Title - A Witch's Tangled Hare
Director - Abe Levitow
Released - 1959
As before in Broom-stick Bunny, Bugs finds himself as the last ingredient in Witch Hazel's potion, but this time, he manages to run off to a nearby castle, with Hazel close behind. All while doing this, a man in Renaissance-era clothes is following them and taking notes... gee, who could this be?
One element about this toon to help it stand out is the location: in the other toons Witch Hazel starred in, the setting was her house (complete with the abstract style of Maurice Noble), but in A Witch's Tangled Hare, we're actually in the Scotland Moors. This isn't a crack at Noble, he remains one of my favorite artists, but for this short, the new background really works.
Another part of what makes this short so fun is the subtle nods to Shakespeare that Levitow and Michael Maltese throw in: the castle has a mailbox with the name 'Macbeth' on it, Hazel performs part of the Witch's Spell from the same play, and in an attempt to confuse her, Bugs puts on a performance of Romeo & Juliet.
This wasn't the first toon to star Witch Hazel, nor the last, but in my opinion, it's probably the best.
I love any of the toons that pit Bugs against Witch Hazel (or Count Dracula).
ReplyDeleteI didn't see "Bewitched Bunny" on your list, I think I might like that one even better than "Witch's Tangled Hare". Bea Benaderet does a great witch voice and the drawings of her as this big,fluid-filled, floppy sack of flesh on those tiny legs and high heel boots is simply hilarious. I love that whenever she zips out of a scene she leaves a big cloud of twirling bobby pins behind. But my favorite part of "Bewitched Bunny" might be the characterizations of Hansel and Gretel as these little pigs that greedily eat everything in sight. The drawings of them are just so hilarious - the shapes of their heads and faces with those humongous, wide jowls; how Hansel's head tapers up to that tiny patch of curly hair; their beady little innocent blue eyes with no pupils; Hansel's ridiculous lederhosen and Gretel's ridiculously enormous hair bow; the way their tiny legs splay outward from the weight of their fat little bodies; the scene PhD them sitting in the witch's pot shoveling food into their pie holes; and the ridiculous way they move together in unison - they have me rolling on the floor every time. I find them to provide some of the best visual humor in any cartoon that I've ever seen.