1001 Animated Shorts You Must See - Part 5

DIR: Robert McKimson

SUMMARY: Daffy Duck is the notorious Moustache Fiend, a vandal who graffiti's Hollywood star's images with moustaches. Policeman Porky Pig sets his sights on capturing this crazed criminal.

WHY IT'S HERE: With 'Daffy Doodles', animator Robert McKimson began his theatrical directing career (he'd previously directed one cartoon for the Navy) in style. McKimson's cartoons are often seen as workmanlike compared with those of his contemporaries but his filmography is actually bulging with classics. He may not have shown quite the same relentless ambition as Chuck Jones or displayed the same unrestrained dedication to anarchy as Bob Clampett but McKimson at his best had an eye for timing and skill for pacing that more than justifies his being mentioned alongside those names. 'Daffy Doodles' is an auspicious debut, full of fast paced action and great gags, as well as a gallery of famous Hollywood faces being mercilessly defaced.

DIR: Robert McKimson

SUMMARY: Double-crossed after nobly helping out a hunting dog, Daffy Duck attempts to escape from his captor's kitchen.

WHY IT'S HERE:Starting out as a variation on Daffy Duck's debut cartoon, 'Porky's Duck Hunt', Robert McKimson's 'Daffy Duck Hunt' quickly develops into something quite different. McKimson's Barnyard Dog character from the Foghorn Leghorn cartoons plays the role of Porky's hunting dog who tricks Daffy into surrendering on the understanding that he'll let him go when they get home. This plot development is almost immediate, meaning the majority of the cartoon is unexpectedly set in Porky's kitchen. A late example of the crazy version of Daffy at work, 'Daffy Duck Hunt' is one of McKimson's greatest cartoons. Daffy is on top form, making up for his early duping with some inspired zaniness which invariably lands the dog in trouble with his master. McKimson overcomes the possibility of a cartoon set in a kitchen becoming dull by virtue of some extremely lively animation to compliment Warren Foster's brilliant script. All in all, 'Daffy Duck Hunt' is a thoroughly unexpected classic full of brilliant moments and an especially energetic Daffy performance.

DIR: Jack Hannah

SUMMARY: Donald Duck's attempts to photograph wild birds are interrupted by the anarchic heckling of the bizarre Aracuan Bird.

WHY IT'S HERE: 'Clown of the Jungle' saw the short subject debut of the Aracuan Bird, a character who was debuted in the feature 'Three Cabelleros' and popped up again in 'Melody Time'. This appealing wacky character is notable for his differences from the average Disney character in that his wild energy and ability to defy the laws of physics if it makes a gag work make him a very un-Disney-like creation. Indeed, with the crazy, gag-driven cartoons of Warner Bros. dominating at this time, 'Clown of the Jungle' feels like an attempt to mimic this style. What could have gone horribly wrong actually works very well, chiefly due to the cartoon never sacrificing the Disney style completely, with Donald his recognisable self even as the Aracuan Bird performs evermore impossible acts.

DIR: Friz Freleng

SUMMARY: In a masterclass of repetition, Bugs Bunny repeatedly tricks Yosemite Sam into leaping from a diving board.

WHY IT'S HERE: Friz Freleng's 'High Diving Hare' is one of the director's best and best loved cartoons. A master class in how to put a different spin on the same gag over and over again, 'High Diving Hare' quickly sets up its premise and then has tons of fun with it. When high-diving daredevil Fearless Freep cancels his appearance at a carnival, Yosemite Sam will stop at nothing to see the diving act he's been promised. Holding Bugs Bunny at gunpoint, he attempts to force him into performing the act himself. Needless to say, it is Sam who ends up plunging into the water tank again and again and again. Much like when Lucy convinces Charlie Brown that she won't pull away the football when he tries to kick it, 'High Diving Hare' derives its humour from the numerous different ways in which Bugs convinces Sam to take the plunge himself. By the end of the cartoon, Freleng doesn't even need to show us this, such is the inevitability of the situation. Instead he resorts to an inspired shot of Sam running up the ladder, a couple of seconds silence and then him plunging downwards. The inevitability of this conclusion has become the gag itself. 'High Diving Hare' takes a minimalist concept and milks it dry. The repetitiveness of the short is where its charm lies. It remains a skilfully executed and extremely funny film.

DIR: Tex Avery

SUMMARY: A kitten being bullied by a bulldog is offered the services of a black cat for hire, who will cross the path of the bulldog when summoned by a whistle, thereby cursing him with momentary bad luck.

WHY IT'S HERE: When thinking of the hilarious MGM cartoons of Tex Avery, 'Bad Luck Blackie' is perhaps the first to come to mind by virtue of its ingenious premise and how much laughter Avery squeezes out of this relatively simple starting point. The idea of having a tortured small character being able to summon a larger character at will had been explored previously, notably in the excellent Tom and Jerry cartoon 'The Bodyguard', to which 'Bad Luck Blackie' owes an undoubted debt. But, as was often the case, Avery perfected the formula by adding an extra twist, in this case the bad luck superstition which metes out evermore unlikely and excessive punishments. Avery has a keen awareness that, to capitalise on the premise, the gags must escalate, and they do, with the climactic scenes having to pull back in order to make room for the sheer size of the falling objects. Not only among the funniest cartoons ever made, 'Bad Luck Blackie' is among the funniest films of all time in any medium.

DIR: Arthur Davis

SUMMARY: Daffy Duck battles with Elmer Fudd and a fox, both of whom have targeted him as prey.

WHY IT'S HERE: The cartoons of Arthur Davis are among the most forgotten of the Warner Bros. shorts. Davis was never a critically lauded as his peers and his filmography features few really famous cartoons. Davis has, however, become a cult director and, while his expertise were generally less impressive overall that the great Warner directors, Davis did make a handful of fantastic cartoons and 'What Makes Daffy Duck' is among the best. A great three-character chase film which has an unusual but attractive rounded look which often characterized Davis's films, 'What Makes Daffy Duck' is a buried treasure well worth unearthing.

DIR: Robert McKimson

SUMMARY: A tired Porky Pig checks into a hotel for the night, unaware he will have to share his space with the annoying Daffy Duck.

WHY IT'S HERE:Robert McKimson's 'Daffy Duck Slept Here' is one of the director's flat out funniest cartoons. Opening with some good sight gags as Porky Pig tries in vain to find a room for the night, the short really gets hilarious the moment the ever brilliant Daffy Duck appears. Forced to share a room with the roommate from hell, Porky tries everything to ignore the crazy duck to no avail. Beginning with a surreal conversation about a six foot, invisible kangaroo that parodies 'Harvey', 'Daffy Duck Slept Here' goes on to squeeze every last laugh out of two characters sharing a bed. The light is constantly switched on and off as Daffy finds more and more ways to prevent Porky from getting his good night's sleep. When the pig finally snaps and throws Daffy out of a 30th floor window, it leads to one of the strangest and funniest climaxes McKimson ever put on film. Daffy's closing line is one of my all time favourites. While 'Daffy Duck Slept Here' is well directed and performed by all involved, the real star is Warren Foster's highly original script which confounds expectations at every turn. Cartoon clichés are nowhere to be found here, replaced by witty, oddball dialogues and unusual plot twists. All in all, 'Daffy Duck Slept Here' is one of the strongest films McKimson ever directed.

