After Gulliver's Travels, released in 1939, Fleischer Studios' second feature film, Mr. Bug Goes to Town, was released by Paramount in the U.S. on December 5, 1941. Although better constructed than the previous film, it suffered from the same economic climate as the other Disney studio productions of the time: the war cut off all European revenues. While Walt Disney was soon able to re-release his first success and start making money on re-releases, the Fleischer brothers suffered a second relative failure, and Paramount put an end to their activities.
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French Poster
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Years later, the film fell into the public domain and was released in poor-quality National Television Association prints under the title
Hoppity Goes to Town. More recently, the film has been released on DVD under the title
Bugville.
In France, the film had only one theatrical release, on December 27, 1946, under the title
Douce et Criquet s'aimaient d'amour tendre (Sweet and Cricket loved each other tenderly), in a version that seems irretrievably lost today. In Belgium, the title seems to have been translated to recall, like the original, the Gary Cooper film
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, released in France and Belgium under the title
L'extravagant M. Deeds. Here are a few newspaper clippings from the period:
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La Cinématographie Française September 28, 1946
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La Cinématographie Française January 3, 1947
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L'extravagant Mr. Bug (Belgian newspaper)
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The film will soon be released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber. We're sure that the quality will be top-notch!
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That's all for today folks! See you soon !
