Author Archives: Phil Hall

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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Bugs Bunny’s Mad World of Television (1982)

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There is trouble brewing at QTTV – up on the top floor of the network’s skyscraper headquarters, the latest president was fired for failing to turn around dismal ratings. His dismissal was a tad extreme – he was thrown head-first out of a window and into a street-level fountain, with his desk thrown after him! The network then hires Bugs Bunny as the new president. While Bugs is reviewing the new shows that brought to the network, Yosemite Sam keeps pestering him for a job. After Porky Pig buys QTTV, Bugs steps aside and Sam becomes president – only to have Porky immediately fire him and toss him out of the window and into the street-level fountain.
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The Three Musketeers (1921)

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If any actor was perfectly cast for the role of the swashbuckling D’Artagnan in a big screen adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas adventure, it was silent screen icon Douglas Fairbanks. With his kinetic athleticism and vibrant charisma, Fairbanks created the concept of the movie action hero in this opulent 1921 production.

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The Bootleg Files: The Pumpkin Who Couldn’t Smile

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BOOTLEG FILES 951: “The Pumpkin Who Couldn’t Smile” (1979 Raggedy Ann and Andy animated television special created by Chuck Jones).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: There was a VHS video release.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: There may be a rights issue holding it up.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: It doesn’t seem likely.

I don’t have the authority or the nerve to say that the 1979 production “The Pumpkin Who Couldn’t Smile” is the worst animated television special ever made. However, I can say that it is one of the worst that I’ve ever seen. And I don’t say this with pleasure, since this horrible little work is the creation of Chuck Jones, who was responsible for some of the greatest animated films ever made.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie (1981)

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Following the critical and commercial success of “The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie,” Warner Bros. commissioned a second feature film that mixed its classic cartoons with new animation. Whereas the first film was helmed by Chuck Jones and only included clips from the post-1948 films that he directed, “The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie” was handed to Friz Freleng and he followed Jones’ lead by focusing entirely on his output.
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Stop the World I Want to Get Off (1966)

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It has never been clearly determined why Anthony Newley chose not to recreate his West End and Broadway triumph for the film version of “Stop the World: I Want to Get Off.” Perhaps Newley realized that the show’s distinctive theatrical nature could not be expanded for a big screen treatment. Or maybe he was just afraid that his hit show, which he co-wrote with Leslie Bricusse, would be a movie flop?
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Yankee Doodle Daffy (1943)

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“Yankee Doodle Daffy” is rarely cited by animation scholars as being among the best of the Warner Bros. cartoons, but I’ve always believed this was a peak offering in the studio’s 1940s output. Under Friz Freleng’s inspired direction, this cartoons speeds along a wildly frenetic pace, rich with outlandish sight gags conceived by Tedd Pierce and brilliant musical cues scored by Carl Stalling.
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