Rabbit of Seville

Plot synopsis:
The cartoon opens with people filing in to see The Barber of Seville in an amphitheatre. In the back of the theater, Bugs is chased by Elmer, who is shooting his gun, and runs through an open stage door. Elmer, now on stage behind the curtain, does not see it rise when Bugs raises the curtain. The conductor, after a brief confused look at his watch, shrugs, then starts the orchestra, which causes Elmer to turn wide-eyed towards the audience. Bugs then steps out from behind the door of a stage barber shop, dressed in a barber's outfit, and forces Elmer into getting a shave, rendering him "nice and clean, although [his] face looks like it might have gone through a machine."
After recovering, Elmer starts the chase again -saying his only line "Oh, wait till I get that wabbit!"-, but is stopped by Bugs dressed as a temptress, singing, "What would you want with a wabbit? Can't you see that I'm much sweeter? I'm your little señorita. You're my type of guy, let me straighten your tie, and I shall dance for you." (no dialogue is heard again from this point on until the end) He then ties Elmer's shotgun into a bowtie and snips off Elmer's pants suspender buttons, snapping the scissors like castanets. After being thoroughly embarrassed when his pants fall down, Elmer sees through Bugs' disguise, he tries shooting him, but is blown back into the barber's chair. Bugs has another go with Elmer's scalp, beginning with a scalp massage with his hands and feet, turning his head into a fruit salad bowl (complete with cherry on top). Elmer chases Bugs again, but Bugs plays a snake charmer to get an electric shaver to chase Elmer. Elmer disables the shaver with a shotgun blast and chases Bugs back to the barber's chairs. Bugs and Elmer raise their chairs to dizzying heights, and Bugs cuts loose a stage sandbag which bonks Elmer, causing Elmer's chair to drop back down into the barbershop while spinning around. After receiving the traditional barber's gratuity from the dazed Elmer, Bugs then throws him in a revolving door to further daze him and waltzes him back into the barber's chair.
Before Bugs' third go-round with Elmer's scalp, he gives one of his feet a pedicure with a can opener, hedge clippers, file, and red paint. That is followed by growing a beard on Elmer's face and shaving it with a miniature mower, and finally a mud masque for the face which Bugs handles like cement. Then it's back to the scalp as Bugs massages it with hair tonic first, then adds "Figaro Fertilizer", causing hair to grow from Elmer's head which sprouts into flowers. A short 'arms chase' ensues as a result where Bugs and Elmer chase each other across and off-stage with bigger weapons (first axes, then guns, then cannons). Finally, Bugs ends the chase by offering flowers, chocolates, and a ring to Elmer, who ducks offstage and comes back as the blushing bride. The tune then briefly switches to the "Wedding March" by Mendelssohn, before finishing with Bugs carrying his 'bride' up a long flight of stairs, through a false doorway (opening up onto thin air), and drops Elmer down head-first into a wedding cake labeled "The Marriage of Figaro". Bugs then looks at the camera, smirks, and breaking the fourth wall says in the same way as his catchphrase, "Eh, next?"

Tags: psychedelic

Review:
"Rabbit of Seville" has Elmer Fudd trying to shoot Bugs Bunny, and so the latter leads the former into an opera house where "The Barber of Seville" is about to be performed.
Within a minute, Bugs and Elmer are the barber and customer, respectively.
Needless to say, Bugs tries a few unsavory experiments on Elmer.In an interview, Chuck Jones explained how, listening to Bugs sing his own lyrics for the opera (Welcome to my shop/Let me cut your mop/Let me shave your crop), you almost get the impression that the lyrics were written specifically for him.
The first time when I ever saw this cartoon when I was really young, I probably thought that, as I didn't know about the original opera.
One of the best of the Warner Brothers cartoons.
The scenes of Elmer Fudd chasing Bugs Bunny during the opera are so brilliantly done with the music.
I preferred him when he was "Charles M" instead of "Chuck." But this cartoon has persisted to be one of my two favourite episodes of the Looney Tunes characters.
While I feel that "What's Opera, Doc?" is a bit heavy handed, and was never one of my favourites, I will stop what I am doing just to watch the Rabbit of Seville whenever I see that it is on the TV.If you value culture, or classic cartoons, this one has both.
Perfectly recreating the opera with about everything you need.Bugs as the snake charmer has always been my favorite part, especially the music behind it.
While chasing Bugs Bunny thru the mountains, Elmer and Bugs happen upon a concert performance of Rossini's opera 'Il barbiere di Siviglia'.
The animation, timing, music and editing are all absolutely perfect in this cartoon.
