Russian Rhapsody (1944)

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

. . . comes a green-eyed master stroke of comic genius named - - Adolf Hitler (a.k.a., Der Fuhrer). At a time late in WWII--1944--when it was an open "secret" that this Charlie Chaplin look-alike had had his minions toss about half of the World's Jews into ovens, Hollywood's Jewish-run movie studios enjoyed presenting Mr. Hitler as being even funnier than The Tramp. For instance, as a goofy-looking Fuhrer rises here from the grave like some Biblical Messiah, he delivers this zany one-liner: "Nazis is the craziest people!" At this closing comment, all I could think was WWAFS (What would Anne Frank Say?). I personally lived through the 9-11 Era, but I do NOT recall ever viewing Osama bin Laden being the Toast of the Town in Springfield on THE SIMPSONS. Perhaps this is because, say what you will about him, Hitler was LESS likely to behead cartoonists than Freedom's current enemies. Possibly Hollywood is NOT exactly singing, "Hooray for Holocaust" in Russian RHAPSODY, but it's hard to believe that this cartoon was ever Politically Correct.

It seems that too many Messershmits aren't reaching Moscow. Naturaly, Adolf isn't too happy, and after a hilarious speech (shouting into a mike with "PU" written on it and standing behind a banner of the Swazi labeled "New Odor") He announces that he himself will fly and bomb Russia. As soon as he crosses the border, gremlins get on to the plane, and start playing pranks on the unsuspecting Fuher. after a while, Hitler catches on, and tries to kill the little trouble makers, but ends up being electrocuted and pushed out of the plane. This cartoon is full of references to Radio shows and comedians of the time. Another thing worth noting is that to my knowledge, it is the ONLY ww2 American cartoon to feature Russians as the protagonists.

Throughout the Cold War, it was customary to portray Russians as drunk at best, evil at worst. Even today in movies, Russians tend to get relegated to the roles of mobsters and corrupt oligarchs. Apparently, we've forgotten that the Soviet Union was our staunch ally in World War II. "Russian Rhapsody" sticks with that. It portrays Hitler -ranting like in "The Great Dictator" - concerned about German planes going missing over Russia, so he decides to fly there personally (he's the best pilot). During the flight, Gremlins from the Kremlin start dancing all over his plane and dismantling it.I should say that this isn't the best Looney Tunes cartoon. Far from it. But I just like that there was one cartoon that portrayed Russians positively.

During the early 1940s, It was pretty easy for allied nations to mock Adolph Hitler and his Nazi ways. But shortly after a year when this cartoon first appeared, footage of the concentration camps was released world-wide to stunned individuals. All of a sudden, Hitler and the Nazi party were no laughing matter. So maybe this was why I never saw this toon air on my television during my youth years. Yet I recently caught it and *shocker* enjoyed it! Mel Blanc did an amusing job imitating Hitler plus the Gremlin theme song is pretty catchy! Along with the energetic directing by Bob Clampet (Nearly all of his toons had some anarchy in them) and the familiar faces of Warner Bros. animators & execs, put on the bodies of the gremlins,make this cartoon memorable.It's best to watch it with an open mind,forget what Hitler stood for, and enjoy watching the "Gremlins from der Kremlin" .