DIR: Robert McKimson

SUMMARY: Bugs Bunny takes on a circus lion.

WHY IT'S HERE: Robert McKimson's 'Acrobatty Bunny' is one of the director's finest shorts. Although the circus-based setting may evoke hideous memories of McKimson's dreadful 'Big Top Bunny', 'Acrobatty Bunny' is in fact nowhere near as dull as that travesty. Pitting Bugs Bunny against a ferocious lion, 'Acrobatty Bunny' is fresh and funny from the outset, not to mention extremely attractive to look at. There's a classic scene in which Bugs takes a strangled elevator ride out of his hole only to emerge directly into the jaws of the lion. In a brilliant Disney parody, he hollers "Pinocchio" down the lion's throat! This brilliant opening is a sign of things to come. There are some expertly choreographed antics in and around the lion's cage to begin with, followed by a hilariously grotesque and irritating rendition of 'Laugh Clown Laugh' which, as a child, I used to impersonate regularly! All this culminates in a short acrobatic sequence which gives the cartoon its name. I've never been fond of the circus as a setting for cartoons and find it usually makes for a dull and predictable set of gags but 'Acrobatty Bunny' breaks from the mould and the result is an exhilaratingly funny short which stands amongst McKimson's best.

DIR: William Hanna, Joseph Barbera

SUMMARY: Tom's attempts to serenade Toodles are interrupted by the presence of bulldog Spike and by Jerry's attempts to get a good night's sleep.

WHY IT'S HERE: Having proved a successful distraction in the wonderful 'Springtime for Thomas', Toodles the female cat was brought back again in 'Solid Serenade', a brilliant cartoon with a great night-time setting as Tom attempts to woo his love, much to the chagrin of Spike and Jerry. As in 'Springtime for Thomas', Tom's initial interests lie elsewhere and it is only when Jerry gets involved that the age-old chase begins. Fantastically inventive as usual, 'Solid Serenade' spices up the formula with musical interludes as Tom (whom Hanna and Barbera had previously experimented with giving a voice) actually sings a lively rendition of Louis Jordan's 'Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby'.

DIR: Bob Clampett

SUMMARY: In the greatest of the 'books come to life' sub-genre of cartoons, Daffy Duck is dropped amongst the various literary creations and helps them take on the Big Bad Wolf.

WHY IT'S HERE: Of all the cartoons where books, magazines etc. come to life, Bob Clampett's 'Book Revue' is by far the finest. The problem with many of these kind of cartoons is that they rely on cultural references that have been long forgotten, inescapably dating the picture. Although there are many references to popular books of the day in 'Book Revue', it manages to sidestep the detrimental dating effect thanks to Clampett's typically engaging speedy pacing and the inclusion of Daffy Duck as a character. Daffy emerges from the cover of a Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies comic and proceeds to completely steal the cartoon away from all the witty book parodies. Ever the showman, Daffy opens with a Danny Kaye impersonation followed by the highlight of the cartoon, a phenomenal scat version of the Little Red Riding Hood Story. Mel Blanc must be given enormous credit for pulling this off so brilliantly but Clampett makes it all the better by matching this brilliant vocal performance with stunning visuals, including the infamous moment in which Daffy turns into a giant eyeball. This is the sort of joke no other director would even attempt and Clampett pulls it off with grotesque glee, 'Book Revue' is so much better than all other cartoons of its kind because it doesn't get hung up on visual pun after visual pun. Instead, Clampett uses these books as the backdrop against which to stage a high speed chase. Unlike some of these reference heavy shorts, 'Book Revue' can be enjoyed whether you get the reference points or not. It's a classic cartoon bursting with energy and ideas.

DIR: Bob Clampett

SUMMARY: Daffy Duck is knocked unconcious and dreams that he is the great detecive Duck Twacy.

WHY IT'S HERE: One of the great classics of animation, Bob Clampett's 'The Great Piggy Bank Robbery' is one of the best cartoons ever made and the perfect starting point for anyone interested in Clampett's work. Daffy Duck eagerly awaits the arrival of his new Dick Tracy comic but while reading it he accidentally knocks himself out and dreams that he is Duck Twacy, investigating the theft of his piggy bank. Working from a terrific script by Warren Foster, Clampett injects his trademark wild energy and bizarre execution of gags to make 'The Great Piggy Bank Robbery' spellbindingly energetic and unforgettably eerie. The moment when Daffy finds himself face to face with a roomful of oddball villains is a tour de force with astonishing moment after astonishing moment. It culminates in the breathtaking scene in which Daffy machine guns them all to death and they topple towards the camera one by one into a big pile. There are plenty of other incredible moments to look out for, including Daffy being rubbed out, tracking footprints across the ceiling and separating up his own body parts to escape from a huddle of bad guys. 'The Great Piggy Bank Robbery' is almost as much of a one-duck show as Chuck Jones's 'Duck Amuck', allowing Daffy to do all the talking as he tracks down and eludes the criminals. Mel Blanc does a wonderful job as Daffy babbles away to the audience. Being a huge Daffy Duck fan, 'The Great Piggy Bank Robbery' was obviously going to be one of my all-time favourites and it vies with 'Duck Amuck' for the position of my very favourite of all time. It is unequivocally Bob Clampett's greatest masterpiece.

DIR: Chuck Jones

SUMMARY: Bugs Bunny takes on a mad scientist and his monsterous creation.

WHY IT'S HERE:Chuck Jones's 'Hair-Raising Hare' pits Bugs Bunny against a genuinely disturbing Peter Lorre scientist caricature and his huge orange monster. The monster (later named Gossamer and also featured in Jones' luscious sequel to this short, 'Water, Water Every Hare' under the name Rudolph) is an extremely memorable villain who, despite his size, never poses much real threat to Bugs once he turns on his heckling. Although it is not as visually luscious as 'Water, Water Every Hare', Tedd Pierce has turned in a great script which includes some viciously amusing eye-poking, a priceless scene involving a suit of armour and the best "What's up, Doc" joke you'll ever hear. Bugs' wisecracks are top drawer ("Don't go up there, it's dark") and the high energy level is kept up throughout. It's also the only cartoon in which you'll get to hear Gossamer speak. All in all, then, 'Hair-Raising Hare' is a blast and makes a cracking double bill with its less gag-driven sequel.

DIR: Tex Avery

SUMMARY: When a convict wolf escapes from prison, he is relentlessly pursued across the world by Canadian Mounted Police dog Sgt. McPoodle.

WHY IT'S HERE: Droopy is probably Tex Avery's most famous MGM character and even those who don't necessarily realise they know the hangdog little hound probably remember this cartoon. 'Northwest Hounded Police' is actually a remake of Droopy's debut cartoon 'Dumb Hounded' from six years earlier, but Avery was not so lazy as to just reproduce without attempting to improve and with 'Northwest Hounded Police' he does so several-fold, creating a beloved classic in the process. For those of you who still don't recognise it, this is the one where the wolf runs from place to place to evade Droopy but finds him everywhere, even when it seems utterly implausible. Although its a fairly simple idea, Avery keeps it fresh and funny throughout, particularly with more of those trademark wild takes as the wolf becomes more and more alarmed by Droopy's omnipresence.

DIR: Norman McLaren

SUMMARY: An abstract visual animation drawn on film and set to the music of jazz pianist Albert Ammons.