Surely one of the finest Looney Tune efforts containing all the anarchy, madness and insanity they are famous for plus enough intelligence and cleverness to put a roomful of NASA experts to shame..
This is one of Chuck Jones's masterpieces, an incredible blend of music (mainly opera) and animation.
The new lyrics written to the very old and familiar music are priceless, as is the scene where Elmer at first thinks he's starting to grow hair.
One of the best cartoons Warner Brothers ever produced.
An absolutely brilliant cartoon, possibly exceeding even "What's Opera, Doc?"!.
But if that hadn't been so, if all the hundreds of cartoons that were turned out over the decades were complete crap, "What's Opera, Doc?" would come and give the studio world-wide renown.
No cartoons but possibly "Duck Amuck" and "What's Opera, Doc?" match it.
Recent, much longer, fantasy epics are some of the greatest films of all time, however, their length (which is totally necessary) adds to the potential for problems.Yet, to say that "The Rabbit of Seville" is short but sweet is akin to saying the battle of Stalingrad was a "bit messy".Chuck Jones, Mel Blanc and all involved created perfection with this, all further attempts at animated comic shorts should be judged by this standard of excellence..
This cartoon is, without a doubt, the all-time FUNNIEST, most CLASSICALLY LOONEY Bugs Bunny cartoon EVER!
I first saw this short when I was a kid, and now every time I hear the real "Barber of Seville" suite, I can't help but think of Bugs and Elmer instead of anything else -- that's how ingrained it is.
The film's peak comes when Bugs is massaging Elmer's head, using even his big floppy ears to smack that bald noggin into respectable shape, and then adds Figaro Fertilizer to his pate.
one of the best looney tunes shorts EVER.
Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd wander into a production of The Barber of Seville at the Hollywood Bowl.
Bugs promptly takes the part of the barber and gives Elmer a shave and hair treatment he won't soon forget all set to musical lyrics.
This hilarious Hugo-nominated musical cartoon is on Disk 1 of the "Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1" It's the last short on disk 1 and quite possibly the best.
This is one of the best Bugs cartoons in my mind.My Grade: A +.
It's the summer opera out in the mountain air of some nice place where "The barber of Seville" is being presented.....and that's what we get, with Bugs playing the barber and Elmer Fudd his foil.What Bugs does to this bald-headed little fat guy, all set to the music and lyrics of the famous opera, is brutal.
This is a very inventive animated short, where every movement, including tapping fingers, is set to the music.
This is a Bugs Bunny cartoon that flies by quickly which means it is pretty darn good..
This is easily one of the greatest Looney Tunes short ever!!!!
The music is brilliantly mixed with the sequences and who can forgot the look in Elmer Fudd's face when he thinks he's growing hair?
My children & I sing the song, starting with "Hey yyoooooouuuuuuuuu!" I used to look forward to Cartoon Network's "June Bugs" promotion every year, since they would show all of the Bugs Bunny cartoon classics, and I got to see this one.
I also enjoy the "What's Opera, Doc?" short, but agree that this one definitely surpasses that one.
Amazing, the best Looney Tunes ever!.
This is the best, with the Hunting trilogy and the Marvin/Bugs cartoons behind, not close.
I don't know when to start praising this brilliant Looney Tunes cartoon.
Rabbit of Seville mayn't be the best looking of all the Looney Tunes cartoons, but it still looks great.
However even better were the superb music- the overture of Rossini's Barber of Seville set to words- and the hilarious sight gags.
The sung dialogue is better though, with Bugs getting the best of it, Welcome to my shop, Let me cut your mop, Let me shave your crop especially is priceless.
Bugs is on top form, and Elmer is a great foil for him once again, complete with great vocal turns from Mel Blanc and Arthur Q.
When we see him being pursued by Elmer Fudd, ducking shotgun bursts, we still know that the diminutive bald little Hunter doesn't have a chance.
The guys wander on to an opera stage and continue their combativeness to the music of the Barber of Seville.
Apparently, there was a time when the average citizen had a thing for opera and these cartoon presentations fed into that.
The pacing of the famous musical piece works very well and our two heroes find their way to a masterful conclusion..
Classic Looney Tunes short has Bugs and Elmer playing around with the Barber of Seville opera.
So many wonderful gags in this one, including the adjustable barber chairs that seem to have no limit to how high they can go, Figaro Fertilizer, and Bugs in señorita drag.
It's a cartoon set to a famous opera so obviously the music drives the action.
Rossini's music speaks for itself but the lyrics Bugs and Elmer add to it are hilarious.
Surely there are much funnier Bugs Bunny cartoons (such as all the wonderful ones he did with Daffy Duck).
And, how many kids would really enjoy this cartoon since it is chock full of opera and many of the usual Bugs Bunny hijinks are missing.
