The Hound and the Rabbit

Decent cartoon included as an extra on my 'Double Wedding' DVD that was Disc 3 of my stellar 'TCM Spotlight: Myrna Loy and William Powell Collection'. In it, a rabbit is frightened, being chased by a hound, only to find that the dog isn't harmful. The rabbit brings his new friend to his buddies, all rabbits, playing American football, and finds the dog, though quite larger, is fitting in just fine. When the dog leaves, a hungry, cunning fox enters the picture, and the rabbits have him join them, thinking he's harmless like the hound was. When the fox starts capturing the rabbits, the dog returns to make the fox rethink his evil ways...

A squeaky-voiced bunny rabbit makes friends with a rather goofy, dachshund-looking dog. He introduces him to his bunny pals at a game of football and they all get along just swell. But a mean old fox lures the dog away and joins the game. He uses the opportunity to catch the rabbits for his stewpot. Will the dog return and save them all?

The folks at Harming-Ising were caught between a rock and a hard place. They wanted to compete with Disney, and so made a lot of overly cute movies with simple morals that pleased older people who had no sense of what children like. But the also occasionally wanted to do funny cartoons, but lacked the skewed-humor attitudes that rising cartoon directors like Freleng, Avery, and Tashlin had, stuff that appealed to children as well as adults. Here's a ime they tried the latter, but it sits in an uncomfortable uncanny valley between the two sorts of cartoon, satisfying neither audience.

There is a HUGE difference in the cartoons of the 1930s and 1940s. Most 1930s cartoons were incredibly cute and jokes were minimal. By later standards, they were definitely a dull lot...with a few exceptions, such as Disney's Mickey Mouse cartoons. But the key to success followed by other studios, such as at Universal (Walter Lantz), MGM and Looney Tunes (both with the Harmon-Ising team) was cute characters and saccharine sweet plots and songs. So, when I saw "The Hound and the Rabbit" was a Harmon-Ising cartoon, I almost didn't bother...but am glad I resisted my urge to change the channel. Sure, it is filled with LOTS of adorable bunnies...but there is no singing and the story is cute but avoids being too cute. It's simple story about a dog that makes friends with the rabbits...and a fox that tricks the dog into leaving so it can eat all the bunnies. Cute...yes...but for its time, it's actually a bit better than average.

A hound chases a rabbit. The two actually become friends. The rabbit brings the dog to its rabbit friends who are playing football. The rabbits are surprised by the friendly dog. Meanwhile, the rabbits are being hunted by a clever fox. The fox pretends to play football with the rabbits before he starts catching them.

It's an MGM Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising cartoon in Technicolor. The animation style is a little older. There is one rabbit who could be transitioning to Bugs Bunny style. I really don't like the design of the dog which has a pointy ugly nose. He looks odd. The pointy fox is fine for a villain character. This is all fairly cute and harmless and nothing that special.

Love animation, always have, always will. Actually love it even more now, with knowledge being (hopefully broader) and don't see any signs of that stopping. Am very sorry if that sounds like a broken record and am continuing to really trying to address any repetition, have been for a while and will continue to do so to avoid the anxiety-inducing down-voting review abuse.

Very like other viewers, personally know Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, individually and together, best for cartoons that are very well animated and scored but could be very cute and sentimental. Sometimes charmingly and then at other times the execution could be sickly sweet. Actually do not mind their cartoons at all, they can veer on being too cute and on the slightly bland side but can see that much work goes into their output and admire that. 'The Hound and the Rabbit' is mostly one of the charming examples, though could have done with less of the sweetness.

The admittedly adorable bunnies occasionally make 'The Hound and the Rabbit' a little too cute and are not particularly interesting characters outside of the adorability factor. As always for Harman and Ising, the story is very thin, though at least unlike some of their other work there is actually small signs of one with the fox and dog conflict, and with very little surprises. The conclusion can be seen from miles off, especially if one is familiar with similar cartoons.

Could have gotten going a little earlier, it's the dog and fox conflict where it comes to life.

However, 'The Hound and the Rabbit' is worth the look. The animation is rich in detail for design and backgrounds, vibrant in colour and crisp. Even better is the music, which is outstanding in its character and lushness. Although it is not a laugh a minute cartoon, smiles are raised and the friendship between the bunnies and the dog is really charming.

While the bunnies could have been more interesting, the dog and the fox are compelling characters. The dog is one that is easy to endear to and easy to root for, and the conflict between the dog and the fox is believable as is the fox's crafty villainy.

Summarising, quite nice. 6/10