WHY IT'S HERE: Norman McLaren continued the great tradition of animated abstraction set to music with 'Boogie-Doodle', one of the liveliest abstract animations ever made. This a due in large part to the wonderful music of Albert Ammons, which gives McLaren an ideal starting point from which to create his impeccably synchronised dancing shapes. Clearly betraying a Len Lye influence, McLaren's 'Boogie-Doodle' remains one of the most beloved abstract films of the era.

DIR: Dick Lundy

SUMMARY: Woody Woodpecker and Andy Panda play a barnyard concert of extracts from Chopin, to an increasingly distracted audience of animals.

WHY IT'S HERE: While I've never been a huge fan of the Walter Lantz studio's work as a whole, 'Musical Moments from Chopin' is one of the exceptions. Lantz casts his two biggest stars, Woody Woodpecker and Andy Panda, as pianists in a barnyard concert but rather than focus on the musical performers, Lantz lets his stars provide the soundtrack to a series of balletic vignettes featuring the restless audience. I'm not a fan of Andy Panda (bland) or Woody Woodpecker (annoying and ugly) but 'Musical Moments from Chopin' uses the pair brilliantly. They are given an early skit together and then remain to provide star presence to bolster an inventive series of vignettes featuring other one-shot characters that culminate in a destructive finale. Piano based cartoons seemed to be in vogue this year, with both MGM's 'The Cat Concerto' and Warner's 'Rhapsody Rabbit' also released, but while those two cartoons resulted in a war over plagiarism, 'Musical Moments from Chopin' distinguishes itself completely from them by taking a different approach to the musical theme. The result is a far more prestige film than we've come to expect from Lantz and a cartoon I never tire of watching again.

DIR: Friz Freleng

SUMMARY: When Bugs Bunny takes refuge in an abandoned farmhouse he unwittingly stumbles upon the hideout of two gangsters.

WHY IT'S HERE: When Friz Freleng worried that Bugs Bunny's foes were all too stupid to prove any real threat, he set about introducing some more formidable characters to give the rabbit a challenge. The most famous of these was Yosemite Sam, who was introduced in 1945's 'Hare Trigger', but the following year Freleng also created prototypes for a couple of gangster characters who would go on to appear in several cartoons. Later named Rocky and Mugsy and redesigned to have generic tough guy appearances, here the characters are called Rocky and Hugo and are straight caricatures of Edward G. Robinson and Peter Lorre respectively, wonderfully impersonated by regular voice artist Mel Blanc. Even before I could appreciate the references, I always loved 'Racketeer Rabbit' and found it much funnier than the subsequent Rocky and Mugsy cartoons (which were also good, particularly 'Golden Yeggs'). There's a particularly brilliant sequence at the end of the cartoon, in which Bugs hides Rocky in a chest and acts out a police raid in which he plays all the parts.

DIR: Robert McKimson

SUMMARY: A mouse studies hypnotism in the hope of controlling the household cat... but first he must try out his new powers on is dopey friend.

WHY IT'S HERE: 'The Mouse-Merized Cat' is an amusing if largely unremarkable cartoon but it appears on this list as a curiosity regarding character. In his 1942 cartoon Bob Clampett created the characters Babbit and Catstello, parodies of popular comedians Abbott and Costello. Though it nominally starred the duo, 'A Tale of Two Kitties' ended up launching the career of Tweety instead. Babbit and Catstello, meanwhile, struggled to find their audience. There were a couple of attempts to relaunch these would-be stars but, unusually, the pair shapeshifted through species. Although they are still always referred to as Babbit and Catstello in all related literature, the characters became mice for 'A Tale of Two Mice', then dogs in 'Hollywood Canine Canteen' and finally mice again for 'The Mouse-Merized Cat', their last appearance. Too indebted to their source inspirations to ever have really found fame, Babbit and Catstello remain one of a handful of Warner Bros. animation footnotes and this, their swansong, is a fittingly mediocre finale for a duo who never quite had what it took, despite their willingness to change species to fit the story.

DIR: William Hanna, Joseph Barbera

SUMMARY: On a beautiful spring day, Tom falls in love with a female cat named Toodles. Jealous that he is now not receiving any attention, Jerry sets about breaking up the budding romance.

WHY IT'S HERE: 'Springtime for Thomas' is one of my favourite Tom and Jerry cartoons, largely for the lush springtime atmosphere that the cartoon effortlessly evokes. The setting of a lazy spring day in the garden is as perfectly captured as the more often exploited Christmas backdrop and is an uplifting stage on which to play out this hilarious short. The twist here is that Jerry is not Tom's main foe, or at least not to Tom's knowledge. Instead he acts as an unseen Agent Provocateur, inciting a rivalry between Tom and alley cat Butch, for the affection of Toodles. The result is an hysterically vicious cat fight involving sun loungers, croquet mallets and swimming pools.

DIR: Tex Avery

SUMMARY: Screwy Squirrel meets his match in the shape of Lenny, a big dog who likes to squeeze his playmates... a little too hard.

WHY IT'S HERE: The character of Lenny from John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice and Men' was frequently parodied in cartoons with large, dumb characters being portrayed with his characteristics and erroneously calling their co-stars 'George'. Tex Avery was particularly fond of using this reference and built a whole series out of it with the George and Junior shorts. He used it to greater effect here, in 'Lonesome Lenny', the final cartoon in the short lived Screwy Squirrel series. Avery despised the character of Screwy and so he and his brilliant writer Heck Allen conspired to bring him to a sticky end. The usual inventive heckling persists throughout the cartoon but the almost supernaturally resourceful lunatic squirrel ultimately proves no match for Lenny, and the final image is of Avery's would-be star character as a bedraggled, crushed corpse. It's the sort of ending that other characters have come back from before but the fact that Screwy was never revived has lead to his demise going down in history as an official 'killing-off' which Avery takes great delight in.

DIR: Tex Avery

SUMMARY: Country rooster Clem's plans to marry his girl Daisy are spoiled by the arrival of city rooster Charles, a smooth-talking Romeo with a nifty fist.

WHY IT'S HERE: While it's been parroted often, it's largely true that Tex Avery didn't make any totally dud films for MGM. There are lesser efforts, sillier or less deftly constructed than the classics, but there are usually at least a couple of good laughs in there. Of the lesser celebrated works of Avery, 'The Hick Chick' is my favourite. It has all the flaws of the weaker Averys, including an over-reliance on source material (in this case, as so often was the case, a Red Skelton character), the odd grotesque gag and an almost total absence of plot, but this free-flowing anarchy actually works very well in 'The Hick Chick'. The cartoon quickly descends into an extended chase, punctuated by little staccato punches to the face which become the film's most memorable running gag. It may not be 'Red Hot Riding Hood' or 'King-Size Canary' but 'The Hick Chick' always elicits belly laughs galore.

DIR: Friz Freleng

SUMMARY: In the third part of the Tortoise and Hare trilogy, Bugs Bunny once again takes on Cecil Turtle in a race.

