Da Capo, Bunny

A ghoulish mixture of Liszt, murder, violence and carrots, 'Rhapsody Rabbit' is an exuberantly inventive Bugs Bunny cartoon which manages to explode the boundaries of its single setting. Bugs is a famed pianist, the kind of fastidious virtuoso you still find today, but worshipped in the 40s because arrogant eccentricity somehow signalled class. Having removed his many gloves, Bugs, a proto-Glenn Gould seats himself down in near-religious preparation, only to be interrupted by two loud coughs. He shoots the culpable party.

The film is full of gloriously unpredictable moments like this, helping it transcend the immediate object of satire, which has dated, now that Hollywood has given up as unprofitable the attempt to educate audiences in high culture. So Bugs interrupts his playing to chomp on a carrot, or play with his feet. One lovely sequence has him gathering all the keys and throwing them back in perfect rhythm. Like Fischinger's 'Allegretto', 'Rhapsody' is animated music, full of a strange, mercurial, yet elegant fluidity.

The centrepiece is a Tom-and-Jerry-like battle between Bugs and a small mouse who tries to undermine Bugs' pretensions, changing the solemn rhapsody for swing at one point. Despite the violence and disruption, conflict, as so often in music, leads not to chaos, but harmonic rapture. Freleng is no Tex Avery - his use of colour and camerawork is restrained - but the relative plausibility of his composition have a pleasure all of their own.

This is another very good Bugs Bunny and one of a few where he is involved in classical music (others are "A Corny Concerto" and "Baton Bunny"). Unlike those other ones I have seen of Bugs Bunny playing music, here he combines some of his more slapstick-style humour as well as verbal humour, along with his various styles of playing the piano. The episode references to some past and future Looney Tunes jokes and makes new jokes with an original style. All the humour in this episode is very good and works well.

In this episode, Bugs Bunny begins to play Lizst's second Hungarian Rhapsody, when a mouse, who lives in the piano, interrupts Bugs Bunny and the rabbit begins to play various other tunes (not all classical), all very well. Bugs Bunny constantly tries to battle with the mouse and make him stop interrupting HIS show, but does the mouse pay any heed..?

My favourite joke in the cartoon (I found it even funnier when I realised that it was Lizst's music Bugs Bunny was playing), is when Bugs Bunny receives a call in the middle of the show. At Bugs Bunny's end we hear, "Franz Lizst? Nah, never heard of him."

I highly recommend this cartoon to anyone who likes music, Bugs Bunny and cartoons. Enjoy "Rhapsody Rabbit"! :-)

This early Bugs (you always tell because his head is shaped more oblong and his ears are longer) has him in tuxedo and on stage ready to play Lizst's Second Hungarian Rhapsody on the piano.

After he warms up with some knuckle-crunching, he gets set to play but some idiot makes a loud coughing noise and stops him. After the second time, Bugs takes out a gun and shoots him. That's funny - something we wouldn't advise or condone but think about doing. Anyway, he then performs, hams it up a bit, and then bothered by a little mouse who pops out of the piano right above the keys.

The by-play between Bugs and the mouse is very reminiscent of some Tom and Jerry cartoons, most notably "Cat Concerto." The latter might have been considered a better work of art, but I laughed at more things in here as the mouse made the music change to jazz, then chopsticks, then taps, etc. There is more humor in this one and it's more fun to watch, especially with the fantastic artwork.

What I liked best about this animated short wasn't the solid humor or the music but the colors. This was a nicely drawn 'toon. The bright golden hued drapes and the dark piano, tuxedo, green floor, reflections on the piano, etc., all made for some nice visuals.

The 'toon got better and better as it went on with the last few minutes extremely creative and colorful.

Bugs Bunny is a concert pianist (I said pianist). On his big night he sits to deliver Liszt's Second Hungarian Rhapsody but must overcome a cougher in the audience, distractions in his sheet music, hunger pangs and a troublesome musical mouse living somewhere within in his grand piano.

Although this doesn't feature Bugs in the form that I'm used to him (trickery and fooling people) this is still a funny short. The plot makes plenty of imaginative little gags and never runs out of steam. The music is very good and was clearly played by a skilled pianist - it's a shame that Bugs stops us seeing how fast the real pianist's fingers move. The mouse is a good character but it is really Bugs that carries the short.

It could easily have been any character in the lead role, but Bugs brings history and weight to the role so it is more than just a lot of piano gags. He delivers the gags well and he interacts well with the audience and the mouse. The animation is not as good as it could have been but there is nothing specifically wrong with it - the same stage and single piano means that it doesn't need a great amount of effort to make it look good.

Overall this is a short with a nice simple plot that never leaves the boundary of the piano but still manages to have lots of imaginative gags from that one single device. Great music and funny delivery make for a great cartoon.

Somewhat controversial Merrie Melodies short, directed by Friz Freleng and featuring Bugs Bunny. The controversy stems from its similarity to another short from MGM, the Oscar-winning Tom & Jerry classic The Cat Concerto. It's been debated for decades who ripped off who, and we'll likely never know the truth. This short was released first, and that would seemingly answer the question, but there is something very 'off' about this cartoon as it's about Bugs versus a mouse and that's most definitely more suited for the Tom & Jerry series. The gags are also more suited to Tom & Jerry, not the usual verbal trouncing and outwitting of a dumber opponent that one associates with Bugs. On its own merits, it's an enjoyable cartoon, but it is lacking compared to The Cat Concerto, in my opinion. Again, part of the problem is that it doesn't feel like a cartoon that's the right fit for Bugs, especially in 1946. It's something you will want to check out and watch, along with the Tom & Jerry short.