Slick Hare

While most cartoons had Bugs Bunny doing his own stuff to irk Elmer Fudd - and sometimes Daffy Duck - here he has the unexpected help of Hollywood's top stars. When Humphrey Bogart (sorry, it's not really him doing the voice) attends a fancy restaurant and orders rabbit, Elmer has to serve him within twenty minutes, or else. Sure enough, the only rabbit in the vicinity is that carrot-chomping rascal who isn't going down so easy.

All in all, "Slick Hare" makes one nostalgic for old Hollywood* in many ways: it's the era of Bogie, Ray Milland, etc., but also the era when the people behind the Looney Tunes cartoons were producing some of the greatest cartoons of all time. You just gotta see it. Because remember: what baby wants, baby gets.

*I know, Hollywood is the emptiest place on Earth, but this cartoon still makes one nostalgic for it.

We are at the Hollywood exclusive nightclub, "The Mocrumbo," where dinners are $600 apiece (today that translates to thousands). The entertainment: "Leopold And His Chifafa Five." Leopold is Leopold Stokowski, the conductor who seems to be a favorite of the Looney Tunes crowd.

Eating a steak is either Gary Cooper or Gregory Peck; At the bar is Ray Milland in a parody of "The Lost Weekend." Using a straw for a drink is the super-skinny Frank Sinatra; Elmer Fudd is a waiter and Humphrey Bogart asks for some "fried rabbit." Humphrey slaps him around and demands a rabbit dinner. Back in the kitchen, Elmer hears the obnoxious chewing of Bugs Bunny eating a carrot. Bugs gives him the famous line from "To Have And Have Not," telling Elmer to "tell Bogie if he wants me, all he has to do is whistle."

I enjoyed seeing Bugs imitating Groucho Marx; hiding in Carmen Miranda's fruit-basket hat, and doing the conga dance. The ending was kind of lame, but it was "cute" to see Bugs serving himself on a platter to Bogie's girl, Lauren Bacall.

I enjoyed the rich colors in this cartoon which was included in the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume Two.

Man how I loved this Looney Tunes cartoon. The animation is excellent, colourful, fluid and lively, and the music is dynamic and expressive. The dialogue is witty and moves fast, the story doesn't fall into the trap of being predictable and the sight gags are consistently impressive. Both Bugs and Elmer are great foils for each other, and Mel Blanc and Arthur Q. Bryan both do superb jobs with the vocals. It is the celebrity caricatures that made Slick Hare so entertaining, what a delight to see all those famous faces- Gregory Peck, Ray Milland, Carmen Miranda, Groucho Marx, Frank Sinatra, Sydney Greestreet, Leopold Stokowski, Lauren Bacall and especially Humphrey Bogart. Overall, hugely entertaining and definitely recommended. 10/10 Bethany Cox

In a slick New York club for the rich and famous, Mr Humphrey Bogart orders rabbit. Waiter Elmer Fudd is at a loss where he'll get fresh rabbit at that time of night until he finds Bugs Bunny feasting on carrots. With running out, Fudd tries to get Bugs into the pot.

Starting out with a range of topical cameos from entertainers and film stars of the period, this film risks being hit and miss in the today but happily many of them will still be recognisable to modern audiences. After these jokes we move into what is the usual Bugs/Elmer fare of chases and trickery. Most of this is pretty funny and it all moves quite slickly, some of it is a little lesser than it should be but none of it really misses.

Bugs is a god character, even if it feels like he isn't the star here. Elmer does good work as a waiter but Bogart's voice work lets him down and doesn't totally sound realistic or natural. The celebrities were pretty well caricatured and quite funny (or at least those I recognised).

Overall this was an enjoyable short apart from the unavoidable failing that I wasn't totally sure who all the celebrities were at the start.

Humphrey Bogart is in the Mocrumbo restaurant (a spoof of the legendary Mucombo in LA), where Elmer Fudd is working as a chef. Bogart wants fried rabbit, so Elmer chases Bugs around in hopes of making him dinner. Half the fun is the chase and all the shenanigans that entails. The other half is spotting all the personality parodies. There's Bogert, Grocho Marx, and Lauren Bacall, of course. But there's also Leopold Stokowski, Gregory Peck, Ray Milland, Frank Sinatra, Sydney Greenstreet, and Carmen Miranda. This animated short can be seen on Disc 1 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. It also features an optional commentary by Micheal Barrier.

My Grade: A-