Every Bugs Bunny Ever: French Rarebit (1951)

Posted on November 13, 2024 by Phil Hall

French Rarebit (1951)
Directed by Robert McKimson
Story by Tedd Pierce
Animation by Phil DeLara, Emery Hawkins, Charles McKimson, Rod Scribner
Music by Eugene Poddany; orchestrations by Milt Franklyn

A flatbed truck emerges out of the Arc de Triomphe carrying a large crate marked “Carrots from U.S.A.” The vehicle hits a pothole, causing the crate to fall off and crack open in the street. Bugs Bunny emerges, unaware of his surroundings, though a quick glimpse of the Eiffel Tower and a street sign for the Champs Elysees alerts him to his Parisian location. While strolling the city’s streets, he attracts the attention of rival restaurateurs Louis and Francois – each wants to capture and cook Bugs. Not surprisingly, Bugs quickly outwits his new foes and winds up cooking them.
Continue reading →

Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Rabbit Fire (1951)

Posted on November 6, 2024 by Phil Hall

Rabbit Fire (1951)
Directed by Chuck Jones
Story by Michael Maltese
Animation by Ken Harris, Phil Monroe, Lloyd Vaughan and Ben Washam
Music by Carl W. Stalling

In the realm of the Bugs Bunny cartoons, “Rabbit Fire” is both a blessing and a curse. The blessing, of course, is the film’s contents – a fast, inventive serving of classic dialogue and innovative visual comedy that resulted in an animated masterpiece. The curse, however, involved the same issues that make it a blessing. “Rabbit Fire” is so remarkable that it created a lightning-in-a-bottle moment that could never be repeated with the same level of style and substance. And Lord knows the Termite Terrace gang tried endlessly to duplicate its brilliance, with results that ranged from almost perfect to dreadful.
Continue reading →

Every Bugs Bunny Ever: The Fair-Haired Hare (1951)

Posted on October 30, 2024 by Phil Hall

The Fair-Haired Hare (1951)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Story by Warren Foster
Animation by Ken Champin, Virgil Ross, Arthur Davis, Manuel Perez, John Carey
Music by Carl Stalling

When Yosemite Sam builds a cabin on top of Bugs Bunny’s hole-in-the-ground domicile, Bugs vows to sue Sam for damages. A judge rules that Bugs and Sam must share the newly constructed residence, with the knowledge that full ownership goes to the survivor if one of them should pass away. Sam opts to speed Bugs’ demise, but his homicidal schemes inevitably backfire. Furious at being outsmarted, he opts to fill Bugs’ subterranean home with explosives, but Bugs redirects the devices to the crawl space between the cabin’s floor and the bare ground. Sam winds up blowing his home into the clouds while declaring, “Well, whaddya know, I’ve got a cabin in the sky!”
Continue reading →

Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Bunny Hugged (1951)

Posted on October 23, 2024 by Phil Hall

Bunny Hugged (1951)
Directed by Chuck Jones
Story by Michael Maltese
Animation by Phil Monroe, Ken Harris, Lloyd Vaughan, Ben Washam
Music by Carl Stalling

During the early 1950s, professional wrestling enjoyed a flurry of popularity thanks to television. The Termite Terrace gang took advantage of this new wave of attention by dusting off the 1948 boxing cartoon “Rabbit Punch” and reimagining the action in a wrestling ring – with the musclebound pugilist Battling McGook brought back under the name Crusher.
Continue reading →

Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Rabbit Every Monday (1951)

Posted on October 16, 2024 by Phil Hall

Rabbit Every Monday (1951)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Animation by Manuel Perez, Ken Champin. Virgil Ross, Art Davis
Music by Carl Stalling

“Rabbit Every Monday” casts Yosemite Sam in the hunter role usually occupied by Elmer Fudd, and Sam’s distinctive mix of bellicosity and idiocy expanded the possibilities for wildly original comedy.
Continue reading →

Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Hare We Go (1951)

Posted on October 9, 2024 by Phil Hall

Hare We Go (1951)
Directed by Robert McKimson
Story by Warren Foster
Animation by Phil DeLara, Charles McKimson, John Carey, Rod Scribner, J.C. Melendez
Music by Carl Stalling

One of the weaker entries in the Bugs Bunny series, Robert McKimson’s “Hare We Go” opens in the court of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, where Christopher Columbus is trying in vain to convince the monarchs that the world is round. “It’s-a round like-a my head,” the blonde Columbus declares in his Chico Marx-worthy Italian accent – to which the king bangs his noggin with a mallet, leaving it horizontal while declaring “It’s flat like you’re head!” in the Mexican accent that Mel Blanc used on Jack Benny’s show.
Continue reading →

Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Rabbit of Seville (1950)

Posted on October 2, 2024 by Phil Hall

Rabbit of Seville (1950)
Directed by Chuck Jones
Written by Michael Maltese
Animation by Phil Monroe, Ben Washam, Lloyd Vaughan, Ken Harris, Emery Hawkins
Music by Carl Stalling

In my humble opinion, the 1950 “Rabbit of Seville” represents the apex of the Bugs Bunny animated shorts. The film is both laugh-out-loud hilarious and an artistic triumph that creates a slapstick masterpiece on the foundation of symphonic greatness – in this case, the overture to Rossini’s opera “The Barber of Seville.”
Continue reading →