Bewitched Bunny (1954)

the audience applauded

Please don't spend money on this.

How sad is this?

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

"Bewitched Bunny" is as the title of course gives away already another Warner Bros. cartoon, a pretty old one at that as it is from 1954, so it will have its 65th anniversary next year. The names Jones, Maltese, Blanc and Benederet stand for quality of course and their 7-minute short film here includes a bit more fairy tale than usual. The first half is closely linked to Hansel & Gretel and in the second half a misguided prince stops by, but Bugs sends him the right direction quickly. The scenes with the witch trying to catch Bugs for her rabbit stew are fine, but I liked the fat hungry two kids early on even more as they were pretty hilarious and in the end Bugs even gets his rabbit girl. Surprise surprise. Another okay BB cartoon by Warner Bros that is maybe faster than funnier, but the strong animation and attention to detail still make this one worth checking out. I give it a thumbs-up.

This is the first appearance of Witch Hazel in the Looney Tunes universe. Her voice is patterned after another character named "Witch Hazel" from the 1952 Donald Duck cartoon "Trick or Treat." Because the character was named after a household product, Disney did not have a copyright on the name. Jones originally wanted June Foray, who originated the voice for the Disney cartoon to do the voice for the Warner Brothers' Witch Hazel. At first she refused, thus Bea Benaderet (i.e.- "Kate" from PETTICOAT JUNCTION) is imitating June Foray's voice in this cartoon. One of the most notable things about this cartoon is Maurice Noble's crazy backgrounds, where the furniture seems to be painted onto the background with no rhyme of reason, thus the curtains and windows start on the ceiling and end on the wall and the end table with the lamp is painted on the wall sideways. Also note, Looney Tunes took a shot at everyone, this one includes German stereotypes, but as this cartoon was made just 9 years after the ordeal of WWII, I'm sure the Germans were still fair game in the minds of the Looney tunes writers.

I liked the cartoons that featured Bugs and Witch Hazel--in this case she is voiced by Bea Benaderet while in others she's voiced by June Foray. I think that I actually liked this one best because of its depiction of Hansel and Gretel. They are pretty much simple-minded nincompoops that are completely oblivious to the impending danger. All they want to do is eat and they are just plain silly fun to watch. They are only saved by the intervention of Bugs who FINALLY convinces them to run away while he does battle with the evil witch. While the animation of this cartoon isn't the best, the story is a delight and it's a wonderful version of the old Grimm fairy tale.

..and in an edited version-on VHS. Classic Chuck Jones directed short with REALLY funky backgrounds and one of the most hilarious quotes: "Ahh,Your mother rides a vacuum cleaner!!!" spoken by the Teutonic Twins with a glorious German accent! And let's not forget Bugs' "....Hansel?.....Hansel?". I wonder if I've ever seen the original uncut version of this classic short, since, like most of us who've only watched it on ABC's Saturday morning cartoon programs in the 70s-80s, the majority of these were chopped off because they were deemed "violent"...hmmm...I guess these censors were never informed that most of these WB shorts were made FOR and BY ADULTS, so , if kids got a kick out of it, even better!!!Should have been included in the Golden Collection DVDs.