Forward March Hare

Throughout my childhood I sat transfixed through many hundreds of Warner cartoons and as an adult my appreciation and love for them has grown. Chuck Jones's 'Forward March Hare' is one of the many cartoons I distinctly remember watching and enjoying as a youngster. However, I watched it last night on the excellent Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 4 and something didn't quite ring true about it. Slowly, it dawned on me what it was. Bugs is an idiot! When I was young, of course, such a blatant disregard for character didn't register. It's also worth mentioning that Bugs' character has often been experimented with very successfully. I love the cartoons that cast Bugs as the loser for a change, such as 'Falling Hare' or 'Tortoise Beats Hare'. However, even when playing the loser, Bugs generally remains a strong, smart-alecky personality. In 'Forward March Hare' he is an oblivious buffoon with nary a wisecrack to offer.

Throughout the cartoon, only one gag (incidentally, the funniest in the whole film) fits in with the Bugs character we know and love: It involves an eye chart and a jaw-dropping display of superior eyesight, presumably due to enormous carrot intake. Apart from this one display of superior abilities, however, there is no sign whatsoever that Bugs is aware of his disruptive behavior. From the mix up which kick-starts the action through numerous military disasters (including an unintentional misunderstanding of an order to dress some chickens), Bugs is wide-eyed and willing to serve his country but can't stop messing up. The moment when he attempts to hammer in a nail with live ammunition confirms that Bugs isn't heckling, as he usually would in this situation; he's just plain getting it wrong.

Character experiments in the Warner Brothers cartoons were often very rewarding (notably, the expanding of Daffy's character from nutty maniac to greedy, manipulative but ultimately sympathetic loser), and putting a new slant on Bugs' character frequently worked a treat. However, while 'Forward March Hare' proves entertaining enough, the concept of Bugs the well-meaning buffoon is impossible to accept for any long-standing cartoon fan.

A different kind of Bugs Bunny short from the great team of Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese. Bugs accidentally gets someone's draft notice and thinks it was meant for him. He shows up for Army training and causes all kinds of mischief. The reason why I said this is a different kind of Bugs short is that here we have Bugs being a bit of an oaf. Instead of being the witty character who gets the best of everyone, he's basically a moron for the sake of the plot he had no business being involved with in the first place. I don't know the backstory to this cartoon but I wouldn't be surprised if this was originally meant for another character and Bugs was substituted at the last minute. It just doesn't feel like a Bugs short and the Jones/Maltese combo certainly knew Bugs by this time. Now, all of that being said, it's not a bad cartoon. The animation is crisp and colorful with well-drawn characters and backgrounds. Carl Stalling's music is lively as ever. The voice work from the incomparable Mel Blanc is flawless. There are laughs to be had, including the "Sergeant Porky Pig" bit, but most of the gags are corny slapstick. Worth a look for Bugs fans but don't expect a classic.

A letter addressed to B. Bonny for Bertram Bonny gets redirected to Bugs Bunny. It is a draft notice and Bugs thinks that he's been drafted. He is not a good soldier and his drill sergeant keeps getting into trouble over Bugs' incompetence. It is not until the end when the sergeant notices that Bugs is actually a rabbit.

This is one of my favorite Bugs Bunny cartoon. I like that the people are noticing Bugs Bunny as a rabbit but not right away. There is comedy at both not recognizing it right away and finally seeing it. Bugs is able to screw over somebody without trying and that is funny too.

This episode reminded me of a "Sergeant Bilko" television classic in which a chimp was inducted into the army, carelessly being passed along an assembly- type line, getting through the physical and passing his way into the army. It's all way more than just a bit of a stretch, but so is this cartoon, especially since Bugs usually is a little smarter than he appears in this adventure. Of course, none of the humans are too observant, either. I mean, you can't tell the difference between a human face and that of a buck-toothed rabbit?! It takes several days before sometimes notices the "Private" has long ears and a tail and might be a bunny?

In this cartoon, Bugs mistakenly gets a letter addressed to a neighbor, "B. Bonny,": and thinks it's for him, so it opens it. (A gust of wind had blown the letter out of the mailbox into Bugs' hole)

The letter flying into this rabbit hole, and Bugs not being careful with what he's reading both turn out to to be his misfortune because the letter it's a "draft notice." The rest of the cartoon detail a couple of Bugs' days in the Army. Like his final scene, most of the gags were "duds."

Once again, we get superlative graphics and colors with these Warner Brothers "Collection" DVDs. The opening silhouette shot was great as were the golden hues in many of the military scenes, such as the one in which they were climbing a hill. It's just beautiful artwork.

I adore Looney Tunes and Bugs Bunny, and while I loved Forward March Hare as a kid I only like it now. I also think that the story is rather silly, the idea of not being able to tell the difference between a human and a rabbit is rather hard to swallow, and instead of the arrogant, intelligent and sharp-witted personality that he is so famous for he is rather obtuse and somewhat of a buffoon, messing things up a lot of the time and not realising. However, the animation is wonderful especially in the beautiful silhouetted opening sequence, though the fluidity and lavish colours are apparent also in the military sequences. The music score is terrific, characterful and enhances the action brilliantly, and the dialogue is fresh and witty, "So they're inducting rabbits" is just one of the jewels. Not all the gags work, but there are a fair few that do, the sequence with the eye-chart shows briefly Bugs in the persona we know and love, and Bugs knocking all the soldiers over, the sergeant exploding and Bugs running around with a baseball bat are just as effective. The Sergeant is a great character, while Mel Blanc's voice work is brilliant. All in all, decent but not great. 7/10 Bethany Cox