Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Broom-Stick Bunny (1956)

Posted on July 30, 2025 by Phil Hall

Broom-Stick Bunny (1956)
Directed by Chuck Jones
Story by Tedd Pierce
Animation by Richard Thompson, Ken Harris, Ben Washam, Abe Levitow
Music by Milt Franklyn

The character of Witch Hazel only co-starred as a Bugs Bunny adversary in three Golden Age cartoons: “Bewitched Bunny” (1954), which was strictly okay; “A Witch’s Tangled Hare” (1959), which was among the weakest of the series; and in today’s cartoon, “Broom-Stick Bunny,” which is not only the best of the trio but, IMHO, is among the very best of the Bugs Bunny canon.
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Convention City (1933)

Posted on July 28, 2025 by Phil Hall

No, folks, don’t get your hopes up. This is not a review of a rediscovered lost film. Instead, it is an essay about a lost film and how it got lost.

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The Bootleg Files: Time for Elizabeth

Posted on July 25, 2025 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 914: “Time for Elizabeth” (1964 television production starring Groucho Marx).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It fell through the proverbial cracks.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.

In 1948, Broadway audiences were presented with “Time for Elizabeth,” a comedy co-authored by Oscar-winning writer Norman Krasna and Groucho Marx – yes, that Groucho Marx. The play was poorly received by critics and closed after eight performances. Oddly, Warner Bros. ignored the show’s commercial failure and paid the playwrights $500,000 for the screen rights – but the studio never got around to creating a screen version.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Bugs’ Bonnets (1956)

Posted on July 23, 2025 by Phil Hall

Bugs’ Bonnets (1956)
Directed by Chuck Jones
Story by Tedd Pierce
Animation by Ken Harris, Abe Levitow, Ben Washam, Richard Thompson
Music by Milt Franklyn

The impact of clothing – specifically, headgear – on one’s personality is the focus of this Chuck Jones offering, which involves the contents of a truck carrying theatrical hats falling from the vehicle and on the unsuspecting noggins of Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. With each new hat that lands on their head, Bugs and Elmer take on a variety of aggressive and passive personalities.
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Poro College in Moving Pictures (1927)

Posted on July 21, 2025 by Phil Hall

Annie Malone is mostly unknown today, but during the first quarter of the 20th century she had a profound impact on the empowerment of African-American women. Malone was a business tycoon, style trend setter, educator, philanthropist and role model. A documentary film made in 1927 presented an in-depth celebration of her extraordinary career – but the film’s disappearance mirrors Malone’s absence from most historical texts.
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The Bootleg Files: The Lambeth Walk

Posted on July 18, 2025 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 913: “The Lambeth Walk” (1939 British feature starring Lupino Lane).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It fell through the proverbial cracks.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.

Comedies that thrust earthy working-class characters into snooty high society settings might be among the most predictable pieces of entertainment, but they often produce the best results. Chaplin plumbed this concept as a disguised convict mixing with the wealthy in his 1917 classic “The Adventurer,” George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion” and its musical successor “My Fair Lady” uneasily turned a Cockney flower seller into a lady, Abbott and Costello were crass plumbers mistaken for well-heeled guests at a Long Island estate with “In Society,” and the Three Stooges often ran amok through the mansions of the hoity-toity, leaving the residue of pie fights along the way.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Roman Legion-Hare (1955)

Posted on July 16, 2025 by Phil Hall

Roman Legion-Hare (1955)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Story by Warren Foster
Animation by Virgil Ross, Art Davis, Gerry Chiniquy
Music by Milt Franklyn

It’s 54 AD in Rome and the crowd at the Coliseum is filing in to see the Detroit Lions – not the football team, of course, but the bungle-in-the-jungle bunch who devour any poor soul thrown into the path. Emperor Nero calls for a victim to be tossed to the lions, but the Coliseum is curiously bereft of victims to sacrifice. The captain of the guards (Yosemite Sam) is dispatched to locate a victim for Nero to sacrifice, but the only one around in Rome that afternoon is Bugs Bunny. Needless to say, Sam’s attempt to capture Bugs becomes an exercise in violent futility.
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