Napoleon Bunny-Part

Napoleon Bunny-Part
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Airdate:	16 June 1956
Series:	Merrie Melodies
MPAA Number:	17548
Production Number:	1396
Copyright Renewed:	18 April 1984
Starring:	Bugs Bunny Mugsy
Crew
Voice Characterizations:	Mel Blanc
Director:	Friz Freleng
Written By:	Warren Foster
Producer:	Eddie Selzer
Animated By:	Gerry Chiniquy Arthur Davis Virgil Ross
Layout Artist:	Hawley Pratt
Background Artist:	Irv Wyner
Film Editor:	Treg Brown
Musician:	Carl W. Stalling

Napoleon Bunny-Part is a 1956 Merrie Melodies short directed by Friz Freleng.

Plot

Bugs is traveling underground, and emerges in France at the headquarters of Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon is planning a military offensive and thinks Bugs is a saboteur, and sends a guard after him. Bugs easily outwits the incompetent guard and then disguises himself as Josephine and asks Napoleon to dance. Napoleon sees Bugs' tail through the disguise and chases Bugs, who slides down a staircase. The guard sees Bugs and points his bayonet, intending to stab Bugs as he slides down. Bugs hops off of the staircase and Napoleon is stabbed instead. He slides back up the staircase screaming. The guard then gets the "point" from Napoleon and goes howling in to the air.

Napoleon catches Bugs and orders him into a guillotine. Bugs runs off with Napoleon in pursuit, running down the guillotine platform and then back up and through the guillotine which is still raised. Napoleon follows Bugs but as he runs through the guillotine the blade falls and slices the back of his uniform along with the hair from the back of his head. Napoleon demands an explanation from the hooded executor, who is Bugs himself. Bugs then tries to elude Napoleon by hiding in a mortar, but is found.

Napoleon resumes his chase of Bugs, but two men in white coats show up and one says to the other, "Hey Pierre, here's another Napoleon," and Pierre replies, "that's the twelfth one today." "But I am Napoleon," the little corporal wails as he's dragged away by them to the nearest insane asylum. "Sure, you are," one of the men nods sarcastically.

Bugs says, "Imagine that guy thinking he's Napoleon...[quickly donning a Napoleon hat] when I really am!" He pulls out a flute, playing "La Marseillaise", which becomes "Yankee Doodle" as he marches into the distance.

Caricatures

• Napoleon Bonaparte
• Empress Josephine

Availability

(1984) VHS
The Looney Tunes Video Show Volume 19

(1998) VHS
Special Bumper Collection (Vol. 7)

(1998) LaserDisc
Bugs and Marvin: Martian Mayhem (1997 dubbed version) (only in PAL regions)

(2010) DVD
Looney Tunes Super Stars' Bugs Bunny: Hare Extraordinaire (in widescreen)

(2012) DVD
Looney Tunes The Best of Bugs Bunny

(2013) DVD
Looney Tunes Super Stars 3-Pack, Disc 1

(2014) DVD
Looney Tunes Super Stars Family Multi-Feature, Disc 1

(2015) DVD
4 Kid Favorites Looney Tunes Collection

(2020) Blu-ray
Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection, Disc 2 (remastered in fullscreen and HD)

Streaming

Boomerang (2017 - )

HBO Max (2020 - 2020) (restored in fullscreen, but taken down)

Censorship

• In light of the backlash over alleged drug references in an episode of Ralph Bakshi's The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse, where Mighty Mouse's inhaling of crushed flower petals was mistaken for cocaine by media watchdog groups, the ABC version of "Napoleon Bunny-Part" in the mid-to-late 1980s cut the scene where Napoleon inhales some snuff and Bugs does the same, only to sneeze all over Napoleon's map. The scene was later reinstated on ABC after the backlash died down.

Gallery

Title card (before remastering)

Title card (remastered fullscreen version)

Scene that was temporarily edited when aired on ABC in the 1980s

Lobby card

Lobby card

TV Title Cards

The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show

External Links

• "Napoleon Bunny-Part" at SuperCartoons.net
• "Napoleon Bunny-Part" at B99.TV
• "Napoleon Bunny-part" at the SFX Resource