What's Opera, Doc?
| What's Opera, Doc? | |
|---|---|
| Merrie Melodies (Bugs Bunny/Elmer Fudd) series | |
Lobby card
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| Directed by | Chuck Jones |
| Produced by |
Edward Selzer (uncredited) |
| Story by | Michael Maltese |
| Voices by |
Mel Blanc (Bugs Bunny) Arthur Q. Bryan (Elmer Fudd-uncredited) |
| Music by |
Richard Wagner Milt Franklyn (arrangement) Michael Maltese (lyrics: "Return My Love") |
| Animation by |
Ken Harris Richard Thompson Abe Levitow |
| Layouts by | Maurice Noble |
| Backgrounds by | Phillip DeGuard |
| Studio | Warner Bros. Cartoons |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) |
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| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 6:49 (one reel) |
| Language | English |
What's Opera, Doc? is a 1957 American animated cartoon comedy-drama musical short in the Merrie Melodies series, directed by Chuck Jones for Warner Bros. Cartoons. The Michael Maltese story features Elmer Fudd chasing Bugs Bunny through a parody of 19th-century classical composer Richard Wagner's operas, particularly Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), Der Fliegende Holländer, and Tannhäuser. It borrows heavily from the second opera in the "Ring Cycle" Die Walküre, woven around the standard Bugs-Elmer conflict.
Originally released to theaters by Warner Bros. on July 6, 1957, What's Opera, Doc? features the speaking and singing voices of Mel Blanc and Arthur Q. Bryan as Bugs and Elmer, respectively. The short is also sometimes informally referred to as ''Kill the Wabbit'' after the line sung by Fudd to the tune of Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries", the opening passage from Act Three of Die Walküre (which is also the leitmotif of the Valkyries).
In 1994, 1,000 members of the animation industry ranked What's Opera, Doc? first in a list of the 50 greatest cartoons of all time.
This is the third of the three Warner Bros. shorts (the others being Hare Brush and Rabbit Rampage) in which Elmer defeats Bugs, as well as the only one where the former shows regret for defeating the latter, and the last Elmer Fudd cartoon that Jones directed.
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