WHY IT'S HERE: Friz Freleng's 'Rabbit Transit' is the final installment in the Tortoise and Hare trilogy. Although it is not a patch on its predecessors (Tex Avery's essential 'Tortoise Beats Hare' and Bob Clampett's bananas classic 'Tortoise Wins By A Hare'), 'Rabbit Transit' benefits greatly from a very funny script by Michael Maltese and Tedd Pierce, which is full of unexpected twists and turns. 'Rabbit Transit' deviates from the other two cartoons in the series in that Bugs doesn't seem to remember his past races against Cecil Turtle this time round which technically makes 'Rabbit Transit' more a remake than a sequel. The character of Cecil is also a little different in that he has been given a new sense of vulnerability. In Avery and Clampett's cartoons he was completely in control the whole time, exploiting Bugs' egotistical complacency with ease. In 'Rabbit Transit', Cecil himself has quite an ego and this makes him vulnerable to some reciprocal heckling from Bugs. While these differences aren't detrimental, they do disassociate 'Rabbit Transit' from its classic forerunners, as does the less attractive animation. Enjoyed without any comparisons, however, 'Rabbit Transit' is a hoot. The back-and-forth battle involving the jet-propelled shell throws up many inventive bits and even the one predictable gag in the cartoon (the old running-through-the-painted-scenery gag) leads to a brilliant sequence in which an out-of-body Bugs attempts to wake himself up. The ending puts a nice full stop on the trilogy as well, finally allowing Bugs to win the race in such a way that he also loses the battle. Despite being unworthy of the genius it attempts to emulate, 'Rabbit Transit' comes highly recommended as a solid piece of comedy.

DIR: Bob Carlson

SUMMARY: Donald and Goofy began to succumb to mirages and madness when their car breaks down in the middle of the desert.

WHY IT'S HERE: Many years after the string of classic trio shorts which starred Mickey, Donald and Goofy, Disney reteamed the latter two characters for this oddball excursion. By now these characters had firmly established themselves as solo stars so it's odd to see them back together again and they soon drift naturally into their own separate sequences, as they always did in the trio shorts. Blurring the line between reality and mirage, 'Crazy with the Heat' abandons all rules by the end, leaving the audience slightly perplexed if never less than entertained. A good short rather than a great one, I include it here as a curiosity and evidence that, even though Mickey was often marginalised in the trio shorts, his anchoring central presence is much missed.

DIR: George Pal

SUMMARY: A tuba who is tired of playing the bass line is ridiculed by the other instruments for wanting to play a solo. But when a frog teaches him a melody, the tuba gets his wish.

WHY IT'S HERE: For the most part I have admired the work of George Pal more than I have enjoyed it. His famed Puppetoons were regular Oscar nominees but, while the animation and the puppets themselves are great, I've often found the storytelling sluggish and unengaging. But this is far from the case with the absolutely lovely 'Tubby the Tuba', Pal's masterpiece. Based on the song by Paul Tripp and George Kleinsinger about a tuba who finds his voice, this musical short is a beautifully adapted charmer with a strong message and a great set of musical instrument characters. The short stood out from the pack of Oscar nominees for its year but unfortunately lost to the far less imaginative 'Tweetie Pie'.

DIR: William Hanna, Joseph Barbera

SUMMARY: Tom's attempts to perform a concerto on piano are interrupted by Jerry, who is living inside his piano.

WHY IT'S HERE: Friz Freleng's 'Rhapsody Rabbit' is a good cartoon that will forever live in the shadow of MGM's Oscar winning Tom and Jerry short 'The Cat Concerto'. Released the same year and strikingly similar right down to using the same piece of music (Liszt's second Hungarian Rhapsody), 'Rhapsody Rabbit' and 'The Cat Concerto' caused a battle between Warner Bros. and MGM in which each studio accused the other of plagiarism. Although it was never resolved with any certainty, it seems far more likely that 'The Cat Concerto' came first. The idea of Tom's concert being sabotaged by Jerry from inside his piano seems perfectly natural but Bugs vs. a completely new mouse character in the same situation reeks of theft! Whatever the true case, 'The Cat Concerto' is clearly the superior cartoon and makes 'Rhapsody Rabbit' seem like a cheap imitation by comparison. I do enjoy 'Rhapsody Rabbit' but more often than not it just makes me yearn to be watching 'The Cat Concerto' and this odd relationship I have with 'Rhapsody Rabbit' has pretty much overwhelmed any other feelings I might have about the cartoon.

'The Cat Concerto' itself is a masterpiece of animation and probably the most acclaimed of the masterful Tom and Jerry series, winning the duo their fourth Academy Award. Beautifully marrying music with image, perfect comedy timing with high-culture accompaniment, it's testament to the continued ambition of Hanna and Barbera for their star players and stands as one of the greatest cartoons of Hollywood animation's Golden Age.

DIR: Tex Avery

SUMMARY: The age old chase between household pets plays out as usual, only bigger than you've ever seen it before!

WHY IT'S HERE: Tex Avery's 'King-Size Canary' is considered one of the greatest cartoons ever made and one of Avery's crowning glories. The plot is simple: a chase between a cat, mouse, canary and dog plays out but with each of them drinking from a bottle of Jumbo-Gro plant formula and ballooning in size. What starts as a household battle spreads across the city, then the country and finally the whole globe. The final image is both hilarious and inevitable. 'King-Size Canary' is the perfect example of Avery's knack for taking a gag to its logical extreme, and here he does that across the course of an entire cartoon, while obviously slotting in many other gags along the way. 'King-Sized Canary' has even been seen as an allegory for the escalating Cold War, although it is enough to appreciate it as one of the most finely crafted cartoon masterpieces of the 40s.

DIR: Charles A. Nichols

SUMMARY: Pluto wants to sing along with the birds and bees but he is simply tone deaf and his howling strikes terror into the hearts of anyone listening. But a local music shop provides the solution to this problem.

WHY IT'S HERE: With the gag and slapstick driven cartoons of MGM and Warner Bros. dominating the animated short, it's easy to forget by this stage that Disney were still churning out great cartoons alongside their more ambitious projects. The problem with some of the Disney shorts of this era was that they were attempting to emulate some of their competitors, leading to some ill-at-ease and sometimes mean-spirited cartoons in which the violence didn't really fit with the established Disney world. But when Disney cartoons stuck to what they did best they were still something special. The Oscar-nominated 'Pluto's Blue Note' is a case in point. Focusing on the trademark Disney semi-realism and steadily-paced character comedy, 'Pluto's Blue Note' is an utterly charming, gentle treat that bewitches through the sharp characterisation of the non-speaking central character and the dedication to the simple story and telling it well without making concessions to audience demands for belly-laughs every couple of seconds.

DIR: Tex Avery

SUMMARY: A cat who is tired of being mistreated by human beings decides to go and live on the moon. But he finds that it's not as quiet and relaxing up there as he had hoped.

WHY IT'S HERE: When Tex Avery's MGM cartoons failed they were always still interesting and amusing in some way. 'The Cat That Hated People' is, overall, a failed experiment but it is fascinating for many reasons and still a funny and entertaining cartoon. The chief notable element of 'The Cat That Hated People' is that it finds Tex Avery attempting to emulate another director, in this case Bob Clampett. Clampett was one of the most inimitable of all animation legends and this is all too clear here. 'The Cat That Hated People' is very clearly a rejig of Clampett's 'Porky in Wackyland', in which Clampett created a land of insane characters and wild gags that were dumped on the viewer in a perfect symphony of unrestrained anarchy. Here, when the titular cat arrives on the moon he finds it is a similarly crazy place and the gags are much in the same vein, but under Avery's direction these surreal jokes form an orderly queue, appearing one by one and waiting for the viewer to laugh before the next one arrives. It plays out more like an oxymoronic parade of orderly chaos. The result is a demonstration of how the different legendary figures of animation all had their strengths and, when they attempted to borrow from each other, the result was usually sanitised, bastardized and disappointing. This is highlighted even more by 'The Cat That Hated People's great first half in which the cat gives details of why he dislikes human beings so much in a series of blackout gags. This is Avery playing to his strengths and makes the surreal second act seem even more out-of-place and ill-judged when it arrives.

