On Halloween night, Bugs Bunny, masquerading as a witch, trick-or-treats at the creepy old mansion of Witch Hazel, who prides herself on being the ugliest witch of all.
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To summarise, this short is creepy and fun, and incidentally my personal favourite of the cartoons starring Witch Hazel. The animation here is stunning, and the story is top notch too. Bugs is still great, but it is Hazel who steals the show, her voice, her laugh, her mannerisms are all enough to make her truly memorable. The script is fine, but the sight gags are better I think, with a wonderful(and hilarious) ending. Also the part when Bugs tears up causing Hazel to cry as well almost made me do so too, Bugs's expression was so cute. Mel Blanc excels as always as Bugs, but June Foray steals the show with a bravura vocal performance as Witch Hazel. Overall, really fun to watch. 10/10 Bethany Cox
Broom-Stick Bunny (1956)*** (out of 4) Witch Hazel is at home on Halloween proud as can be since she's the ugliest woman around. Then there's a knock at the door where another ugly witch is but it turns out to be Bugs Bunny in an outfit. The real witch then decides she needs some rabbit to complete her next meal. This is a pretty good entry with Bugs being at the top of his game and Hazel being a pretty good villain. I'm sure the film could have thrown in more homages to other "scary" type of films but that's just a small issue. Bugs gets a lot of good lines but the real charm of the film belongs to Hazel are her dire need of being ugly. The twist ending is a very nice one and gets the biggest laugh of the film.
It's Halloween and we are at the home of "Witch Hazel" who proudly displays her "diploma" on the wall which reads, "Malevolent Order of Witches - A. F. of Elves."The first thing you notice is the great artwork: cool drawings of the inside of the house and great colors. These restoration jobs on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVDs are tremendous.Bugs is out trick-or-treating and, of course, stops at Hazel's house. Bugs is wearing a witch's mask, too. Bugs asks the "lady" if she has anything for a "little witch." Hmmm, thinks Hazel, "I don't remember seeing her at any of the union meetings." Hazel winds up thinking the visitor is so little and ugly - which is a compliment. She winds up trying to find out Bugs' secret to being so ugly.The humorous dialog making ugly the ideal and beauty the opposite, Hazel then discovering it's not another witch but a rabbit and how she reacts......and those wild colors all make this a lot of fun to watch. It's another Bugs Bunny winner.
"Broom-Stick Bunny" is a memorable Warner Bros. cartoon not for the presence of Bugs Bunny but rather for the presence of Witch Hazel, wonderfully voiced by June Foray. Hazel manages to steal all the laughs away from Bugs, and her best moments occur with her hysterical laugh, matched with some wild gyrations and ubiquitous bobby pins. She also sings her own fractured version of "A Cup of Coffee, a Sandwich, and You" at the opening of this short.As for that wabbit, it seems as if the Bugs Bunny of the mid-1950s, especially in films directed by Chuck Jones, is quite polished and refined compared to the more prankish 1940s Bugs. As a result, Bugs may at times not be quite as funny as he was a decade earlier, and such is the case with "Broom-Stick Bunny." This is not to say that Chuck Jones was an inferior director. Quite the contrary; Jones deserves a great deal of respect for all that he did for the Warner Bros. cartoon department.Check out "Broom-Stick Bunny" on Disc 1 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. And for an added treat, listen to June Foray's audio commentary about her experience as a Warner Bros. cartoon voice artist.