Captain Hareblower (1954)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Story by Warren Foster
Animation by Manuel Perez, Ken Champin, Virgil Ross, Arthur Davis
Music by Carl W. Stalling
Yosemite Sam returns to 18th century oceanic miscreancy, this time as Pirate Sam with a schooner that he sails all by himself. Just the thought of encountering him creates panic on well-manned ship – the crew abandons their vessel when Sam approaches, leaving only Bugs Bunny, a stowaway in a carrot crate who never heard of Pirate Sam and has no fear of what he can create. Sam bellows for Bugs to surrender, reminding him that “I’ve got you outnumbered one to one.” However, Sam quickly discovers his new long-eared foe is no pushover.
Friz Freleng’s “Captain Hareblower” is too much of a replay of his 1948 “Buccaneer Bunny,” with recycled gags including Sam repeatedly getting shot in the face by cannonballs, failing to extract Bugs from a crow’s nest, and having his ship blown to “smithereenies” when Bugs throws a match into a lower deck powder room.
But whereas “Buccaneer Bunny” races at rapid speed with ingenious gags – most notably the obnoxious parrot whose snitching is punished by Bugs with an oversized dynamite stick – “Captain Hareblower” moves at a more leisurely pace with a nonchalant Bugs constantly outwitting his frustrated foe.
Still, watching Sam get shot at point blank range with a cannon is always funny, no matter how many times the gag is repeated, especially when he throws a mini-tantrum while in an incinerated state over being outsmarted once again. And to its credit, “Captain Hareblower” has a pair of wonderfully ingenious gags – one involves Sam getting swallowed by a giant fish when he is trying to swim undetected beneath the waves to deliver a bomb to Bugs’ ship, and the film’s closing gag involving a “powder room” with a mirrored vanity desk featuring a pot of talcum powder. If you’ve not seen the cartoon, I won’t spoil the surprises in each scene because they are truly that inventively funny.