DIR: John Halas

SUMMARY: An abstract depiction of the contrast between spiritual and creative freedom and imprisonment.

WHY IT'S HERE: British Studio Halas and Batchelor was the most prolific and successful British animation studio, their pinnacle being the 1954 feature-length adaptation of 'Animal Farm'. This famous film is well-known but fewer people have delved into their catalogue of over two thousand short films, which is a great shame as there is a wide range of gems there from abstract experiments to entertainments, from commercials to children's TV series and educational films. 'The Magic Canvas' is an early experiment in abstraction that betrays as heavy Disney influence, specifically the Toccata and Fugue in D minor section of 'Fantasia'. But surprisingly Disney's effort sticks more closely to abstraction, while 'The Magic Canvas' combines its swirling, flowing shapes with recognisable images like a flying bird, crashes of lightning and ships. The result is a beautiful abstract creation that makes some concession to storytelling conventions, resulting in a mesmerising but still entertaining film.

DIR: Chuck Jones

SUMMARY: Bugs Bunny finds himself pitted against The Champ in a boxing match.

WHY IT'S HERE: Chuck Jones's 'Rabbit Punch' is a great cartoon in which Bugs is drawn into a boxing match with The Champ (later redubbed The Crusher in the far inferior wrestling-based sequel 'Bunny Hugged') and ends up going 110 rounds with him, each round escalating in its levels of violence until finally Bugs finds himself tied to a train track! A fast paced, beautifully orchestrated cartoon which eventually turns into a series of unusual spot-gags, 'Rabbit Punch' is full of great sequences, the best being Bugs's grease-assisted ice skating routine which is abruptly ended by a glove to the head. There's also a famous ending in which Bugs admits psychical defeat by resorting to tampering with the very cartoon itself. Unlike the lifeless follow-up 'Bunny Hugged', 'Rabbit Punch' is filled with invention and moves along at a fast lick, making it an enormously enjoyable short.

DIR: Friz Freleng

SUMMARY: Sylvester battles against a kitten for the right to stay in Elmer Fudd's house.

WHY IT'S HERE: Friz Freleng's 'Kit for Cat' is a largely forgotten classic. One of my favourite Freleng cartoons, it pits Sylvester against an unnamed orange kitten as they vie for the position of Elmer Fudd's pet. Michael Maltese and Tedd Pierce have come up with a corking script filled with unexpected gags as Sylvester tries to make the kitten look bad and only succeeds in incriminating himself. I've always preferred Sylvester's appearances without the comedically draining presence Tweety and 'Kit for Cat' is a perfect example of how hilarious the red-nosed cat is when not forced into the constrictive role of birdnapper. 'Kit for Cat' features Sylvester at his most well rounded. The reactions and expressions he goes through are constantly hilarious (just look at the way his face droops into genuine sadness and resignation when he is caught tampering with Elmer's light) and thus the audience roots for him over the smug kitten despite the extreme lengths he's willing to go to in order to get rid of the little pest. Elmer is also great in this cartoon, playing the good-hearted but stern authority figure to a tee. It all builds to a sensational climax involving a player piano, a murderous radio show and a firearm that keeps changing hands. This is Freleng at the top of his game and those who are willing to write him off as a less interesting director need only look to this stunning sequence for prove to the contrary. The final punchline is also unexpected and an extremely refreshing alternative to the Sylvester-gets-ejected conclusion most people will be expecting. All in all, 'Kit for Cat' is a beautiful example of a director at his very best and is up there with 'Yankee Doodle Daffy' as some of Freleng's best work.

DIR: Chuck Jones

SUMMARY: Porky Pig and his cat Sylvester move into a creepy old house 'haunted' by psychotic mice. Sylvester sees what is going on but can he convince his master in time?

WHY IT'S HERE: Chuck Jones's 'Scaredy Cat' is the best of the few pairings of Porky Pig and Sylvester. Casting Porky as Sylvester's owner (Sylvester is more cat-like than usual, remaining silent for the whole cartoon), 'Scaredy Cat' finds the pair moving into a spooky mansion which terrifies Sylvester from the outset. Rather than ghosts, however, the mansion is populated by murderous mice who ritually execute their victims. Somehow this makes 'Scaredy Cat' all the more frightening. And it is frightening! There are several morbid sequences including a scene of a cat being carted off to his death by a mousey executioner and a moment in which Sylvester attempts suicide rather than being sent out to face the vicious vermin alone. Most terrifying of all though, is an infamous sequence in which the mice take Sylvester to the basement. We never see what they do to him but he emerges nearly three hours later, a pale white zombie scared rigid by what he has experienced. It's a classic example of the human mind conjuring up far worse scenarios when the details are left to the imagination. All in all, 'Scaredy Cat' is an indelibly creepy and extremely well staged cartoon which relies on horror as much as laughs to achieve its impact.

DIR: Chuck Jones

SUMMARY: Bugs Bunny is sent into space, where he encounters Marvin the Martian, in his debut appearance.

WHY IT'S HERE: Chuck Jones's 'Haredevil Hare' is a brilliant and fascinating cartoon for several reasons. The first thing you'll notice when watching it is its comparatively leisurely pace. Several minutes are taken up with Bugs being sent into space against his will and then succumbing to an alarming breakdown that manifests itself in a series of involuntary, jerky movements. The desolate, lonely atmosphere Jones creates is unforgettable and it is one of the reasons I found this cartoon so eerie when I was a child. The climax, which leaves Bugs in an extremely uncertain situation (and is not unlike the ending of another Jones' masterpiece, 'Duck Dodgers in the 24th ½ Century'), also left me reeling when I was a kid. It remains one of my favourite finales of a Warner cartoon.

Of course, in examining all of these elements we've ignored the most significant feature of 'Haredevil Hare', namely the first appearance of Marvin the Martian. A comparatively underused but extremely popular character, Marvin is a wonderfully strange creation in his Roman helmet, skirt and sneakers. As is often the case with classic cartoon characters, Marvin is a little off in his first appearance. His eyes are a little bigger than normal and his beautifully bizarre voice has not yet been fully developed. Here he sounds more like Droopy with a cold! His intention to blow up the Earth, however, is firmly in place from the get-go. His appearance shatters the eerie sense of isolation that characterises the first half of the cartoon but the pace remains fairly slow as Bugs treats Marvin like nothing more than a naughty schoolboy. Also given his first outing (and also slightly off-model) is Marvin's green dog and his appearance triggers off the worst section of 'Haredevil Hare' in which Bugs lapses into some very standard heckling which sits at odds with the more unusual content. The Martian dog is also given a stereotypical idiot voice which weakens his character considerably. His later appearances as an austere silent creature were much more effective since he had dignity of which to be robbed, unlike in this short. Thankfully, the battle between Bugs and the dog is short lived and gives way to the brilliant punchline.

