5/06/2008

"The Cat Concerto"

The Cat Concerto is perhaps one of the most popular short cartoons ever created. In 1947 it received the Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons. It "stars" Tom (the cat) as a piano virtuoso giving a recital on the instrument Jerry (the mouse) lives in.



I LOVE Tom's face at 03:43 and the way the piano lid is slammed onto his fingers…

The theme that you hear, Hungarian Rhapsody Number 2 by Franz Liszt, has been spoofed in Who Framed Roger Rabbit in the piano fight scene featuring Daffy Duck and Donald Duck.



From Wikipedia:

Controversy

The same year MGM produced The Cat Concerto, Warner Bros. released a very similar cartoon entitled Rhapsody Rabbit. Directed by Friz Freleng, Rhapsody Rabbit featured Bugs Bunny opposite an unnamed mouse. Both shorts had very similar plots, and even use the same piece by Liszt.


Both MGM and Warner Bros. accused each other of plagiarism, after both films were shown during the 1947 Academy Awards ceremony. Technicolor was accused of sending a print of either cartoon to the competing studio, who then allegedly plagarized their rival's work.

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