erupts, larger and angrier than before and beats the Caliph to a pulp. Cheering Bugs on his victory, he grants Bugs a wish as a celebration. He whispers to Smokey, who produces a ball that ends up as a puff of smoke when dropped. The scene concludes showing Bugs as a Caliph himself, surrounded by a harem of female rabbits and wondering "what the poor rabbits are doing this season."

Tags: psychedelic

Review:
One of Bugs' Best.
Robert McKimson is an often overlooked Warner Brothers Cartoon director, but he created some of their funniest hits, such as "Ham in a Role", "A Fractured Leghorn" (easily the best of the Foghorn Leghorn series), "It's Hummer Time", and "Early to Bet".
McKimson's use of Bugs Bunny was sometimes disappointing ("Rabbit's Kin") but he more often used Bugs to good effect.
Instead of the too-clever Bugs who is smarter than anyone else in the room, McKimson's Bugs got into real jams.
"Hillbilly Hare" (where Bugs finds himself caught in the midst of a feud); "Hot Cross Bunny", where a doctor tries to change Bugs' brain with that of a chicken; and "Easter Yeggs", where Bugs is conned by his good heart to help out the Easter Bunny, are three of Bugs' greatest hits.
Another McKimson gem is "A-Lad-in-His-Lamp", where Bugs Bunny happens across the famous lamp of Aladdin and finds himself caught between a ruthless potentate who wants the lamp (an early Saddam) and an increasingly unhelpful genie.
Another plus to this nearly-perfect cartoon with non-stop action and laughs is Jim Backus doing an uncredited turn as the voice of the genie..
Mr. Howell years before he met Jeannie.
Before Jim Backus voiced Mr. Magoo or played Thurston Howell III, he provided his voice to Robert McKimson's Bugs Bunny cartoon "A-Lad-in His Lamp", in which Bugs finds Aladdin's lamp and releases the genie (Backus).
They both return to Baghdad, where evil Hassan Pfeffer - living in a palace built by GI loans - wants the lamp and will stop at nothing to get it.
And it turns out that the genie isn't so eager to help Bugs.Obviously, it's a little harder to laugh at this cartoon given everything that's happened in the real Baghdad (and the rest of Iraq) during the past few years.
But the cartoon itself is sure a hoot.
It just goes to show that, contrary to his detractors, Robert McKimson did in fact turn out some good work as a director.
I recommend it, and I wouldn't mind getting what Bugs gets at the end.Veronica Lake, Turhan Bay, and Persian-to-Persian.
PS: Jim Backus later guest-starred on an episode of "I Dream of Jeannie"..
Bugs Bunny in Baghdad.
Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.'A-Lad-in His Lamp' from personal opinion, and quite a few others it seems, is one of the best cartoons from Robert McKimson during a period where he had not just hit his stride but also was in his prime.
A director who isn't one of the greats in animation but was responsible for his fair share of good to classic cartoons (though he was not immune to average and less ones), meaning that he is deserving of more credit than he gets.
Bugs is true to his very likeable, witty and hilarious persona that he is most famous for, while being just as much at home in a serious dangerous situation that he is here.
The genie, wonderfully voiced by Jim Backus, is a riot, and while the villain is a less than subtle archetype he is great fun and a suitable threat.
Mel Blanc as always is stellar in the usual multiple roles, that he shows the masterly and unequalled ability to give individuality to each of them.Animation is excellent, it's fluid in movement, vibrant in colour and very meticulous in detail.
The story may be predictable, but it's beautifully paced with never a dull moment and strongly structured.
Carl Stalling's music is typically superb.
It is as always lushly orchestrated, full of lively energy and characterful in rhythm, not only adding to the action but also enhancing it.It's a very funny, often hilarious actually, cartoon too, with well-engineered gags, a great premise made the most out of and done inventively, witty dialogue and non-stop liveliness.Overall, a McKimson and Bugs classic.
10/10 Bethany Cox. Smokey the genie.
Lackluster, I disagree.
Jim Backus' genie did steal the show from Bugs in this one.
It did have the required caricature of the Caliph and the Genie.
