A Star Is Bored (1956)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Excellent but underrated film

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

. . . starred in more flicks for Warner Bros. than Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Bette Davis, George Raft, or Errol Flynn, some of the lesser-known players on the Warner Lot 75 years ago. (Wayne was heard in fewer Warner films than Mel Blanc, however.) By the Mid-1950s Warner Brass realized that they were in the exact same relationship to Wayne as Dr. Frankenstein was to his monster. Partly out of guilt, but mostly out of a belated sense of Social Responsibility, Warner began to Warn America about Wayne with increasing frequency and an ever-growing shrill urgency, often via Looney Tune animated shorts. A STAR IS BORED features Daffy Duck, Warner's frequent stand-in for Wayne. STAR traces Wayne's career from his humble beginnings as a studio janitor through his first 100 or so films as a stunt double (standing in here for Bugs Bunny) to the 79 times he'd be shot as a top-billed "star" (right down to his final flick, THE SHOOTIST, the last scene of which is blocked out EXACTLY as the final bit of A STAR IS BORED, which PRECEDED Wayne's SHOOTIST swan song by 20 years!). BORED also features an opening cameo showing the Henchwoman of Wayne's Real Life Reign of Terror, Hedda Hopper, as a cartoon gossip columnist with the name (as spelled in Warner's closed captioning) of "Loly," or Laugh-Out-Loud-Yeti (that is, a Bigfoot B-word).

Coming from a huge lifelong Looney Tunes fan, and as a fan of all four characters, this viewer found herself loving every minute of 'A Star is Bored'. Sure it may be predictable, it is very clear who is going to get the worst of the violence from the very start, but that's not enough to take away from its high quality, entertainment value and sheer joy of seeing these four characters playing against one another.The animation is very bright and colourful with everything drawn crisply and with great attention to detail, budgets may have been low at the time but luckily it does not show here. There is nothing to complain about the character designs, the colours are a feast for the eyes and the backgrounds were clearly designed with great care and love, nothing looks cheap here. 'A Star is Bored' benefits from another great Milt Franklyn score. It's beautifully and cleverly orchestrated, brings a huge amount of energy and the character not only blends so well with the action but like Carl Stalling (if not quite as ingeniously) enhances it. Always a huge part of Looney Tunes' charm was the humour and the quality of the writing. 'A Star is Bored' does not disappoint at all in this regard. There are funnier ones definitely, but the dialogue is so sharp and witty, not showing an ounce of fatigue, especially Daffy's priceless "Oh boy, I could be sent to prison for the scenes I'm going to steal!" and the ending. All the gags work, they are very well timed and range from very funny to hilarious. The story is episodic and doesn't escape the predictability factor , but while it has the feel of a clip show, there is not a dull moment and scenes flow from one another with no obvious sense of choppiness. Loved the expansion of the rivalry depicted between Bugs and Daffy, with Elmer and Yosemite Sam in support, amidst the show business setting. All four characters work brilliantly together, and the two producer and director characters offer some amusement. Elmer is suitably befuddled, though his appearance is rather cameo-like, and Yosemite Sam is effectively hot-headed, but Bugs and Daffy register more. Bugs is charismatic, likable, smart and somewhat arrogant (what's not to love about his final line?), though it is Daffy who has the bigger role and walks away with the cartoon. Daffy is just hilarious here with all the best lines and gags. Mel Blanc's vocal characterisations in multiple roles (all but two characters) are faultless, and Arthur Q. Bryan and June Foray are very good too though they don't have as much to do and their material is not quite as strong. In conclusion, not Looney Tunes at their best and not quite one of my personal favourites but never less than hugely enjoyable. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Directed by Friz Freleng, "A Star Is Bored" is a fine Daffy Duck/Bugs Bunny cartoon. I place Daffy's name first because he is really the star of this cartoon, even though he is predetermined to get his butt whipped as a stunt double on the Warner Bros. soundstages.Here are my favorite moments from "A Star Is Bored". Daffy's first appearance as a janitor outside Bugs' dressing room trailer just sums up the whole cartoon, in my opinion; Daffy expresses disgust and jealousy for not having his apparently great acting talent realized, while Bugs (supposedly having nothing on the ball) becomes a motion picture star. While Bugs sits on a tree limb way above the ground, Daffy saws off the limb and - what do you think? - slowly falls downward with the tree; the look on Daffy's face as he falls is hilarious. When Bugs operates a jet plane, the musical accompaniment we hear is "Captains of the Clouds", courtesy of orchestrator Milt Franklyn.Catch "A Star Is Bored" on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 5 Disc 1. It seems unusual to have Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, AND Yosemite Sam all appear in the same film. The only other cartoon short that I know of in which they all appear is "(Blooper) Bunny!", released a few decades later in 1991.

For the umpteenth time, Daffy "hubris is my middle name" Duck tries to best Bugs Bunny, with the same success that he's had before. The hardest part here is wondering how a duck is supposed to double a rabbit. But, as has been said, anything can happen in a cartoon. This is a fun and enjoyable cartoon and Daffy gets what he deserves and what I suspect is his karmic birthright. Recommended.