Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales (also known asBugs Bunny's 1001 Rabbit Tales) is a 1982 American animatedfantasy comedy film produced and directed byFriz Freleng. It combines classicWarner Bros. cartoon shorts with new animation, withBugs Bunny serving as the story host.[2]
Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck assume roles as sales representatives for theRambling House Publishing Company, competing for a prestigious grand prize awarded to the top-performing salesman. Each assigned to different locales — Bugs toPismo Beach, California and Daffy toThermopolis — the two embark on separate journeys characterized by a series of absurd and humorous encounters.
Daffy's misadventures commence when he inadvertently crashes into Porky Pig's residence during a winter storm, seeking refuge after destroying a stuffed duck. Meanwhile, Bugs finds himself in a jungle and adopts the guise of a baby ape to evade danger. Their paths converge as they reunite and venture towards Pismo Beach, only to stumble upon a cave filled with treasure in a dry desert.
Bugs subsequently finds himself coerced into entertaining Sultan Yosemite Sam's spoiled son, Prince Abba-Dabba, with a series of parodied fairy tales. Despite attempts to escape, Bugs remains ensnared in the storytelling duties, while Daffy, in pursuit of riches, encounters a magic lamp in the cave. His attempt to exploit the lamp for profit backfires when a genie emerges, prompting Daffy's chaotic flight through the desert in search of water.
Bugs devises a clever escape plan involving a ruse with boiling oil, allowing him to elude Sam's clutches and reunite with Daffy. However, Daffy's eagerness to exploit the palace for book sales results in further misfortune. Bugs and Daffy ultimately depart into the sunset, with Daffy stripped of his feathers.
Most of the rest of the movie consists of the stories played out as classic cartoons. Some of the classic cartoon shorts were abridged. In theOne Froggy Evening sequence, the ending where the construction worker from 2056 findsMichigan J. Frog and makes off with him was cut, making it seem as if the cartoon ended with the construction worker from 1955 getting rid of the frog and running off.
This was the firstLooney Tunes compilation film to use a completely original story and treat the included cartoon shorts as part of the story, as opposed to having the characters introduce the cartoons.
Early television airings (like theDisney Channel in 1991) of the film had one sequence that was cut from the original theatrical version of the film. It took place after Bugs finished reading the story of Goldimouse and the Three Cats to Prince Abba-Dabba, when he told the next story to Abba-Dabba, the "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" which featured the 1962Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog cartoonA Sheep in the Deep.
The main plot point, setting up Bugs and Daffy asScheherazade-like figures, is in itself similar to the 1959 shortHare-Abian Nights, which itself used considerable stock footage and also featured Yosemite Sam as the sultan.
Many voice artists that were not credited in the original shorts are billed as "additional classic voices". For the first time, 23 years after his death,Arthur Q. Bryan finally receives credit on aWarner Bros. production, even if it does not explicitly credit him as the voice ofElmer Fudd.
Carrie Rickey, reviewer for theVillage Voice, remarked that Bugs and Daffy "used to be burrowers, explorers; now they're traveling salesmen imprisoned by the nuclear family."[3]
