When I was five, I first saw the documentary "Bugs Bunny Superstar" and my parents made me a tape of it; unfortunately, we accidentally taped over the end. Now that I've seen the whole thing again - and that I'm old enough to understand what it shows - I can accurately comment on it.
It starts with a disembodied voice (actually Orson Welles narrating) showing photographs of the places representing the greatest minds: the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal, the Pyramids, the Parthenon, the Coliseum, the Eiffel Tower, the White House (well, not currently), Termite Terrace...wait a minute, Termite Terrace? Yes, Termite Terrace. For the uninformed, it's the back-lot on the Warner Bros. studios where they created the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons. So begins a cinematic trip down Memory Lane.
The movie consists of an interview with animator Bob Clampett explaining how they created Bugs, Daffy, Porky, etc. When I was really young, even though I saw the caricatures of Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre and Edward G. Robinson - plus the scenes from "The Jazz Singer" and "It Happened One Night" - I couldn't interpret anything from them, but of course now I can. It was especially neat to hear about the typical days in Termite Terrace; it all sounded really fun! But of course, the best parts are the nine classic cartoons included in the movie to affirm what Clampett says. All released before 1948, they give one a true sense of old-time cinema (especially with Bugs Bunny at the Oscars). As it is, this documentary's 1975 release brings to mind the '50s nostalgia that had swept the country, as displayed by "Happy Days". While the stuff portrayed here is pre-'50s, it still makes one nostalgic for the old times. You're sure to have a real hare-raising time! There's also an interview with Friz Freleng, some footage of Mel Blanc, while Elmer, Sylvester, Tweety, and Foghorn also appear in the cartoons.
One more thing. When MGM released "Bugs Bunny Superstar" on video in 1988, they also released the video collections "BUGS!" (whose cover showed Bugs holding an Oscar), "DAFFY!" (showing Daffy wearing sunglasses), "PORKY!" (showing Porky driving a fancy car), and "ELMER!" (showing Elmer sitting in a director's chair). In keeping with the documentary, they all contained cartoons released before or during 1948 (e.g., "Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid", "The Great Piggy Bank Robbery", "Baby Bottleneck" and "Good Night, Elmer"). I wonder why MGM released them onto video.
