Ruse de lapin

In a slick New York club for the rich and famous, Mr Humphrey Bogart orders rabbit. Waiter Elmer Fudd is at a loss where he'll get fresh rabbit at that time of night until he finds Bugs Bunny feasting on carrots. With running out, Fudd tries to get Bugs into the pot.

Starting out with a range of topical cameos from entertainers and film stars of the period, this film risks being hit and miss in the today but happily many of them will still be recognisable to modern audiences. After these jokes we move into what is the usual Bugs/Elmer fare of chases and trickery. Most of this is pretty funny and it all moves quite slickly, some of it is a little lesser than it should be but none of it really misses.

Bugs is a god character, even if it feels like he isn't the star here. Elmer does good work as a waiter but Bogart's voice work lets him down and doesn't totally sound realistic or natural. The celebrities were pretty well caricatured and quite funny (or at least those I recognised).

Overall this was an enjoyable short apart from the unavoidable failing that I wasn't totally sure who all the celebrities were at the start.

The Hollywood stars are out in a fancy restaurant. Humphrey Bogart orders fried rabbit from waiter Elmer Fudd and gives him only twenty minutes. He is besides himself until he spots Bugs Bunny in the kitchen. He struggles to cook up the rabbit and fears the repercussion from the gangster movie star.

This one does require the audience to know these iconic Hollywood stars from the past. Their stardoms may have faded and cinema newbies may not know who these people are. That is the main problem here. It just wouldn't hit right if the audience doesn't know to fear Bogie's standard gangster character.

Man how I loved this Looney Tunes cartoon. The animation is excellent, colourful, fluid and lively, and the music is dynamic and expressive. The dialogue is witty and moves fast, the story doesn't fall into the trap of being predictable and the sight gags are consistently impressive. Both Bugs and Elmer are great foils for each other, and Mel Blanc and Arthur Q. Bryan both do superb jobs with the vocals. It is the celebrity caricatures that made Slick Hare so entertaining, what a delight to see all those famous faces- Gregory Peck, Ray Milland, Carmen Miranda, Groucho Marx, Frank Sinatra, Sydney Greestreet, Leopold Stokowski, Lauren Bacall and especially Humphrey Bogart. Overall, hugely entertaining and definitely recommended. 10/10 Bethany Cox

This is absolutely hilarious!!... It is my favorite BB cartoon. Bogie,Groucho, Ray Milland....its fabulous. Then hiding in Carmen Miranda's hat followed by the dance. Priceless. The fact that a cartoon character can provide laughs like this is living proof of the talent the creators had. If you want to see the essential "wise-guy" that was in essence the character itself, this is the one to see. This, along with the cartoon in which he is offered the "oscar", shows that this was one that played in the big-leagues. It also provides a little bit of a history lesson for the younger generations. It shows the "star power" that was in place at that time...and a mixture of comedians, dramatic actors and musical entertainers.

While most cartoons had Bugs Bunny doing his own stuff to irk Elmer Fudd - and sometimes Daffy Duck - here he has the unexpected help of Hollywood's top stars. When Humphrey Bogart (sorry, it's not really him doing the voice) attends a fancy restaurant and orders rabbit, Elmer has to serve him within twenty minutes, or else. Sure enough, the only rabbit in the vicinity is that carrot-chomping rascal who isn't going down so easy.

All in all, "Slick Hare" makes one nostalgic for old Hollywood* in many ways: it's the era of Bogie, Ray Milland, etc., but also the era when the people behind the Looney Tunes cartoons were producing some of the greatest cartoons of all time. You just gotta see it. Because remember: what baby wants, baby gets.

*I know, Hollywood is the emptiest place on Earth, but this cartoon still makes one nostalgic for it.