''Wild Over You'' is a 1953

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 ''Looney Tunes'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series ''Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation.

'' short animated film directed by

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

. The short was released on July 11, 1953, and stars

Pepé Le Pew Pepé Le Pew is an animated character from the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons, introduced in 1945. Depicted as a French striped skunk, Pepé is constantly on the quest for love. However, his offensive ...

. The short uses the standard formula outlined in ''

For Scent-imental Reasons ''For Scent-imental Reasons'' is a 1949 Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' short directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese. The short was released on November 12, 1949, and stars Pepé Le Pew and Penelope Pussycat. It won the Academy Awa ...

'' (1949), where a female black cat named

Penelope Pussycat Penelope Pussycat is an animated cartoon character, featured in the Warner Bros classic ''Looney Tunes'' animated shorts as the protagonist of the Pepé Le Pew shorts. Although she is typically a non-speaker, her "meows" and "purrs" (or "le mews ...

accidentally acquires a white stripe down her back, which attracts an amorous and hopelessly romantic skunk,

, whom mistakes her for another skunk. It is the first

cartoon to have

Maurice Noble Maurice James Noble (May 1, 1911 – May 18, 2001) was an American animation production designer, background artist and layout designer whose contributions to the industry spanned more than 60 years. He was a long-time associate and right-hand man ...

credited for layouts, and the first credited animation by

Abe Levitow Abraham Levitow (July 2, 1922 – May 8, 1975) was an American animator who worked at Warner Bros. Cartoons, UPA and MGM Animation/Visual Arts. He is best known for his work under Chuck Jones' direction. Career Levitow was born in Los Angeles ...

. The human characters and signage in the animation uses

Franglais Franglais (; also Frenglish ) is a French blend that referred first to the overuse of English words by French speakers and later to diglossia or the macaronic mixture of French () and English (). Etymology The word ''Franglais'' was first at ...

to signal to an American audience that the cartoon takes place in France, with the heavily accented

resembling actor

Charles Boyer Charles Boyer (; 28 August 1899 – 26 August 1978) was a French-American actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After receiving an education in drama, Boyer started on the stage, but he found his success in American fi ...

Plot

In the

Paris Exposition of 1900 The Exposition Universelle of 1900, better known in English as the 1900 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 14 April to 12 November 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate developmen ...

, a colorful arrangement of tourists are guided around a zoo (a rather cruel zoo by today's standards), but are panic-stricken to find a wildcat has escaped. Elsewhere, the escaped wildcat stalks around the park. Seeing an animal controller from the zoo pursuing her, she spots some black and white paint nearby and paints herself to look like a skunk, scaring the animal controller off. Her black and white appearance however attracts the attention of

, who, after some flirting, receives a mauling for his effrontery. He shrugs it off, saying, "I like it" (this has caused the cartoon much controversy for implying

sadomasochism Sadomasochism ( ) is the giving and receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation. Practitioners of sadomasochism may seek sexual pleasure from their acts. While the terms sadist and masochist refer ...

). The wildcat hides inside a fortune teller's hut and Pepé, disguised as a

swami Swami ( ; sometimes abbreviated sw.) in Hinduism is an honorific title given to a male or female ascetic who has chosen the path of renunciation (''sanyāsa''), or has been initiated into a religious monastic order of Vaishnavas. It is used eith ...

, predicts to her that she will meet a fine gentleman. When she runs outside, Pepé is there already, disguised as said gentleman. He again receives a mauling from the wildcat, and incorrectly assumes, "Flirt". Later on, Pepé wanders into a wax museum finding the wildcat posing as a boa around the neck of a wax sculpture of

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...

and he himself poses as a coonskin cap on a sculpture of

Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyond the we ...

. The wildcat flees and hides inside a suit of armor with Pepé in there. A third mauling from the wildcat causes the parts of the suit to rearrange themselves. The wildcat then hides inside a replica of Madame Pompadour's carriage and Pepé is in there again. After a fourth mauling, he asks himself in a daze if all this abuse is worth love and answers the question himself by saying it was worth it. The wildcat carries the chase outside, becoming more tired as Pepé pursues her. She comes by a hot air balloon, climbs inside and cuts the support ropes, launching the balloon into the air. Pepé appears beside her again and he receives one final mauling as the balloon floats upwards into the sky ("If you have not tried it, do not knock it...").

References

External links

* * 1953 films 1953 animated films 1953 short films 1950s Warner Bros. animated short films Short films directed by Chuck Jones Films set in 1900 Films set in Paris Looney Tunes shorts Animated films about cats 1953 romantic comedy films American romantic comedy films Films scored by Carl Stalling Pepé Le Pew films Films with screenplays by Michael Maltese Exposition Universelle (1900) 1950s English-language films {{LooneyTunes-stub