Forward March Hare (1953)
Directed by Charles M. Jones
Story by Michael Maltese
Animation by Ken Harris, Lloyd Vaughan, Ben Washam
Music by Carl Stalling
A draft notice meant for Bertram Bonny – the envelope is addressed to “B. Bonny” – accidentally winds up down Bugs Bunny’s hole. Bugs opens the envelope and mistakenly believes he’s being drafted into the Army. He arrives at the induction processing center, creating confusion by his presence – but no one has the temerity to question why a rabbit is being inducted. But Bugs creates endless trouble for his drill sergeant, who is repeatedly demoted by the army base’s colonel after Bugs’ incompetence results in embarrassing assaults on the commanding officer’s authority.
“Forward March Hare” has plenty of inventive gags, especially during the intake segment when the Army’s medical staff can’t make heads or tails of this unlikely recruit. It is also amusing to see the gruff sergeant’s gradual demotion via close-ups of his uniform arm where V-shaped voids mark the removal of his rank’s stripes.
But “Forward March Hare” has three major flaws that prevent it from achieving greatness. First, Bugs’ personality is radically altered into a good-natured bumbler, sort of like the characters played by Lou Costello and Jerry Lewis in their respective military comedies. It works in the context of this specific cartoon, but it is out of place within the full Bugs Bunny canon.
Second, the animation is more than a little sloppy, with Bugs’ height varying wildly through his encounters with the Army personnel. Third, and perhaps most annoying, there is a surplus amount of breaking the fourth wall, with the characters spending far too much time glancing at or addressing the viewer. This quickly becomes irritating, and it would become a major flaw with Chuck Jones’ later work at Warner Bros. and in his MGM efforts.