'What's Opera, Doc?,' a cartoon that would likely never be made today, celebrates golden anniversary. So starts the article on The Star about the 50th anniversary of what is arguably the best cartoon of all time.
At any other time, the film would not have been made. Imagine the pitch: "Let's steal time and funding from our other projects so we can go way over budget making a cartoon with no jokes, and no real gags. The score will be a German opera. Kids won't get it. Most adults won't get it, but I don't care because I think it's funny."Now I have to go rent it and watch it again, and again...
Fortunately, the time was 1956, the director was Chuck Jones, and the place was the Warners Bros. backlot animation studio dubbed "Termite Terrace." The result – released 50 years ago this week – was "What's Opera, Doc?," voted by animators in the 1994 book The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals to be the greatest cartoon of all time.
(Thanks Alan!)
[Update]: Added link to YouTube (probably going to be busy today).
No comments:
Post a Comment