''Rabbitson Crusoe'' is a 1956
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
''
Looney Tunes'' short directed by
Friz Freleng.
The short was released on April 28, 1956, and stars
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Warner Bros. Cartoons, Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring role ...
.
The name and part of the story is a direct parody of ''
Robinson Crusoe
''Robinson Crusoe'' () is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a tra ...
''. A
shark
Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachi ...
character of the film was intended as a parody of
Moby-Dick
''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship ''Pequod'', for revenge against Moby Dick, the giant whi ...
, and is depicted as the nemesis of
Yosemite Sam
Yosemite Sam ( /joʊˈsɛmɪti/ ''yoh-SEM-ih-tee'') is a cartoon character in the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of short films produced by Warner Bros. His name is taken from Yosemite National Park. He is an adversary of Bugs ...
for two decades. Towards the end of the film, a
tsunami
A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...
sinks the islands inhabited by the characters.
Plot
Yosemite Sam
Yosemite Sam ( /joʊˈsɛmɪti/ ''yoh-SEM-ih-tee'') is a cartoon character in the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of short films produced by Warner Bros. His name is taken from Yosemite National Park. He is an adversary of Bugs ...
has been
shipwrecked on a small
island
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
for 20 years, and with the
ship
A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...
's supplies used up, the only food source is a
coconut tree on an adjacent island. But crossing between the islands is difficult because of a
man-eating
A man-eater is an animal that preys on humans as a pattern of hunting behavior. This does not include the scavenging of corpses, a single attack born of opportunity or desperate hunger, or the incidental eating of a human that the animal has kil ...
shark
Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachi ...
named Dopey Dick (a parody of
Moby-Dick
''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship ''Pequod'', for revenge against Moby Dick, the giant whi ...
), who persistently tries to catch Sam. However, Sam has gotten used to the wily shark's ways and keeps a few bludgeoning weapons on the islands in hand to drive him off.
At first, Sam enjoys eating coconuts and drinking coconut milk, but at some point he finally snaps and gets tired of having to feed on coconuts for two decades. Right at that moment,
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Warner Bros. Cartoons, Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring role ...
, himself shipwrecked, drifts by. When Sam calls out to him, Bugs paddles towards the island, only to be immediately put into Sam's cooking pot. As smart as ever, Bugs douses the flame with water from the pot, so Sam has to go back to his ship to get another match. However, by the time he gets back from the ship, Bugs has left the pot, which is now occupied by the shark, who nearly eats Sam until the latter manages to whack him into flight with a mallet.
Bugs has retreated to the shipwreck, singing the song "
Secret Love", from where he taunts Sam. The latter tries first to reach him with a surfboard, only to be driven back by the shark. Then, he tries hanging from a balloon, only to be savaged by the shark once again after Bugs lets him sink into the flooded
cargo hold
120px, View of the hold of a container ship
A ship's hold or cargo hold is a space for carrying cargo in the ship's compartment.
Description
Cargo in holds may be either packaged in crates, bales, etc., or unpackaged (bulk cargo). Access to h ...
. As Bugs tries to leave the ship, Sam catches him and puts him back into the pot. Just then, however, a huge
tidal wave hits the islands, sinking them along with the ship. Bugs, adrift inside the pot, is soon joined by Sam fleeing from Dopey Dick again. Bugs strikes a deal with him: in return from keeping him out of the shark's reach (by a
gaff's length), Sam has to paddle them both 2,736 miles towards
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
.
Home media
''Rabbitson Crusoe'' has been released on the
Warner Home Video
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros.
It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Vide ...
laserdisc ''Wince Upon A Time'', the
VHS release ''Bugs Bunny's Hare Raising Tales'', and the
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
release ''Looney Tunes: Parodies Collection''. In 2020 the cartoon was released uncut and digitally restored as part of the ''
Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection''
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
.
See also
*
Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography (1950–1959)
This is a listing of all the animated shorts released by Warner Bros. under the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' banners between 1950 and 1959.
A total of 278 shorts were released during the 1950s.
1950
Starting this year, all carto ...
*
List of Bugs Bunny cartoons
*
List of Yosemite Sam cartoons
Yosemite Sam is an American animated cartoon character in the '' Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The character appeared in dozens of cartoons from the 1940s to the 2000s.
Golden Age ...
References
External links
*
*
{{Friz Freleng , state=collapsed
1956 films
1956 animated films
1956 short films
1950s Warner Bros. animated short films
Looney Tunes shorts
Films set in the Pacific Ocean
Films set on islands
Films based on Robinson Crusoe
Films based on Moby-Dick
Films based on multiple works
Short films directed by Friz Freleng
Films scored by Milt Franklyn
Bugs Bunny films
Yosemite Sam films
Films produced by Edward Selzer
Films about sharks
Films about tsunamis
1950s English-language films