Release Date:

June 16, 1956

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny

Summary:

Making a wrong turn off the Hollywood freeway, Bugs Bunny mistakenly ends up in Napoleon’s headquarters. Finding Napoleon planning a battle strategy, Bugs unintentionally messes up his plans, causing Napoleon to assume he is a spy. Bugs not only outwits Napoleon, but also his clumsy guard, who only manages to succeed in stabbing Napoleon in the rear with his bayonet.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1396 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

We have a coincidence today as this cartoon was released on this day 70 years ago. And what better cartoon from 1956 to talk about on its release day than this one as this is an exceedingly hilarious cartoon that deserves way more praise than it generally gets.

Like with “Hare We Go” from five years prior, this one also has Bugs encounter a historical figure. This time, though, said historical figure is a full-on antagonist.

Napoleon’s depiction in this cartoon is similar to Yosemite Sam in that they are both short and short-tempered.

The guard behaves in a similar way to Mugsy, but is not him (like Mugsy, he is voiced by Mel Blanc, though).

The cartoon was restored for the Looney Tunes Super Stars Bugs Bunny Hare Extraordinaire DVD set in 2010, but was cropped to widescreen. The corrected full frame version was seen on first the Boomerang app in the late 2010’s before it was later put on the Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection Blu-ray set in 2020.

“Bunny-Part” is an obvious pun for “Bonaparte”.

Carl Stalling scored this one.

During the ballroom scene, one of the songs on the jukebox is called “I Ain’t Got No Body”, by “The Guillotineers”.

Bugs pronounces “guillotine” as “gilloteen”.

Favorite Scene:

Both times Napoleon gets bayoneted in the rear (the sliding down the banister sequence, especially). The way Mel Blanc has him scream in pain whenever this happens is absolutely priceless.

What Happens in This One:

Bugs is seen tunneling into “Headquartiers du Napoleon (Napoleon’s Headquarters)” and right under four identical guards, who all make brief shocked expressions from this. He continues tunneling into the building under the tiled floor, before popping up out of one of the tiles. “Hey, where am I? Huh. One wrong turn off the Hollywood freeway and I end up in a theater lobby. Well, as long as I’m here, I might as well see the show”. As he walks out, he says to himself, “Hope it’s a cowboy and Injun picture”. He also mistakes one of the guards for an usher, “Don’t bother, mac. I’ll find myself a seat down front” (animated by Virgil Ross).

Instead of opening the large door and finding a theater, Bugs sees that he’s actually in Napoleon’s headquarters and sees Napoleon himself planning a battle strategy at his desk by using toy soldiers and toy cannons on a map. “Ah! C’est le guerre! Zey (they) will take ze high road, and I will take ze low road! And I will be in Scotland before zem (them)! (laughs evilly)” Bugs comes up to him and asks flatly, “Hey, uh, doc? Doc?” Napoleon asks in the same tone, “Who, me?” Bugs: “C’mere a minute. Where ya puttin’ the artillery?” Napoleon: “Uh, zere (there)”. Bugs: “Uh uh. Here” (pushes toy cannon to the spot on the map where nearly everything else is). Napoleon (raises voice in anger): “No! No! Here!” (puts it back in the spot he had them originally) Bugs: “Here” (puts them back where he had it) Napoleon: “I am ze emperor and I say HERE!” (puts it back in its original spot) Bugs then uses reverse psychology in his normal voice, “Isn’t that a coincidence? That’s just where I’ve decided it should be!” Unaware that he was tricked, Napoleon yells, “ZE EMPEROR MAKES ZE DECISIONS AROUND HERE! IT WILL GO ZERE!”, and puts it in the spot Bugs wanted it. Bugs: “Okay. It goes zere”. Napoleon is delighted as he takes out his snuff box to sniff the contents, “Ah. Ze plans are perfect. I will conquer ze world!” (animated by Gerry Chiniquy)

Bugs takes the snuff himself but ends up inhaling it deeply, causing him to sneeze on Napoleon’s plans, rendering the soldiers and cannons scattered everywhere after Napoleon futilely attempts to protect them from the sneeze. Thinking Bugs deliberately spoiled them with his sneezing, Napoleon shouts in annoyance, “Ze plans are ruined! GUARD! Le saboteur! Le spy!” (animated by Chiniquy) The guard comes marching in and does a salute, before landing on his left side from doing so. After he gets back up, Napoleon instructs, “Arrest ez vous ze spy!” The guard complies with, “Duh, okay, boss”. Bugs takes out his watch and makes an excuse to run away, “Oh, just a minute, fellas. I’ll have to run if I’m going to catch the 5:15!” He runs out of the room with the guard running after him with his bayonet pointed and saying, “Halt!” two times. Bugs stops by the door, causing the guard to slide on the slippery floor and back into the room where he accidentally stabs Napoleon in the behind offscreen. After Napoleon lets out a hilarious-sounding cry of pain, he starts ranting at the guard in French while backing him out of the room. He then takes the bayonet out of his rear and informs the guard, “Well. I am waiting, monsieur”. Realizing what this means, the guard sadly tells us, “I hate this”, implying that this is not the first time he’s been punished like this. The punishment is the guard turning around to bend over so Napoleon can stab him in the behind in return. After the guard jumps up into the air while screaming in pain, Napoleon gives him back his bayonet and demands, “Now, get that rabbit!”, to which the guard again complies, “Okay, boss!” before marching off (animated by Arthur Davis).