Nope,...give me the good old Bugs Bunny over this opera-infested snoozer..
Chuck Jones and Mel Blanc are absolutely at there best here.Bugs leads Elmer Fudd on a chase through opening night of an opera.
Animations' best comedy team go sprinting up and down through sets, and the result is a surreal blend of violence, music, comedy and haircuts.
The rabbit's comic timing in this remake of the Barber of Seville is absolutely unheralded, if you can assess a talent like timing to an animated cartoon.
The music is amazing too, Warner Brothers Orchestra was always an underrated part of Bugs Bunny cartoon.
It depresses me just watching it because in my whole life I'll never do anything as brilliant funny as the "Rabbit of Seville."
During their regular hunt, Elmer Fudd chases Bugs into the middle of an outdoor performance of the Barber de Seville.
However, when the curtain goes up, both Bugs and Elmer find themselves performing in the opera - a fact that doesn't deter them from the chase.When the film opens with a slightly rougher and more basic looking Bugs than normal, I did start to worry that the skimping on the animation would feed through the whole film - it didn't but the cartoon was still only average.
Bugs has done comedy to classical music before to very, very good effect (Rhapsody Rabbit) but here it just doesn't manage to come together as well as one would have hoped.
Some of the routines seem to be done more to fit to the music than to get laughs.Essentially the comedy is pure Bugs, with him tricking Fudd, but it isn't as sharp or as funny as it can be.
Fudd also is animated with a little less than the usual care but he doesn't really have a great deal to do and comes across as a different character from normal.
The two interact reasonably well but the problem is that their material is not that hot.Overall, for a musical comedy with Bugs I'd suggest Rhapsody Rabbit over this with great ease.
This Bugs Bunny episode, based on "The Barber of Seville" was so cleverly done with only nine or so lines.
In this episode, a huge showing of "The Barber of Seville" is just about to be shown, when, after being hunted by Elmer Fudd, Bugs Bunny retreats into the door leading to the theatre.
Everyone watches Elmer and Bugs doing "The Barber of Seville" - in their own style!I liked this episode because of the references to the opera (which I have heard bits of and like), the clever planning of Bugs' and Elmer's dance movements and the humour.
I recommend it to people who like Bugs Bunny and Elmer and for people who do not despise opera.
Rabbit of Seville is a masterpiece of classical music and animation.
When Bugs starts cutting a razor to Elmer's face, I couldn't help but think about the recent movie of Sweeney Todd, in which that character is a barber who literally cuts his customers' necks.
Loved hearing Mel Blanc as the rascally rabbit sing the altered lyrics to the famous opera as he keeps Elmer unconscious in the barber chair.
Bryan couldn't contribute his own Fudd voice to the proceedings but Chuck Jones made up for that when he made What's Opera Doc?
Musically compelling as well as pretty hilarious, Rabbit of Seville is a gem among gems in the Jones-Michael Maltese cannon of Warner Bros.
Rabbit of Seville (1950) *** (out of 4)Looney Tunes spoof of Rossini's opera is one of the most popular films in the series.
Bugs and Elmer are fighting it out when they find themselves on a stage where they must perform the famous opera while still doing battle.
The animation by Jones is top-notch from start to finish and that includes the wonderful look of the sets.
The best sequence in my opinion is the one where Elmer thinks he's growing hair but we all know Bugs has something else planned..
Chuck Jones's 'Rabbit of Seville' lives in the shadow of his other, more famous musical masterpiece 'What's Opera Doc', which also stars Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd.
Nevertheless, 'Rabbit of Seville' is still a very famous and acclaimed cartoon, despite the misleadingly half-hearted non-pun of the title!
Executed with typical skill, 'Rabbit of Seville' relies heavily on the genius direction of Chuck Jones as he flawlessly choreographs the animation of Bugs and Elmer's confrontation with the music from 'The Barber of Seville'.
The best moment is the increasingly frantic chase scene towards the end in which Elmer and Bugs continually turn the tables on each other with bigger and bigger weapons.
'Rabbit of Seville' has rightfully passed into legend as a masterpiece and is fondly remembered by even those who have little interest in animation history.
I'm sure most kids of my generation (when Warner cartoons were still being regularly shown on TV), if asked to sing a lyric from 'The Barber of Seville', would reply with "Welcome to my shop, let me cut your mop, let me shave your crop"!.
One of the best Bugs Bunny shorts....
This is one of the Best Bugs Bunny shorts that I've seen.The whole story of Bugs escaping Elmer through the opera "Barber of Seville" is pure genius.
