Bugs Bunny Superstar (1976) on Netflix
NR19761h 30mAnimationDocumentary
Robert Clampett presents Termite Terrace, the shack on the Warner Brothers lot where Porky Pig, Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny were drawn. Home movies and nine complete cartoons are included.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb7.0/10555 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
The documentary looks at Termite Terrace, the small building on the Warner Brothers lot that housed the studio's animation unit in the 1930s and 1940s, the place where Porky Pig, Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny took shape. Robert Clampett, an animator from that unit, hosts the account and supplies most of the behind-the-scenes material, including drawings, photographs, films and home-movie footage he kept from those years. Fellow directors Tex Avery and Friz Freleng also appear, speaking about their work, and a narrator links the recollections to nine complete Warner cartoons originally released between 1940 and 1948, six of them featuring Bugs Bunny.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Bugs Bunny Superstar (1976)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Larry Jackson claimed he had to sign a contract giving Bob Clampett the host role, the choice of featured cartoons and final cut approval in order to secure his participation and access to Clampett's collection of Warner Bros. memorabilia, drawings, films and photographs.
- Animation historian Michael Barrier's 1969 interview, in which Bob Clampett claimed to have created Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sniffles and Yosemite Sam, and the film's release drew the ire of Chuck Jones, who wrote a letter dated 11 December 1975 and enlisted Tex Avery to make annotations.
- Orson Welles recorded his narration for the film in stereo without Larry Jackson knowing; only one track, from the microphone furthest away, was used in the final mix, which is why the narration sounds muffled.
- Larry Jackson, a friend of Orson Welles, originally planned the film's linking material as a parody of Welles' Citizen Kane, but Welles' reluctance made it a straightforward documentary, though Welles still agreed to narrate it.
- "Blue Ribbon" prints, which lack opening titles and director credits, were used for several cartoons, but the three cartoons Bob Clampett directed ran in their original versions so that his director credit was shown.
- Bugs Bunny: Superstar was the first documentary to examine the history of Looney Tunes and its animated characters, and the first Looney Tunes film not distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.
