Rabbit Seasoning (1952)
Directed by Charles M. Jones
Story by Michael Maltese
Animation by Ken Harris, Lloyd Vaughan, Ben Washam, Richard Thompson, Abe Levitow, Harry Love
Music by Carl W. Stalling
The second of the “Hunting Trilogy” featuring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd in a triangular adversarial relationship, “Rabbit Seasoning” has been viewed by some prominent animation scholars as the best film of the trio. I respectfully disagree and view “Rabbit Seasoning” as a verbose retread of the more effective first entry in the series, “Rabbit Fire” from 1951.
The genius of “Rabbit Fire” was the new concept of pitting Elmer against Bugs, who was suddenly in a new rivalry against a reimagined Daffy – the one-time screwball character underwent a significant personality shift into a dim, neurotic, self-important being. Michael Maltese’s dialogue in “Rabbit Fire” was crisp with its staccato “Rabbit Season/Duck Season” routines, while the film was rich with wild gags including the hostile elephant hammering Elmer into the ground and the surprise revelation that it was actually Elmer Season, thus reversing the roles of grim predator and beleaguered prey.
“Rabbit Seasoning” covers most of the same territory as “Rabbit Fire,” including Bugs’ drag disguise to infatuate the easily aroused Elmer. Yes, the jokes are still funny, but it is a case of been-there-done-that barely one year after the original entry was released. Unfortunately, the cartoon is also weighed down with excessive talk, and the final gag with Daffy getting his comeuppance takes too much long to reach its conclusion. In retrospect, “Rabbit Seasoning” heralded a shift in Warner Bros. animation to the point where dialogue began to burden the free-spirited zaniness that made the films so popular.