La lapinomalose

The "Hunting Trilogy" of Rabbit Fire (1951), Rabbit Seasoning (1952), and Duck! Rabbit! Duck! (1953) should be considered the comedic high water mark of the Chuck Jones-Michael Maltese collaboration. While they are seldom mentioned in lists of the "greatest" or "most important" cartoons in the history of animation, they are certainly THE FUNNIEST cartoons I've ever seen. Michael Maltese never got the credit that directors like Jones, Freleng or Avery got, but it's his dialogue and situations that make Warner Bros. cartoons, and these three in particular, some of the FUNNIEST ever made.

This is a terrific cartoon with Elmer Fudd (voice of Arthur Q. Bryan) hunting for Bugs Bunny (voice of Mel Blanc). Daffy Duck (also voice of Mel Blanc) pretends to be a rabbit, leading Elmer to the rabbit hole of Bugs. When Elmer wants to shoot the rabbit Bugs tells him that it is not rabbit season but duck season. Bugs and Daffy are arguing back and forth and every time it is Daffy who is shot by Elmer.

This is a hilarious cartoon with great moments from start to finish. A sequence with an elephant made me laugh very hard, and one where Daffy and Bugs dress up as each other is pretty good as well. One of the better cartoons I have seen.

In the first of a series of three, Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny argue over which one of them should be hunted and shot by the ever-gullible Elmer Fudd. Bugs is too smart to be outwitted by the reactionary and hyperactive Daffy. He keeps it cool and collected as Daffy screams his head off never knowing what he really IS saying. He even grabs Elmer's shotgun and screams 'Duck season! Fire!', resulting in his bill being blown off. It's the biggest laugh in the cartoon. And it's a laugh so good Joe Dante re-used it in Looney Tunes: Back in Action. Though at the end of this one, Elmer Fudd gets what he deserves and Bugs and Daffy get a little payback.

Followed by Rabbit Seasoning and Duck, Rabbit, Duck.

Daffy Rules!

. . . to utilize when teaching young tykes the basics of firearm safety. The character portrayed during RABBIT FIRE by Daffy Duck appears to be totally clueless concerning Making Peacemakers Safe Again 101. Daffy seldom if ever seems to know whether there's a bullet in the chamber of the shooting irons in his vicinity. While Bugs Bunny, the wily rabbit, seems to be slightly more adept than Daffy when it comes to avoiding self-inflicted bullet wounds, this certainly is not saying very much. As the original Cyclops noted, "In the land of the vision-impaired, the one-eyed giant can rise up to become King.

This is the first short in the "Hunting Trilogy", that included this, 'Rabbit Seasoning' and 'Duck, Rabbit, Duck!'. All of the three are classics. This short has so many classic sequences and holds so many laughs, thats it's a wonder that it could be crammed into a seven minute cartoon. This definitely ranks as one of the best Looney Tunes shorts ever. And with the other two aforementioned cartoons constitutes quite possibly THE best cartoon trilogy ever. Not just Looney Tunes, but the best of ANY cartoon trilogy!! This superbly great cartoon is on Disk 2 of the "Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1"

My Grade: A+