Knights Must Fall

Knights Must Fall
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Airdate:	16 July 1949 Blue Ribbon reissue: 28 October 1967
Series:	Merrie Melodies
MPAA Number:	12544
Production Number:	1086
Vitaphone Number:	1715
Runtime:	7 minutes
Copyright Renewed:	2 September 1976
Starring:	Bugs Bunny
Crew
Voice Characterizations:	Mel Blanc
Director:	I. Freleng
Written By:	Tedd Pierce
Producer:	Eddie Selzer (uncredited)
Animated By:	Manuel Perez Ken Champin Virgil Ross Gerry Chiniquy Pete Burness (uncredited)
Layout Artist:	Hawley Pratt
Background Artist:	Paul Julian
Film Editor:	Treg Brown (uncredited)
Musician:	Carl Stalling

Knights Must Fall is a 1949 Merrie Melodies short directed by I. Freleng.

Title

The title is a play on the 1937 film Night Must Fall.

Plot

The short opens showing several knights standing in line, with squire Bugs standing at the end. He ends up angering the knight he is standing next to by using his armor as a trashcan for his carrot. The angered knight, Sir Pantaslot of Drop Seat Manor, declares "Forsooth, varlet! Thou hast insulted me!" and slaps Bugs with a glove. Bugs gives a little back by declaring the "boiler boy" has insulted him, and slaps Pantsalot back with one of his own gauntlets. The knight then declares "So be it, then! We meet on the jousting field tomorrow at dawn! Agreed?", and Bugs agrees to the duel.

The jousting arena is marked like a football stadium, and has a modern announcer complete with microphone and a vendor hawking programs. Sir Pantsalot emerges from his fancy tent on a warhorse to thunderous applause, but Bugs comes out of his patched up US Army tent on a burro to the derision of the crowd, with Bugs telling them "Eh, boo yourself! You're expecting maybe Errol Flynn?". As the two ride out of their starting gates, Bugs ends up being knocked back across the field twice. On his third charge, Bugs decides to "use a little English on this one", chalking and wielding his lance like a pool cue, calling the 8-ball in the side pocket. The knight, however, raises his shield, splintering Bugs' lance on impact. Bugs doesn't like the jeering from this one bit, saying that "that cast-iron palooka's makin' a chump outta me!"

After a brief halftime show, Sir Pantsalot and Bugs resume their duel on foot, repeatedly beating each other over the heads with clubs. Bugs breaks this repetative pattern by pulling out a rivet gun and tickling the knight with it. The knight swings a flail, but Bugs puts a spring under it and it bounces back and strikes the knight on the head. Bugs then says, "It is to laugh!" Bugs then tricks Sir Pantsalot into peeking his head out from his helmet by knocking on the visor and claiming, "Don't you remember me? I was here last night with Joe!" Asiding, "Now he oughta know better than that," he then punches the knight's head back into the helmet. Bugs then dives into a rabbit hole and the knight follows him into it. Bugs then emerges from another hole and when Pantsalot emerges from the first, Bugs opens the helmet like a trash can and hits him on the head, causing a lump to form. When Pantsalot emerges, he swings an axe at what he thinks is Bugs, dismantling the armor piece by piece, but Bugs isn't inside it. When he wonders where Bugs is, Bugs pops up inside the knight's armor replying "Wouldn't you like to know?" and gives him a big kiss. The knight swings a club at him, but Bugs ducks and he hits himself in the head. Bugs then jabs the knight's butt with a pin, regardless of the knight begging him not to, causing the knight to leap into an arch, flattening his helmet, and in turn his head, against it. Bugs then jumps out of the armor before the knight lands back in it and unscrews the helmet, asiding "Look at the new Dick Tracy character, Accordian Head!" The knight gives chase to Bugs who quickly dives into a manhole. The knight dives after him, but Bugs quickly pulls the cover over the hole, causing the knight to crash into it and flatten himself.

Bugs, thinking he has won, then tries to leave, musing to himself "I guess I'd better go phone Lady Windemere not to expect her spouse home for dinner". But his exit is quickly blocked by Sir Pantsalot and several other knights appearing in formation, intending to charge together against Bugs. Bugs calls to the referee for a timeout, then he and his burro head to the blacksmith shop and emerge from it in steam-powered, tank/bomber-like super armor made from a wood stove and a gun turret. From his helmet-like cockpit, Bugs then declares, "Pilot to bombadier, pilot to bombadier. Open bomb bays, we're right on target," and his lance emerges from the wood stove as he charges full speed towards the approaching knights. The crowd can only watch as the two parties crash into each other off-screen, rattling the crowd with each collision.

The final scene reveals the results of the tussle. Bugs has set up shop as "The Smiling Rabbit, dealer in Used Armor", as in the armor of all the defeated knights. Bugs asides "Eh, so it shouldn't be a total loss" as he disposes another carrot in what used to be Sir Pantsalot's armor.

Availability

(1984) VHS
The Looney Tunes Video Show Volume 8

(1994) LaserDisc
Bugs Bunny: Hare Beyond Compare: 14 More Bugs Bunny Classics

(1994) VHS
Special Bumper Collection (Vol. 1) (UK)

(2020) Blu-ray
Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection (restored with original titles and in HD)

Streaming

(2017 - ) Boomerang app (unrestored, same print as for Hare Beyond Compare laserdisc)

HBO Max (2020 - 2023) (restored with original titles)

Max (2023 - ) (restored with original titles)

Censorship

• The version of this cartoon shown on ABC's The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show cut the scene of Bugs stepping on a lever, lifting the top of the Black Knight's helmet, then hitting the Black Knight on the head with a hammer, producing a big lump.

Goofs

• During the scene where both Bugs Bunny and Sir Pantaslot of Drop Seat Manor agree to duel jousting field the next day at dawn, after Bugs replies "Agreed" at the end of that scene their mouth movements as they make sinister smiles towards each other seems to be animated rather choppily compared to the rest of the cartoon, with their mouth movements in that scene being animated in 15 frames per second instead of the usual 24 frames per second.
• When Bugs Bunny is introduced inside his tent, Bugs and his donkey are completely inside the tent, yet when they are shown close up, they are now almost completely outside the tent.

Notes

• Strangely, even though it was reissued in 1967, it has the original opening and closing color rings replaced much like a 1959–61 season reissue. As movie listings during the time didn't list that this short was part of the Blue Ribbon package during the 1959–61 season, either the short's reissue was originally slated to be released during the 1959–61 seasons but was not released due to these season's reissue package already being full and Warner Bros.-Seven Arts used the otherwise unused print, or Warner Bros.-Seven Arts originally intended to reuse the original Blue Ribbon title sequence due to being the first short reissued in the 1967–68 season, but continued using the original titles for shorts reissued after this one due to budget reasons.
• A 35mm print of this cartoon with the original opening and closing Color Rings and the "Bugs Bunny In" title was found online. The short was later remastered for HBO Max, with the original opening and ending titles restored, later released on 1 December 2020 on Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection.
• The audio of the band playing "Frat" in this cartoon was also used for the Rubber Band scene in "Dough for the Do-Do" and the "Silence is Golden" scene in "Now Hear This".

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