Le lapin est en prison

Friz Freleng's 'Big House Bunny' benefits greatly from a good script by Tedd Pierce. Despite a couple of nonsensical jokes (hey, how'd he get out of there? And how did that noose get round his neck?), Pierce's writing takes the action in some unpredictable directions and punctuates it with some amusing wisecracks. Running away from some hunters who are distinctly more threatening than Elmer Fudd, Bugs Bunny takes refuge in Sing Song prison where he is immediately victimised by Sam Schulz (Yosemite Sam). Inevitably, Bugs turns the tables on Sam resulting in prisoner and free man switching places. Particularly memorable in the barrage of gags are the ball and chain in the cannon joke and the highly unusual climactic visual pun. While these old-rivalry-in-a-new-setting cartoons can sometimes prove tedious, Tedd Pierce's inventive writing ensures 'Big House Bunny' rises above the average efforts.

Sam Schultz is not a well-known persona of Sam but he's really hilarious in this cartoon. In fact, this cartoon is my 4th favorite Yosemite sam short, Despite not giving it a perfect score. Some of the jokes don't nail as well, then others, but that's just a small majority of the cartoon so it's not much of a loss. I absolutely love the setting of a Prison for a Looney tunes short, We only got this with bugs bunny another time, and that cartoon was Brilliant as well. Is the animation stunning? No, but this is still an essential viewing for any Looney tunes fan, Young and old. I can't quite place my finger on why I love this cartoon so much, I don't even remember seeing on TV that much when I was younger, But it's still awesome.

9.2/10.

Bugs is looking for a "sanctuary" as hunters are firing all around him. He digs a deep hole and comes out in the yard of "Sing Song" prison, where a guard immediately captures him. That guard - Sam Schultz - is really Yosemite Sam, as we know him, with a prison guard's uniform.

Sam puts the stripes on Bugs and has him pounding rocks. (All the old prison movie clichés are used in this cartoon.)

The rest of the animated short has Bugs trying to escape from the prison, getting caught all the time, and constantly outwitting the dumb "Sam Schultz" with every ploy....at least temporarily. The humor is decent, about average, but very watchable.

When Bugs Bunny accidentally tunnels into Sing Sing prison, gard Yosemite Sam mistakes him for a prisoner and wacky hijinks ensue. A lot of humorous gags are in this 7 minute short, such as Bugs tricking Sam into locking himself up, as well as numerous others. This short is further proof (as if we needed any) that Robert McKimson was so very mediocre as both this and 'Big Top Bunny' were written by Tedd Peirce, however this short was directed by Fritz Freleng and the difference really shows. As this short is infinitely more funny.The interaction between Bugs and Sam is great as well. This funny cartoon is on Disk 1 of the "Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1"

My Grade: A

Big House Bunny (1950)

**** (out of 4)

Hilarious Looney Tunes short has Bugs Bunny accidentally digging into a prison where guard (Yosemite) Sam Schultz plans on keeping him. The hard trying Sam doesn't know who he's up against though. This here is one of my favorite shorts as it contains non-stop action, rather violent scenes and one hilarious moment after another. I think this is one short where every sequence could be considered classic and that's saying a whole lot considering how great the series was. There are countless great moments here but I'd have to say my favorite is the scene where Bugs dresses up like Sam's boss and of course this goes badly for Sam in two ways. Another great sequence is Bug's first prison escape.