''Elmer's Candid Camera'' is a 1940 Warner Bros. '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoon short directed by

Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, painter, voice actor and filmmaker, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He ...

. The short was released on March 2, 1940, and features

Elmer Fudd Elmer J. Fudd is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes''/''Merrie Melodies'' series and the archenemy of Bugs Bunny. Elmer Fudd's aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring himself and other antag ...

and an early Bugs Bunny prototype.

Plot

Elmer is reading a book on how to photograph wildlife. He walks along whistling as he holds the camera. He finds a rabbit and wants to take a picture of him. The rabbit finds himself a convenient victim to harass as Elmer tries to photograph him. Elmer points to where the rabbit was sleeping and tells him that he wants to take a picture of him. Throughout the rest of the picture, the rabbit continues to bother Elmer as he tries to photograph other animals in the forest. This all comes to ahead when Elmer has had enough of his shenanigans and attempts to catch the rabbit with a net, but is fooled again when the rabbit fakes his suffering. This tormenting eventually drives Elmer insane, causing him to jump into a lake and nearly drown. The rabbit saves him, ensures that Elmer is perfectly all right – and promptly kicks him straight back into the lake. Then, the rabbit throws Elmer's "How To Photograph Wildlife" book on his head, thus ending the cartoon as the screen irises out.

Analysis and Comments by Jones

This is the first appearance of a redesigned

, a character previously known as "Elmer" on the Lobby cards for '' The Isle of Pingo Pongo'' (1938) and '' Cinderella Meets Fella'' (1938), and even on screen in '' A Feud There Was'' (1938) and was also referred to as "Egghead's Brother" on the

Vitaphone Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National Pictures, First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone is the last major analog sound-on-disc sys ...

Publicity sheet for "Cinderella Meets Fella" (1938) which was shown on Michael Barrier's website (and now voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan). It is also the fourth appearance of the prototype rabbit that would later evolve into

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is a cartoon character created in the late 1930s at Warner Bros. Cartoons (originally Leon Schlesinger, Leon Schlesinger Productions) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his featured roles in the ' ...

. Apart from making a fool of Elmer Fudd, the usual characteristics are absent; the voice used by Mel Blanc is a low-pitched generic voice, and his laugh is a precursor to the laugh Blanc used for

Woody Woodpecker Woody Woodpecker is a cartoon character that appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Productions, Walter Lantz Studio and Universal Animation Studios, Universal Animation Studio and distributed by Universal Pictures sinc ...

. Chuck Jones directed this cartoon in a time when he was going for a more slow and methodical approach in vain to works by

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

and Harman and Ising. He would later go on to disavow this short later in his life. In his autobiography '' Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist'', he stated:

Home media

* VHS – ''Cartoon Moviestars: Elmer!'' * VHS – ''Looney Tunes Collectors Edition: Wabbit Tales'' * Laserdisc – ''Bugs! and Elmer!'' * Laserdisc – ''Golden Age of Looney Tunes Vol 2'' * DVD – '' Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1'' * DVD – '' Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 1'' * DVD – '' The Essential Bugs Bunny'' * Blu-ray – '' Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2'' * Blu-ray – '' Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection''

References

External links

*
''Elmer's Candid Camera'' on the Internet Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elmer's Candid Camera 1940 films 1940 comedy films 1940s Warner Bros. animated short films Merrie Melodies short films Bugs Bunny films Elmer Fudd films Films about photographers Films set in forests Short films directed by Chuck Jones Films produced by Leon Schlesinger Warner Bros. Cartoons animated short films 1940s English-language films English-language short films 1940 animated short films