'Haredevil Hare' is a superb and highly unusual cartoon which spawned yet another star in Marvin the Martian. Beautifully downbeat and full of unexpected gags (the radio communication that lapses into an advertising jingle makes me laugh out loud every time), 'Haredevil Hare' is a must see oddity and yet another masterpiece in the Chuck Jones canon

DIR: Chuck Jones

SUMMARY: Hubie and Bertie the mice set about convincing Claude Cat that he has gone insane.

WHY IT'S HERE:Chuck Jones's Hubie and Bertie shorts generally worked with darker material and 'Mouse Wreckers' was no exception. A relentlessly cruel cartoon, it involves the attempts of two mice to convince an unwitting cat that he is mentally ill. Hiding up a chimney, Hubie and Bertie subject the cat to various ordeals that rudely awaken him from his slumber. Starting small, these pranks build up to an inspired sequence involving an upside down room which just gets more and more confusing. The cartoon ends with the mice taking over the house as the cat cowers in a tree, driven completely insane. Jones's was a master at drawing out the comedy from these morbid scenarios and he manages to make an hilarious film which has a constant sense of unease without leaving a bad taste. The concept of actually having the mice as the bad guys and the cat as a manipulated innocent was a bold and brilliant move. It's worth noting that Jones remade 'Mouse Wreckers' as a Tom and Jerry cartoon named 'Year of the Mouse'. Although I'm not hugely fond of the majority of Chuck Jones's Tom and Jerry shorts, 'Year of the Mouse' is actually fantastic and, in many ways, improves on 'Mouse Wreckers' by making the scenarios more horrifically violent and the ending more satisfyingly just.

DIR: Robert McKimson

SUMMARY: In a subversion of 'Walky Talky Hawky', Foghorn Leghorn spends this cartoon trying to convince a confused Henerey Hawk that he is a chicken.

WHY IT'S HERE: Prior to Robert McKimson's 'The Foghorn Leghorn', the title character had made two previous appearances. By this, his third appearance, it was clear McKimson had a star on his hands and he went on to direct every one of the Foghorn Leghorn cartoons. Originally a supporting player in what was intended as a star vehicle for Henerey Hawk, Foghorn stole the show so blatantly that it was the little chicken hawk who was subsequently reduced to the role of supporting player to the rooster's verbose antics. The Foghorn cartoons represent some of McKimson's best work and this short, which christened the rooster, is among the best. While the previous two Foggy shorts had involved him trying to prove to Henerey that he wasn't a chicken, 'The Foghorn Leghorn' flips the situation as Foghorn tries desperately to prove to a skeptical Henerey that he is a chicken. McKimson's direction is excellent adding extra hilarity to a fresh and funny setup. Mel Blanc's voice characterization for Foghorn is priceless ("I almost had a joke, son") even at this early stage. While there would ultimately be a few tedious entries in the eventually repetitive Foghorn Leghorn series, 'The Foghorn Leghorn' is certainly not one of them. A classic.

DIR: Friz Freleng

SUMMARY: In a sequel to 'Hare Trigger', Bugs Bunny once again takes on Yosemite Sam in a rip-snorting, action-packed Western.

WHY IT'S HERE: Friz Freleng's 'Bugs Bunny Rides Again' is a sequel to Bugs' first Western battle with Yosemite Sam in 'Hare Trigger'. Cautiously breaking Sam in as a character by opting for another Wild West setting, Freleng was also risking just retreading old ground. Fortunately, 'Bugs Bunny Rides Again' is a magnificent cartoon in all respects. Extremely handsome to look at, it also benefits enormously from one of the great scripts by Tedd Pierce and Michael Maltese. Shoot-outs, horse chases, dance routines and a hilarious card game are all crammed into this very fast paced short. Notable amongst the many great gags is the scene in which Bugs and Sam persistently one up each other with bigger and bigger guns which may well have inspired Chuck Jones to take this gag to the next step two years later in the famous scene from 'Rabbit of Seville'. For all those people who accuse Friz Freleng of being a boring director, 'Bugs Bunny Rides Again' is ample retort. Packed with incident and perfectly timed jokes, it not only proved that Yosemite Sam worked as a character but also ensured that his rivalry with Bugs would become a constant.

DIR: Arthur Davis

SUMMARY: Louie the Parrot learns that he stands to inherit a large sum of money in the event of his 'friend' Heathcliff the Cat's death. He sets about trying to bump him off but, unfortunately, Heathcliff is moronic to the point of invincibility.

WHY IT'S HERE:Arthur Davis's 'Dough Ray Me-ow' is an absolutely hysterical cartoon and easily my favourite of the director's films. Starring two boldly drawn one-shot characters, a grumpy green parrot named Louie and an ugly and ludicrously moronic cat named Heathcliff, 'Dough Ray Me-ow' quickly sets up its dark scenario leaving ample time to have tons of fun with it. When Louie discovers that Heathcliff stands to inherit a large sum of money which will go to Louie in the event of the cat's disappearance, the parrot sets about trying to dispense with his "friend" permanently. It's an idea filled with potential which becomes even funnier when Louie realises to his horror that Heathcliff isn't only startlingly stupid, he is also practically indestructible! 'Dough Ray Me-ow' is slightly cheap looking with a style that's akin to TV animation but it fits the feel of the cartoon beautifully, the more stylised character designs reflecting the bigger exaggerations of their personalities. There are loads of great bits but my favourite is the train sequence, the final battle over a stick of dynamite and a series of throwaway gags involving Heathcliff's novel methods for cracking nuts. One of the great one-shot cartoons, 'Dough Ray Me-ow' starred characters who were perhaps too extreme to ever be considered as potential stars but their one appearance still delights me and makes me laugh out loud to this day.

DIR: John Hubley

SUMMARY: The Sherriff of Nottingham is tasked with catching Robin Hoodlum, but he evades his every attempt.

WHY IT'S HERE: When Industrial Film and Poster Service, who made such great films as 'Hell Bent for Election' and 'Brotherhood of Man', became United Productions of America (or UPA, as they are now more famously known) and began producing theatrical shorts, it was with a necessary element of compromise the like of which the studio would rarely entertain. In order to get a foothold in the industry they agreed to make a short series of cartoons with Columbia Pictures established but hardly formidable characters Fox and Crow.

The Fox and Crow had first appeared in an adaptation of the famous Aesop fable but Columbia has attempted to keep the characters going as potential stars. The problem was the duo did not really have set personalities, shifting in character as each cartoon demanded. This allowed UPA to cast them in a series of different roles and, though they were still the same characters in appearance, the result was actually three very different films. Although 'Robin Hoodlum' is atypical for UPA in that it features talking animals, something they had vowed to avoid, it immediately establishes the more cerebral UPA approach with witty verbal comedy largely taking the place of slapstick gags. Compromise though it may have been, 'Robin Hoodlum went on to receive an Oscar nomination and emerged as a very fine theatrical debut for a studio that would soon become the most critically acclaimed and influential of its era.

DIR: Tex Avery

SUMMARY: A country wolf who is pursuing a lanky Red Riding Hood is lured away to the city by his sophisticated cousin, where he encounters city girls for the first time.

