Rhapsodie à quatre mains

I had the pleasure of meeting Virgil Ross once at a public appearance, and I was able to talk with him briefly. He mentioned that this was the cartoon he had the most fun to work on, so I sought it out, curious to see it. I must say, it does look like it would have been fun to make, because it's really fun to watch. Even by today's standards, this is a very clever and humorous piece, free of cliches. I liked it!

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.

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.

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 a truly wonderful and imaginative cartoon. The animation is very effective and beautiful if rather simple. The music is a real highlight, I love the cartoons that feature classical music, and this is no exception. Franz Lizst's "Hungarian Rhapsody no 2" (amongst others) is a real treat, but extremely complicated to play on the piano and put to really clever use. Bugs is not as funny as he usually is, but he does a stellar job, courtesy to some brilliant vocal characterisations from Mel Blanc. During his performance of "Hungarian Rhapsody no 2", Bugs has to overcome many obstacles, such as the coughing audience member and being upstaged by a musical (and cute) mouse in a Tom and Jerry-like scenario. The minimal use of dialogue is good, the funniest gag of the cartoon was the telephone call where Bugs says "Franz Lizst? Nah, never heard of him!" Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this, it mayn't be Bug's very best but it is great fun. 10/10 Bethany Cox