phantom_tollbooth Tex Avery's 'Tortoise Beats Hare' was Bugs Bunny's third cartoon and it established at an early stage what many casual fans of the Warner Bros. cartoons have a hard time accepting; that Bugs isn't always the winner. Although throughout his long career Bugs usually comes out on top there are several fascinating and refreshing cartoons in which he is out-heckled. I love these Bugs-as-loser films because they add more dimensions to the character. 'Tortoise Beats Hare' is one of the best of these cartoons and was popular enough to spawn two sequels, 'Tortoise Wins By A Hare' and 'Rabbit Transit'. The set up for all three cartoons is the same. An egotistical, cocky Bugs challenges Cecil Turtle to a race a la the classic Hare and Tortoise fable. In the other two cartoons, Bugs motivation for this challenge is his past failure against Cecil and a book of fables respectively but in 'Tortoise Beats Hare' the motivation is more original. In one of my favourite sequences in cartoon history, a casual Bugs takes a stroll through the cartoon's opening credits. He reads aloud the names of all the staff involved in making the cartoon (mispronouncing every one) until he finally reaches the title. Enraged by the implication, he tears down the credits to reveal the setting for the cartoons first scene. It's a bravura piece of film-making which boldly plays with cartoon conventions over a decade before 'Duck Amuck' ran with the concept.The race itself, which makes up the main part of the cartoon, is an astonishing example of how to repeat the same gag again and again without diminishing returns. Cecil enlists the help of his many identical relatives to convince Bugs he is being outrun and each time Bugs sees what he assumes is Cecil in the distance, his reaction gets funnier and funnier until the glorious final cringe that interrupts his victory celebrations after crossing the finish line. This concept of milking laughs from mounting disbelief was further explored in Avery's hilarious MGM cartoon 'Northwest Hounded Police' in which Droopy magically appears everywhere the desperate wolf attempts to hide. 'Tortoise Beats Hare' is the first and best of an excellent trilogy. Although it is less talked about than Chuck Jones' Hunting Trilogy, this cartoon at the very least deserves to be mentioned in the same breath.

ackstasis Despite not being terribly well-versed in American animated shorts, I have already seen and enjoyed Wilfred Jackson's 'The Fox and the Hare (1934),' an amusing adaptation of Aesop's classic fable, in which cockiness leads to defeat, and perseverance proves invaluable ("slow and steady wins the race"). This Disney Silly Symphonies short was spoofed in 1941 by Tex Avery at Warner Bros., in a film titled 'Tortoise Beats Hare,' featuring Bugs Bunny and (in his cartoon debut) Cecil Turtle. The short opens in an interesting fashion, as Bugs – while chomping down on a carrot – ambles into the opening credit screen, casually mispronounces the name of each crew member, and splutters the title of the film. Determined to prove his superiority to as sluggish a creature as a tortoise, Bugs tears away the credit screen and stamps towards Cecil's home, and the tortoise agrees to a race in his own lazy drawl.This, however, is where Avery turns the fable on its head. Not content with playing it fair – and recognising, no doubt, that his opponent is not stupid enough to fall asleep underneath a shady tree – Cecil calls up a few of his identical-looking friends and sets about baffling and humiliating an increasingly-exasperated Bugs. With tortoises positioned at periodic intervals along the racetrack, the zippy rabbit finds himself unable to outrun his dawdling opponent, and is driven crazy trying to understand how the tortoise keeps turning up ahead of him. Interestingly, in a break from the typical story, both racers exhibit a considerable amount of arrogance, and the harmless-looking Cecil, having implemented his cunning plan, at one point turns to the audience and remarks "we do this kinda stuff to him all through the picture!" With a suitably cynical outlook on sporting ethics, Avery appears to be telling us that "slow and steady" can't guarantee a gold medal, but cheating certainly can.Mel Blanc, as usual, provides the voices for each of the film's characters, though his characterisation of Bugs Bunny is slightly different to what I remember – I can't quite put my finger on it, but the disparity is there. However, this only being Bugs' third appearance (following 'A Wild Hare (1940)' and 'Elmer's Pet Rabbit (1941)'), I can certainly appreciate that both Avery and Blanc were still toying about with ideas and details in order to perfect the character. Though not a perfect animated short – I think I prefer the corresponding Silly Symphony in comparison – 'Tortoise Beats Hare' is an enjoyable alteration of a predictable formula, and Bugs Bunny, rather than being the character who dishes out the pranks, is given a healthy dose of his own medicine. I wonder if he managed to get his ten dollars back?

movieman_kev Bugs Bunny is incensed after seeing the name of the cartoon. There's no was a small slow turtle can beat his wiry fast rabbit legs and he aims to prove it. Enter Cecil Turtle, in the first of three races he'd have with Bugs. The short is funny and it's nice seeing Bugs being the fall guy once in a while. I found it very humorous, yet I still maintain that "Tortoise Wins by a Hare" has the edge over this cartoon, as slight as that edge may be. This animated short can be seen on Disc 1 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. It also features an optional commentary by Chuck Jones via old interviews. If that's not enough it also features a SECOND commentary by Micheal Barrier.My Grade: A

Robert Reynolds Although several Warner Brothers directors had a significant hand in the development of Bugs, the one most responsible for setting his personality as the rabbit we know and love (excepting maybe Daffy, Elmer and Yosemite Sam-they don't seem to care for Bugs much) was Tex Avery. This short was an early glimpse of the wascally wabbit as we know him today. Interestingly enough, Avery was responsible for creating Daffy and also the character who evolved into Elmer Fudd (Egghead), so Avery is very much a critical figure for two of the major studios as far as short animation goes. That's why I consider Tex Avery to be the best director of animated shorts and as seminal in their develoment as Walt Disney was to the animated feature film. Well worth seeing. Most recommended.