This was the last of the three World War II cartoons shown on the TURNER CLASSIC FILM "Cartoon Alley" show yesterday. This one is of interest because of it's connections with the future Bugs Bunny cartoons. First off, this is the cartoon where Bugs is driven off course in his underground travels by making the wrong turn at Albuquerque, New Mexico for the first time. Secondly, in his confronting Goering (a fat, blond figure in lederhausen, who vaguely resembles horrible Herman), Bugs vanishes for a few seconds, and reappears (to the strains of the "Venusburg" music of Wagner's TANNHAUSER) as Brunhilde on a fat German horse. This, as mentioned elsewhere here, is the original for the classic scenes between Bugs and Elmer Fudd in WHAT'S OPERA DOC? But there is a trifle more here which I don't believe is in the later cartoon. Goering sees "the beautiful" Brunhilde, runs off and returns in Wagnerian - Middle Ages costume, complete with Viking helmet - and as he looks at Brunhilde again the horns on the hat take on an "erection" appearance that is unexpected.
The cartoon is set on Goering's estate in the Black Forest, where the second man of the Reich hunted and acted like his own idea of what a "Rennaisance" man was like. In fact, Goering did more than shoot game on his estate - he shot up. Goering became a total drug addict, and his system was not cleaned out until the Allies put him under medical control at Nuremburg. Ironically, in real life, when that happened his brain power actually resurrected itself, and he was able to present a formidable presence at the war crime trial.
This aspect is not in the cartoon (it was barely known in early 1945). Instead we see Goering relaxing at his estate, which Bugs accidentally invades. Bugs is able to momentarily trick Goering into believing he is Hitler (and into confessing that Hitler annoys Goering - which leads Bugs as Hitler in stripping Goering of all his decorations). But eventually Bugs is captured by Goering's pet vulture, and Herman takes Bugs in a bag to Berlin to give to Der Fuhrer. Hitler is playing solitaire at his desk, and barely seems to hear Goering, but stops his game, and starts talking like a pitchman (saying "Tell you what I'm going to do!"). He gives another medal to Goering, and then opens the bag, screams in fear, and flees. Goering follows suit, and does the same. Then we see Bugs rise out of the bag, made up to look like Joseph Stalin - which explains why this cartoon did not get shown on television in the 1950s and 1960s when I first got into Bugs Bunny cartoons.
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