Transylvania 6-5000 (1963)

What makes it different from others?

just watch it!

Excellent, a Must See

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

. . . TRANSYLVANIA 6-5000 is mostly an attempt by Warner Bros. to keep eventual stars Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and A-Rod on the straight and narrow path to First Base. Midway through TRANSYLVANIA 6-5000, Bugs Bunny magically transforms himself into a baseball umpire, representing Major League Baseball Management of the Future. Warnologists will see Count Bloodcount pinch-hitting for would-be cheaters such as Jose Canseco, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, and Jhonny Peralta. The Count has shelf upon shelf of books dealing with how to manipulate blood steroid levels to elude positive results on blood doping tests. But Bugs always is one step ahead of Bloodcount, crushing the latter's dreams of illicit entry into Baseball's Hallowed Hall of Fame time after time. Warnology's clearly predicting that if your name is Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez or Curt Schilling, a camel will waltz through the eye of a steroids needle easier than you'll squeeze through the Pearly Gates of Cooperstown. Warner Bros. is virtually quoting the stars of the 1960s, such as Willie Mays, Bob Gibson, Hank Aaron, Sandy Koufax, and Stan Musial in saying, "Why can't they be like WE were, PERFECT in every way?"

Written by John Dunn, directed by Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble, with a music score by Bill Lava, "Transylvania 6-5000" is one of the later Bugs Bunny cartoons made at Warner Bros., and not a bad cartoon at that. It may not be the funniest Bugs cartoon ever made, but it still contains plenty of verbal & visual gags as Bugs (who has lost his bearings) visits a spooky haunted house in order to telephone his travel agency. (Don't read any further if you have not yet seen this cartoon.) Bugs at first has no idea of the power of the magic words "abracadabra" and "hocus pocus"; often he'll sing these words to the tune of "It's Magic". The utterances of these magic words causes the majordomo Count Bloodcount to transform into a bat, or vice versa, which becomes a problem for gravity. This is what I like best about "Transylvania 6-5000". Good for Halloween or any old time!

With both Bugs Bunny's and Chuck Jones's Warner Bros. careers winding down, Chuck directed Bugs in the hilariously wacky short "Transylvania 6-5000" (which I recall got used in the compilation film "Daffy Duck's Quackbusters"). When Bugs arrives in Transylvania - apparently no too far away from Pittsburgh - and spots a rather Gothic castle, he decides to ask to use Count Bloodcount's telephone. While the audience can easily figure out what this guy has planned, Bugs doesn't even get the least bit scared (I bet that any other of the Looney Tunes would have died of fright upon seeing the count; see the Sylvester/Porky pairings).But when the count puts Bugs to bed ("Rest is good for the blood.") is when the cartoon really takes off. As Bugs feels too fatty-gewed (fatigued) to sleep, he starts reading the book "Magic Words and Phrases". Much of the rest of the cartoon has Bugs in danger of getting attacked by the count, only to utter "abra-cadabra" or "hocus pocus" and change the count into a bat or vice versa! Everything that Bugs does in the second half of the cartoon just made me feel like I was going to die laughing.It all just goes to show that there will never again be a genre like the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons. Up in that great nightclub in the sky, Glenn Miller must feel honored that they played off the title of one of his songs for this cartoon (actually I don't know whether or not he wrote "Pennsylvania 6-5000", but I've heard his version). There was also a silly movie "Transylvania 6-5000" starring Jeff Goldblum and Ed Begley Jr.One more thing. I notice that this cartoon was released a week after the Kennedy assassination. I would have suspected that they would have been in no mood to release a crazy cartoon after that event, but maybe that's just me.

Another classic here. Yes, it is a classic. So simple are the gags, and yet they are so effective. Buggs is in top form here I can tell you. Just read this below. But you really need to see the visual gag that is "tagged" along with this to get the re-impact.... But read below: Count Bloodcount: I am a vampire. Bugs Bunny: Oh, yeah? Well, Abracadabra, I'm an umpire. Suddenly is wearing umpire clothesCount Bloodcount: Hocus Pocus, I'm a bat. Turns into a bat Bugs Bunny: I can be a bat, too. Hocus Pocus. turns into a baseball bat Count Bloodcount: - putting on glasses - You wouldn't hurt a bat with glasses, would you? Bat hits vampire Just brilliant. Trust me you will like this cartoon. I wish that these were shown more often so that a new generation could see them. We were lucky in that we could see them on a regularly basis..... Please any one else leave you views here about this classic