Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt (1941)

Purely Joyful Movie!

Just perfect...

Fresh and Exciting

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Although IMDb indicates that Warner Brothers pulled this one from circulation because of the way it portrayed Indians, it IS available from at least two sources--as an extra with "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) as well as on "Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Award-Nominated Animation: Cinema Favorites" (which is how I saw it).The film is pretty much like a Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd cartoon except that instead of Elmer, you have a cute American Indian character that is a lot like Elmer. Whether folks actually find this offensive, I have no idea at all. However, ALL of Bugs' foils look stupid--so I don't think Looney Tunes was singling out Indians.This cartoon, by the way, marks the second year in a row that this brand-new character, Bugs, was nominated for an Academy Award. Previously he was nominated for "A Wild Hare". And, like "A Wild Hare", the animation in "Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt" is exquisite--much nicer than the later Bugs cartoons.

This comes on the 2-Disc Special Edition DVD of The Maltese Falcon, as part of the Warner Night at the Movies portion. Back then, they would show films with stuff like this(remember, no one had TV's at this time). Bugs looks odd, not the look we know for him... he sounds exactly the way we're used to, though. I should perhaps say that I'm not really a fan of these. They didn't particularly amuse me when I was a kid, and I've only become less into cartoony violence(or any other kind of it where it's meant to be funny). I've never heard of Hiawatha, but I'll wager a guess that he's a historical(or legendary) figure. Given when it was made, it's no surprise that this is racially insensitive to Native Americans. The animation is great, no complaints there, it doesn't feel like any corners were cut and there are a couple of very nice visuals. This syncs up to the music used here and there, and the timing is good on the mild slapstick. There is a routine or two that you've heard of(even if you haven't watched one of these; they're part of pop culture, and at least one has been seen in another of these shorts), and the jokes and gags are reasonable, if this comes to a close so abruptly that you can tell they merely ran out of material. This keeps to a fine pace, if there could be more laughs for 8 minutes of running time. I recommend this to fans of the intrepid rabbit. 6/10

This is not the best Bugs Bunny episode I have ever watched, but it was certainly better than I thought it would be! I first thought it would be another one of those old Native-American racist Looney Tunes, but it was not so bad and many of the jokes were pretty good! Clearly this episode is somewhat a spoof/remake of "Little Hiawatha", a Silly Symphonies Disney cartoon, there are many repeated references, such as Hiawatha's falling over as he runs, the way he paddles his boat, the following of his prey and the way he snaps his bow when he is angry.Some people may think this cartoon slightly racist, but there is no reason for the episode to have been banned - and if you think the portrayal of Native Americans is bad in this Looney Tunes, you should watch "Scalp Trouble"!!Anyway, in this episode, Hiawatha is hunting for a rabbit to cook in his pot. This rabbit turns out to be Bugs Bunny (a very early version) and he is found bathing in the cooking pot. Excitedly, Hiawatha adds some carrot peelings to the pot and Bugs Bunny seems very calm until Hiawatha tells him he is cooking rabbit stew.The antics of Bugs Bunny in "Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt", may be familiar to people who watch Yosemite Sam and Elmer Fudd with the rabbit, but basically he manages many times to avoid being caught by Hiawatha. The later character of Bugs Bunny is not featured here so much, he may be clever in avoiding Hiawatha, but he can make mistakes.I enjoyed this episode for the little unexpected jokes, the animation, the fact that it was better than I expected and the character of the early Bugs Bunny. I recommend this to people who like Bugs Bunny and to people who like the sort of episodes where he avoids scrapes and pulls gags. Enjoy!! :-)8 and a half out of ten.

This short, nominated for an Oscar, is a good, not great, cartoon. It does introduce a bit of Longfellow and any Bugs Bunny is a good cartoon and worth watching. There just isn't anything terribly funny or special about this particular cartoon besides the poem sections read at the beginning and end. But it is worth watching. It runs periodically on Cartoon Network.