WHY IT'S HERE: Off the back of the popular 'Red Hot Riding Hood', Tex Avery made a trilogy of cartoons starring Red and the Wolf in similar set ups. The second of these, 'Swing Shift Cinderella', was a lesser replay of the first cartoon but with 'Little Rural Riding Hood', Avery made a third part worthy of the legendary source material. Like 'Swing Shift Cinderella', 'Little Rural Riding Hood' introduces elements of another famous tale, in this case 'The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse', as a bumpkin wolf who is pursuing a gangly country version of Red Riding Hood, is invited to the city by his sophisticated cousin, where he flips his lid over city girl Red. This gives Avery the opportunity to come up with more of his famous wild takes but it also allows him to subvert the original cartoon as the wolf from 'Red Hot Riding Hood' remains completely impassive to Red this time round, dedicating himself to diffusing his cousin's embarrassing display of lust.

DIR: Robert McKimson

SUMMARY: Bugs Bunny falls in love with the mechanical rabbit at a greyhound track and resolves to save her from the dogs chasing her.

WHY IT'S HERE:Robert McKimson's 'The Grey Hounded Hare' is a really lovely cartoon. Bright and colourful, it pits Bugs Bunny against a whole racetrack full of greyhounds as he attempts to save the female mechanical rabbit they are all chasing. Warren Foster's script is great, filled with knowingly dreadful puns involving the greyhounds' unusual names and a great running commentary during the race section. Bugs rids himself of the majority of the dogs at the halfway mark but is left with the tough No. 7 who keeps fighting to the last. McKimson directs the whole thing with aplomb, making Bugs an aggressive and determined character who, in the end, is as gullible as those he dupes, falling in love with a mechanical rabbit who administers violent electric shocks to anyone who gets fresh! I've loved 'The Grey Hounded Hare' since I was a kid but one thing trouble me even back then. At the cartoon's climax, it genuinely appears to me that Bugs is kissing the mechanical rabbit's bottom!

DIR: Chuck Jones

SUMMARY: Bugs Bunny takes on a snobby opera singer.

WHY IT'S HERE:Chuck Jones's 'Long Haired Hare' is a much loved semi-classic largely thanks to its final few minutes. Pitting Bugs against opera singer Giovanni Jones, 'Long Haired Hare' is a typical example of how Warner cartoons set out to prick pomposity and expose those with lofty aspirations as just as ludicrous as the rest of us. As was usually the case with Jones's take on Bugs, he is presented as an easy going, likable character who is driven to extremes by the unforgiving nature of others. In the superb set up, Bugs' jolly attempts to have a good old-fashioned sing-song are interrupted by the rotund opera singer who is attempting to practice nearby. Despite his violent reactions and destruction of Bugs' instruments, the rabbit generously gives him a three-strikes-and-you're-out chance. When he exceeds this, however, Bugs unleashes the full force of his revenge. The middle of the cartoon sags slightly while Bugs indulges in some pretty standard heckling (prime example: substituting a stick of dynamite for a pen) but its quickly compensated for by the unforgettable ending in which Bugs assumes the role of conductor and takes Giovanni Jones through a vocal tour de force which results in the collapse of the building. 2/3 of 'Long Haired Hare' stands up against Jones's (Chuck, not Giovanni) very best work and the remaining 1/3 is an enjoyable enough romp ensuring that the cartoon has comfortably and deservedly passed into legend.

DIR: Chuck Jones

SUMMARY: Bugs Bunny takes on the Sherriff of Nottingham in Merry Olde England.

WHY IT'S HERE: Of all the many Robin Hood based cartoons that came out in the wake of the wonderful Errol Flynn epic 'The Adventures of Robin Hood', 'Robin Hood Daffy' remains the most famous and best. Chuck Jones's 'Rabbit Hood', however, runs a very close second. A lesser known classic, 'Rabbit Hood' has an absolutely superb script by Michael Maltese. Chock full of literate dialogue and extremely unexpected and elaborate gags (the house building gag is one of my all-time favourites), 'Rabbit Hood' is hysterically funny. The Sheriff of Nottingham is a great foil for Bugs, displaying a natural tendency towards being duped rivalled only by Elmer Fudd but which is offset by his exaggerated olde timey British style lines. Bugs is great in this cartoon too, an example of the character at his most innately likable as was typical of Jones's most common depiction of Bugs. The ending, which I won't spoil here, is a wonderful surprise. All in all, 'Rabbit Hood' is an absolutely terrific piece of work and deserves more praise than it usually gets. I highly recommend the spectacularly beautiful 2 disc special edition DVD of 'The Adventures of Robin Hood' which not only features the classic feature film but also offers both 'Rabbit Hood' and 'Robin Hood Daffy' as extras.

DIR: Chuck Jones

SUMMARY: Pepe Le Pew pursues his latest 'love' into a perfume shop.

WHY IT'S HERE: Chuck Jones's 'For Scent-imental Reasons' is a brilliantly witty cartoon for which Pepe Le Pew won a well earned Academy Award on only his fourth outing. As a child I hated the Pepe Le Pew cartoons for several reasons. Of course, I thought love was yucky but also the pseudo-French gags and more verbal approach to comedy went completely over my head. Bearing in mind that these sexually charged cartoons were never meant for young eyes, it's hardly surprising that I have come round to loving Pepe and his straight-to-camera witticisms. Having said all that, even as a Pepe-hating child I still enjoyed 'For Scent-imental Reasons'. There was something about it that made it stand out over the other Le Pew shorts and clearly the Academy agreed.

Set in and around a perfume shop, 'For Scent-imental Reasons' finds Penelope the cat locked in with the amorous skunk after a bottle of white hair-dye bestows the obligatory deceptive markings down her spine. There follows a series of great gags, two of which involve aborted suicides! The best gag in the whole cartoon is when Penelope locks herself in a glass case causing Pepe to go absolutely insane with frustration until finally he pulls out a gun, puts it to his temple and walks out of sight. Hearing the shot, the guilt-ridden cat unlocks the case and leaps out straight into Pepe's arms. "I meesed" he tells her! 'For Scent-imental Reasons' is a lovely piece of work and undoubtedly one of the best Pepe Le Pew cartoons. From its familiar setup through to the table-turning ending, it's a classy and classic short.

DIR: Chuck Jones

SUMMARY: An educational short on the importance of a good health service.

WHY IT'S HERE:"2,621,392. A nice even figure. That's the number of babies who'll be born next year in the United States. Of these babies, 118,481 will die before reaching their first birthday." So begins Chuck Jones's 'So Much for So Little', an Academy Award winning cartoon. Doesn't sound like the recipe for comedy gold, does it? Well, the truth is 'So Much for So Little' is not primarily a comedy short. It is an educational picture about the importance of a good health service. Sounds dull, right? Fortunately, Chuck Jones works his magic on this public information film to create a thoroughly entertaining cartoon. Although he's basically illustrating a voice-over narration, Jones manages to draw us in to the story of Johnny Jones, one of those 2,621,392 babies who may end up being one of the 118,481 dead. Why should we care? Well, Jones makes us care by segueing into the story of Johnny's life, incorporating his school days, his falling in love, marriage and retirement. He does this so engagingly that we forget we are hearing the tale of a baby we've been told has a good chance of being amongst the percentage that will die. Jones returns to this fact right at the end of the short, abruptly reminding us of the information that we have forgotten while becoming emotionally involved in the character's potential life. 'So Much for So Little' advocates a worthy cause in a totally convincing, captivating and (crucially) entertaining way and was fully deserving of its Oscar win.

