Bacall to Arms
| Bacall To Arms | |
|---|---|
| Merrie Melodies series | |
| Directed by |
Planned by: Bob Clampett (unc.) Finished by: Arthur Davis (unc.) Supervision: Friz Freleng (unc.) |
| Story by |
Warren Foster Bill Scott Lloyd Turner (all uncredited) |
| Narrated by | Robert C. Bruce (unc.) |
| Voices by |
Mel Blanc (unc.) Dave Barry (unc.) June Foray (unc.) |
| Music by |
Musical direction: Carl W. Stalling Orchestra: Milt Franklyn (unc.) |
| Animation by |
Manny Gould Rod Scribner Don Williams I. Ellis Additional animation: Robert McKimson A.C. Gamer (both uncredited) |
| Layouts by |
Thomas McKimson Credit only: Phillip DeGuard |
| Backgrounds by | Philip DeGuard Credit only: Thomas McKimson |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Release date(s) | August 3, 1946 (USA premiere) |
| Color process | Technicolor |
Bacall to Arms is a 1946 Warner Bros. cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series, directed by Bob Clampett, in his second-to-last cartoon at Warner Bros. (The Big Snooze would be the last). Neither Clampett (he was left uncredited because he had left the studio before the cartoon was released) nor voice characterizations are credited. Mel Blanc's voice is recognizable as a fat theater patron, a husband in a newsreel, and the wolf's vocal effects. Impressionist Dave Barry portrays the voice of Humphrey Bogart while June Foray voices Lauren Bacall. The title refers both to Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms and actress Lauren Bacall, whose acclaimed film debut was in To Have and Have Not, based on another Hemingway novel, as well as a play on the term "A Call to Arms".
Bob Clampett started his directing career with black-and-white animated shorts for the Looney Tunes series, this phase of his career lasting from 1937 to 1941. In 1941, fellow director Tex Avery departed the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio. Clampett replaced Avery as the head of a unit producing films for the Merrie Melodies series, while Norman McCabe took over Clampett's former unit. The chief animator of Clampett's new unit was Robert McKimson and his style dominated their early products. Clampett reportedly found this dominance to have stifling effects on creativity, and in time trusted two other animators of the unit with more autonomy: Virgil Ross and Rod Scribner. While Clampett certainly headed a unit with notably talented animators, the distinctive styles of said animators tended to be incompatible. The use of multiple, clashing styles in a single short, gave the products of the unit a rather strange and uneven quality.
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