Remember the 40's, PC was not heard of then.Too bad joke are no longer seen as jokes.
As far as the portrayal of Iraqis, Iraq wasn't a country during this make believe era.
Smokey had the best lines, "3 cheers and a tiger for me".Bugs correcting the caliph with, "bugs bunny's lamp".
True wise guy Bugs Bunny.
Who can resist those lines, and the standard, 'be-whoop" sound of the Warner Bros.
I have them as .wav files for mail delivery and just fun.
Smokey bathing in the lamp and romancing the harem girls were great scenes and Bugs and Smokey played off each other rather well.
My all time favorite Bugs Bunny cartoon.
Beats the later 70's and 80's Bugs hands down.
Some of the great Mr. Backus' finest work.
I think this cartoon also stands the test of time.
I've tested it on my kids, all born in the 90's and they loved it and couldn't believe it's almost 60 years old..
Beware of Bunnies bearing puns.
This lackluster Bugs Bunny vehicle is most notable for being the first (uncredited) appearance of Jim Backus anywhere, a year before he became the voice of Mr. Magoo.
It certainly was not the first cartoon to have a pun on a-lad-in in it's title.
While building a home (digging a tunnel with a shuffle), Bugs stumbles upon Aladdin's lamp.
`Smoky' the Genie, who seems to have been a great inspiration to Johnny Carson, talks Bugs into visiting his estate in Baghdad and sends him off flying.
He failed to inform Bugs the estate is now owned by the violent Galiph Hassen Pheffer.Is this really the Bugs Bunny we know and love?
Instead of outsmarting everybody else, he spends this cartoon being duped by the genie and delivers some of the worst puns ever (hare-plane, hare-em).
The genie himself is too busy taking a bath or having diner to offer any help, so Bugs has to fend for himself trying to keep the lamp out of Galiph's hands.
The most original jokes are to be found during the establishing shots when we first get to Baghdad.
Apparently this cartoon has come under fire for the depiction of Iraqi, but then again is there any forties Warner effort left that has not offended anybody?4 out of 10.
terrific.
Bugs stumbles upon a magic lamp and finds a somewhat annoying genie, voiced by Jim Backus.
While the genie is able to grant wishes, he's also a bit snippy and after a while tells Bugs to leave him alone OR ELSE--even though through the genie's own ineptitude he's put Bugs into harms way with the dangerous Hasan, who is intent on killing Bugs.
Again and again Bugs tries to get help but the genie tells him to go away (he's taking a shower or on a hot date, etc.).
Finally, after receiving his last warning, Hasan inadvertently bothers the genie--who responds by pulverizing him!
A cute cartoon with very high production values and a lot of laughs..
"Just a minute, Doc, let's not go splitting hares .
Bugs Bunny says to scimitar-wielding Caliph Pheffer, in Warner Bros.' prophetic warning to Saddam Hussein not to mess with the Bushes (aka, shrubs) during this 1948 release from their Animated Shorts Seers division (aka, The Looney Tuners), A-LAD-IN HIS LAMP.
Robin Williams might have said G'Day to Vietnam, but 89% of Millennial Animation experts agree that his performance in Disney's over-rated feature cartoon ALADDIN is totally derived from Jim Backus' "Genii with the light brown hair" here, to the level of extreme (if second-rate) plagiarism.
Of course, the lame-brained folks forming the Pack of the Rat at Disney seldom if ever provide clairvoyant touches with their moving pictures, while Warner Bros.
often if not always can be counted upon to be Warning the World of its upcoming Calamities, Catastrophes, Cataclysms, and Apocalypti.
If a young Saddam Hussein had only seen A-LAD-IN HIS LAMP, surely he'd refrained from harassing the Bushes with a ten-foot pole (or even a Seven-Incher).
But no, he had to insult them at some backyard Texas BBQ in honor of the Bin Laden Family, suffering the penalty of being strung up and Lynched (not to mention getting more than ONE MILLION of his constituents killed, along with 5,000 U.S. troops, at a cost of THREE BILLION BUCKS to America, 10 billion plus to the world economy, and counting, of course)!