The Spotlight: February 2003
"Louvre, Come Back To Me" (1962, Looney Tune)
Director: Chuck Jones
Codirector: Maurice Noble
Story: John Dunn
Animation: Richard Thompson, Bob Bransford, Tom Ray, Ken Harris
Backgrounds: Tom O'Loughlin, Phil DeGuard
Editor: Treg Brown
Voices: Mel Blanc
Music: Milt Franklyn
The final Pepe Le Pew cartoon ever produced, and a fine film in most all respects. Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble give us a tour of the Louvre Museum in France, via Pepe Le Pew, Penelope Cat, and a jealous boyfriend of a tomcat. Pepe Le Pew is particularly witty in this film, though by this point he is a bit calmer than he was in the early 1950's. Such lines as "I am shy, but I am willing" and "Where are you my little object d'art? I am going to collect you!" stand out, but there are several more. Penelope Cat gets a stripe painted down her back from getting too close to a flagpole with wet paint, and then falls off of it right into the arms of the unsuspecting Pepe, who is not one to ask questions. A chase ensues, and while Pepe is chasing the cat, her boy friend (A Claude-like Chuck Jonesian cat) chases after Pepe, but keeps having to back off because of his smell. Pepe's scent ultimately does the tomcat in, and he goes looking for the cat again. Many famous paintings and sculptures are parodied, keep a look out for the famed Venus sculpture losing its arms and the Mona Lisa still holding her smile, even with a skunk in the air conditioning vent!
