BATON BUNNY (1959) - ♦♦♦

  Directed by - Chuck Jones, Abe Levitow

Written by - Michael Maltese

Starring - Mel Blanc

"In Baton Bunny, the famous Looney Toons character Bugs Bunny is an orchestra director constantly burdened by little things that add up to irate him and gradually take him closer and closer to a breakdown. 

Despite the fact that Mel Blanc is credited for voicing the famous character, the only human sound is the sound of coughing near the start of the film. The rest of the narrative of the film, along with its pacing, is dictated by the overture to A Morning, Noon and Night in Vienna, a composition by Franz von Suppé. 

The silent nature of the film means that most of the focus is in the animation itself. Because the film focuses on Bugs Bunny for virtually the whole time, the film is made vulnerable in its occasional inability to recreate a more radically "pshysical" type of humour. Therefore, despite the fact that Baton Bunny is still, funny and creative, it doesn't feel as if it meets its initial ambitions."

Animation, USA