DIR: Jack Hannah

SUMMARY: Chip 'n' Dale battle with Donald over his Christmas nuts, using a series of festive toys as their artillery.

WHY IT'S HERE: For the most part I always found Disney's Chip 'n' Dale cartoons uncharacteristically mean-spirited and sometimes downright sadistic but 'Toy Tinkers' is one of the exceptions. This great Christmas themed short is a festive treat with a great atmosphere and some wonderful animation. The premise, in which Donald Duck fights an all-out war with Chip 'n' Dale in a scaled down fashion, was not a new concept and had been done better previously in the Tom and Jerry masterpiece 'The Yankee Doodle Mouse' but 'Toy Tinkers' plays up the Christmas spirit (while completely avoiding sentiment) over the war theme and has become another staple in a festive season already dominated by Disney classics.

DIR: William Hanna, Joseph Barbera

SUMMARY: Tom, Jerry and Nibbles do battle amidst a luxurious Thanksgiving banquet, assuming the roles of Pilgrims and Indian.

WHY IT'S HERE: The 40th Tom and Jerry cartoon and the fourth Oscar winner for the pair, 'The Little Orphan' also marked the second appearance of Nibbles (also known as Tuffy), who had previously debuted in 'The Milky Waif' as an abandoned baby mouse with a ravenous desire for milk. That theme is carried across to this cartoon, although here Nibbles will eat absolutely everything, making both his size and name ironically unlikely. 'The Little Orphan' improves on the also excellent 'The Milky Waif' by introducing the festive Thanksgiving setting, which provides a luxurious banquet backdrop for the inventive action. This theming of the chase helped Tom and Jerry win their first Oscar with the war themed 'Yankee Doodle Mouse' and it works well again (if not quite as well as in that classic cartoon), making 'The Little Orphan' another fine award winner for the series.

DIR: Robert McKimson

SUMMARY: In an effort to prove his worth, Bugs Bunny sets off on a country-wide spree of illegal activity.

WHY IT'S HERE:Robert McKimson's 'Rebel Rabbit' is an extremely original cartoon that casts Bugs Bunny as an egotistical anarchist to terrifying effect. Outraged that the bounty for hunted rabbits is only two cents each, Bugs visits Washington and demands it be raised. When his request is refused, he sets about proving that rabbit's are more dangerous than people think by causing chaos up and down the country until the bounty on his head reaches a million dollars. 'Rebel Rabbit' is one of McKimson's finest cartoons. Beginning with a novel premise, McKimson takes his time by having Bugs deal with all the administrative side of things first. When this approach fails, the cartoon goes crazy as Bugs lets himself off the leash. From hereon in, all bets are off as Bugs commits senseless acts of assault, vandalism and general indecency. McKimson heightens the anything-can-happen atmosphere by interspersing the animated antics with live action footage. Bugs's nationwide rampage is a thrill to behold and the unexpected result makes for a very satisfying climax. All in all, 'Rebel Rabbit' is a fascinating and fun character experiment that comes highly recommended.

DIR: Jiri Trnka

SUMMARY: An operatic Western parody in which a singing cowboy takes on a villainous gambler and his gang to save his lady love.

WHY IT'S HERE: Jiri Trnka's puppet films are always a treat and, as a big fan of Western's in general, it's an absolute joy to see the Czech Trnka playfully taking on the clichés of this most American genre in the epic 20 minute 'Song of the Prairie'. The exquisite film tells the simple story of a Western battle inspired chiefly by John Ford's classic 'Stagecoach'. The character's are all archetypes who Trnka ingeniously introduces in a series of opening moments. The evil gambler, with his malevolent fixed expression, let's us know of his penchant for cards by performing a series of showy card tricks with a seemingly airborne pack. The heroic, narcissistic cowboy sings a duet with his prim object of desire. All this goes on as Trnka's camera swoops past the scene of the moving coach and characters, in a visual feast of jaw-dropping motion. Throughout the rest of the film, as the deliberately predictable story pans out, there are treasurable moments galore, my favourite being when the hero, having narrowly avoided a falling boulder, stops in the heat of the chase to comb his slightly ruffled hair. It's a highlight in a film of great moments, which is perhaps only overlooked now because Trnka would surpass its brilliance with more celebrated and thematically weighty shorts like 'The Hand'.

DIR: John Hubley

SUMMARY: En route to a vacation at a mountain lodge, the near-sighted Mr. Magoo mistakes a bear for his nephew.

WHY IT'S HERE: 'Ragtime Bear', intended as a one-off short, ended up becoming the first of the long-running Mr. Magoo series. UPA, who made the shorts, were resistant to the idea of creating recurring star characters but pressure from Columbia Pictures lead them to bring back Magoo many times. Although the idea of a near-sighted character who mistakes things for other things sounds like one with very little mileage, the inventive UPA actually made a good deal of excellent films with the character. Provided they are not watched back to back, the Magoo shorts are generally very funny, if politically incorrect by today's standards. In 'Ragtime Bear'. Magoo comes across as a harsher character, wielding a gun at his nephew when his banjo playing annoys him. The farcical plot (which oddly includes a funny animal character, another of UPA's stated dislikes) is not as strong as later shorts such as the excellent 'Trouble Indemnity' or 'When Magoo Flew', but taken as a stand-alone piece rather than an atypical Magoo short, 'Ragtime Bear' is a fun and historically notable cartoon.

DIR: Norman McLaren, Evelyn Lambert

SUMMARY: Abstract images set to three jazz pieces by Oscar Peterson.

WHY IT'S HERE: By the time of 'Begone Dull Care' Norman McLaren had established himself as an abstract animator worthy of being mentioned alongside the great pioneers who inspired him. With 'Begone Dull Care', McLaren and Canadian animator Evelyn Lambert made an abstract masterpiece which does as great a job as I've ever seen of capturing pieces of music visually. Painting, drawing, etching and scratching directly onto film stock, McLaren and Lambert created something akin to synaesthesia captured on screen and this 8 minute film remains a jaw-dropping experience, expanding on the likably lively 'Boogie-Doodle's immaculate synchronisation to create an animated film for the ages.

DIR: Jiri Trnka

SUMMARY: A cellist goes skinny-dipping before his scheduled meeting with his fellow musicians. But his plans are scuppered by a clothes thief and a fellow skinny-dipper of the opposite sex.

WHY IT'S HERE: Czech puppet animator Jiri Trnka is one of the great names of animation and, though many may not recognise his name, they will most likely have seen either one of his films or something inspired by it. This distinctively Czech style of employing puppets with fixed expressions was perfected by Trnka, whose characters were extraordinarily expressive through their body language alone.

Trnka's early short 'Story of the Bass Cello' is a bawdy farcical comedy based on a Chekov short story, in which a gentleman cellist finds himself stranded naked alongside a similarly stranded naked female. His discrete attempts to help her without ever looking directly at her nakedness, while also trying to preserve his own dignity, are funny, touching and, above all, realistically human. Trnka's knack for breathing this vivid life into his rigid creations sustained his reputation throughout a critically celebrated career which included numerous shorts and feature length films. It's surely time this back catalogue was made more readily available.