The whole short is filled with great music and funny scenes.and yes, Bugs DOES go in drag in it for a little bit and Elmer DOES wear a wedding dress near the end, but it is tastefully done with humor.I also crack up at the beard shaving scene and Bugs putting all of the stuff on Elmers scalp so that he grows hair.
Then the chase goes back one.This is a short that I love along with "What's Opera, Doc" and "All This and Rabbit Stew" (which isn't shown anymore because of it's racial stereotype of black people.) and it deserves a 10/10 rating..
Elmer Fudd chases Bugs into an opera house and they precede to sing and dance to The Barber of Seville.
This has classic sight gags, like the barber chair case and bugs rubbing hair tonic into Elmer's head with his feet.
My favorite bit is when Bugs, in drag, struts around with two pairs of scissors, cutting the suspenders off from Elmer which turns his face bright red.
There is even a musically matched gag with the two leads producing bigger and bigger weapons until Bugs is left to propose, so that Elmer will get in a wedding dress and dropped through the threshold onto the ground below.
. "just who shot who?"--and the crux of RABBIT OF SEVILLE is, "Just who wed who?" (SPOILER ALERT--) As a matter of fact, Bugs Bunny gay-marries Elmer Fudd at the end of Act Two. It's a shotgun (as well as a double ax, pistol, and triple cannon) wedding.
Though Hollywood campaigned for Gay Marriage throughout the 1900s, most such efforts at opinion-shaping ran as subtle undercurrents in the little noticed backwaters of feature films (such as RIO BRAVO, released a decade after RABBIT OF SEVILLE).
They often seemed almost too eager to trot out their take on questions such as Gay Marriage front and center, whether by means of a feature film or an animated short..
***SPOILERS - THOUGH I PITY YOU IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY SEEN THIS GEM***This is a strong contender for the best Looney Tunes cartoon of all time, and is definitely the best of the musical toons, even the classic 'What's Opera, Doc?'The high point of this film is Bugs Bunny's scenes as the barbarous barber, giving Elmer a four-footed scalp massage, building a mud facial into a cement block, and the violent shave with the straight razor.
(There, you're nice and clean / although your face looks - like it - might have - gone through - a - ma - chine...)Brilliant from start to finish..
"Rabbit of Seville" is one of THE BEST musical cartoons I have ever seen!
Directed by "maestro" Chuck Jones, this film is a wonderful parody of Rossini's famous opera "The Barber of Seville", featuring Bugs Bunny and (reluctantly) Elmer Fudd.
After Elmer chases Bugs backstage and winds up directly out front within audience view, the trouble starts, as well as the fun!
Chuck Jones knew how to obtain laughs from the most minuscule facial expressions, as he does in "Rabbit of Seville" whenever Bugs has an UNFORGETTABLY SMUG look on his face as he "takes care of" Elmer (e.g., splashing hair tonics and making a salad on his bald head, COMPLETELY in time to the musical accompaniment, of course).
I also really like the opening sequence, in which Elmer has a most perfect expression of stage fright in his eyes, and Bugs bursts into song as he introduces himself as the barber - you know, the "Welcome to my shop, let me cut your mop, let me shave your crop, daintily, daintily" bit."Rabbit of Seville" is a brilliantly made cartoon, no question about it.
Chuck Jones understood that it's not wise to manipulate the music score if he's directing a musical cartoon.
It's rather important that the music remains untouched so that the ACTION that we see in conjunction with the music becomes irresistibly funny, and "Rabbit of Seville" IS an irresistibly funny cartoon..
cartoon from 65 years ago starring Bug Bunny and Elmer Fudd.
There seems to be something about Looney Toons and opera.
To me, however, as somebody with little to no interest in opera, these seven minutes were fairly mediocre and inferior to most other works involving Bugs and the gang from around that time.
The gags weren't really funny, but maybe you have to know Barber of Seville to understand them.
Bugs cut off Elmer's beard on one occasion, so I guess you have to.
All in all, I cannot recommend this short film unless you know the piece I just mentioned..
This is a great animated short featuring Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd who is, as usual, trying to kill him.The film opens in a theatre where they are preparing for a performance of The Barber of Seville.
Before the opera starts Bugs enters the theatre being followed by Elmer how ends up on stage.
The conductor starts the orchestra playing and Bugs, taking the role of the barber invites Elmer into his shop for a shave.
What follows is hilarious as Bugs shaves Elmer with a cut throat razor, makes a large salad on his head and even proposes to him although unlike the later operatic short "What's Opera, Doc" Elmer ends up in the role of the bride.Chuck Jones has done a great job matching the animation to the music with hilarious results, he even manages to make Bugs giving Elmer a scalp massage laugh out loud funny.