Napoleon goes back to his headquarters, only to find Bugs at his desk, and playing his battle strategy like a game, “Uh, let’s see, uh, the infantry goes here. The artillery goes, eh, here”. Upon noticing Napoleon, Bugs tells him, “Hey, Nappy! This has got Scrabble beat a mile! You ought to patent it!” Furious, Napoleon takes out his sword and runs toward Bugs while shouting, “C’est le guerre!” Bugs runs into “Le Grande Ball Room”, with Napoleon following and sliding across the slippery ballroom floor into the wall face-first. Bugs, disguised as Napoleon’s wife, Josephine, calls to him in a feminine voice, “Yoo-hoo! (animated by Davis up to here) Nappy!” Napoleon goes up to him politely, “Josephine! Ah, mon petit cabbage. Shall we dance?” Bugs laughs and hits him with the purse that’s part of his disguise before looking at the jukebox, “I wonder what’s on the hit parade?”, and reads the first three aloud, “St. Louis XIV Blues; Bastille Boogie; III Coins in a Fountainbleu”. Bugs then selects one that plays “Grand Central Station” and starts dancing to it, turning around into view where Napoleon can see his cottontail. Realizing this in shock, Napoleon fires his pistol at Bugs’ tail, causing him to jump out of the dress he was wearing for his disguise as the chase resumes (animated by Ross).

Having also ditched the bonnet in his disguise, Bugs slides backwards down the banister on the stairs with Napoleon sliding backwards after him. Witnessing the chase from the bottom of the stairs, the guard holds up his bayonet in order to stab Bugs with it when he reaches the bottom. Bugs instead gets off the banister as Napoleon continues sliding down and gets stabbed in the behind again, not only letting out the same hilarious scream of pain, but also causing him to briefly slide up the banister (animated by Chiniquy). Napoleon comes back down the stairs angry, as the guard futilely attempts to explain, “But, boss-I-you-but-but-but-”. Not in a listening mood, Napoleon grabs the bayonet as the guard sadly bends over in the position to get stabbed for his error a second time. After the guard makes another pain-powered leap into the air while screaming, Bugs runs (animated by Davis) back up the stairs, only to find Napoleon waiting for him at the top while swinging his pistol. With this, Bugs walks back down the stairs, with Napoleon following him at gunpoint and having decided his fate, “It’s the guillotine for you, Monsieur Rabbit!” (animated by Ross)

With a drum roll being played, Napoleon and the executioner are seen with Bugs looking up at the sharp blade. “So THAT’S a guillotine!” He turns to the audience and lets out a slightly disgusted “YEEE!” He then lifts up the executioner’s mask a bit to ask him, “How are ya fixed for blades, mac?”, only for the executioner to angrily move in a way, clearly wanting Bugs to keep his hands off of him (animated by Ross).

Napoleon then orders, “Into ze guillotine with you, rabbit!”, but Bugs would rather not, “ME in THERE!?” and lets out a sarcastic “Hardy-har-har!” He then runs away with a quick “Au revoir! Adios!” Napoleon chases after him while shouting, “Stop! Come back here, rabbit!” He chases Bugs back up to the platform where the guillotine is, screaming, “Get him! Get him!” Bugs passes through the guillotine while the blade is still up, but once Napoleon passes through it, the blade suddenly falls, completely shaving Napoleon’s entire backside down to his polka-dotted underwear (animated by Chiniquy). Napoleon furiously marches up to the executioner, “Idiot! Turn in your hood!”, but upon taking off said hood, finds Bugs disguised as the executioner! “Eh, what’s up, Nappy?” (animated by Davis)

Bugs then runs out of the executioner outfit as Napoleon goes after him, “Sacre illiac! Fire ze alarm! Ze rabbit has escape!” The guard fires the “alarm” cannon, only for Bugs to fly out of the cannon barrel instead. Bugs runs off again with Napoleon yelling as he goes after him, “Stop that rabbit!” He then skids to a stop in front of a man in a white coat shushing him and then telling his assistant, “Hey, Pierre! Here’s another Napoleon!” Pierre comes in and adds, “That’s the twelfth one today!” They begin to take Napoleon off to the asylum as the latter screams, “But I AM Napoleon!” The unnamed man replies sarcastically, “SURE you are!” (animated by Davis up to here) After Napoleon is heard vowing, “I will have you executed for this!”, Bugs chuckles, “Imagine that guy thinking he’s Napoleon- when I really am!”, as he dons a Napoleon hat and marches back into his hole, playing “Le Marseillaise” on the fife (animated by Chiniquy).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