Little Red Riding Rabbit (1944)
Directed by: I. Freleng
A teen-age bobby-soxer is strolling through the forest singing this song in a loud, obnoxious voice.
"The five o'clock whistle's on the blink. The whistle won't blow, and wha'd ya think? My poppa's still in the factory, 'cause he don't know what time it happens to be."Out of one side of the basket she is carrying, Bugs emerges, chewing a carrot.
"Ah, whacha got in the basket, gorgeous?"
"I got a little bunny rabbit I'm taking to my grandma."
"Hm. Not a bad pair o' stems for a rabbit."
"Yeah, and he's got a cute face, too. See?"
Red reaches in and grabs Bugs by the scruff of the neck, pulling him out to show. She continues walking, humming her song. A wolf is watching her and sneaking between the trees. He uproots a sign that reads, "Shortcut to Grandma's House," and changes its direction. Red takes the wrong path.
The wolf goes up to Grandma's house and finds a note on the door.
"Red- Working swing shift a Lockheed. Love Grandma. P.S. Leave rabbit under door."
The wolf tears down the note, goes inside, puts on a nightgown and cap, and pulls back the covers on the bed. There are four other wolves in the bed in nighties, looking surprised.
"Come on, come on. This is my racket!"
The wolves grumble as they leave. Our wolf gets into the bed and lies down, but the pillow starts jumping all over the place. He pulls it aside and finds a tiny wolf underneath. The little wolf snickers and leaves quietly. Red knocks on the door.
"Come in!" the wolf says in a deep voice, then remembers his disguise and repeats, in a sweeter voice, "Come in, Red."
"Hey, Grandma, uh, oh yeah, what big eyes you got."
"Yeah, yeah, big eyes. Gimme the rabbit."
"Uh, hey, grandma! That's an awfully big nose for you...ta have!"
"Yeah, yeah, sure kid, big nose, thanks, bye now."The wolf send Red on her way and tries to grab Bugs. A chase begins up and down a flight of stairs, and in and out of three doors. After a couple of minutes of opening the wrong door, the wolf takes one door off its hinges, puts his body in its place, and takes the door knob in his hand. Bugs opens what he thinks is the door, but as soon as he slams it, he realizes it's the wolf. He knocks on the wolf's forehead.
"Anybody home?"
Red bursts in. "Hey, Grandma! What big ears ya got!"The wolf starts talking French to Red, wooing her, then yelling at her to scram. He picks her up by the back of the collar and the seat of the pants and escorts her out the door. Bugs picks up the wolf the same way and throws them both out. The wolf comes back in.
"Why you..."
"Why you..."
"Hey now..."
"Hey now..."
"Cut that out or..."
"Cut that out or..."
"Hey, wise guy!"
"Hey, wise guy!"
"Oh, yeah?"
"Oh, yeah?"
"Yeah!"
"Yeah!"Bugs leads the wolf into a series of nonsense words, and starts him singing a catchy song.
"Fibbledeedish!"
"Fibbledeedish!"
"Put on your old gray bonnet with the blue ribbons on it....through the fields of cotton we'll be...."As the wolf gets into the rhythm of the song, Bugs holds up a screw ball sign.
Red bursts in again.
"Hey, Grandma! Those are awfully sharp teeth for you, ta have!"
The wolf boots her out the door, then turns around to happily return to their song.
"Put on your old gray bonnet with the blue..."
The wolf searches for Bugs, who's helping him by whistling as if calling a dog, and pointing to hiding places. Finally, Bugs points beneath the sink, and when the wolf opens the cabinet door, Bugs is in there! Bugs gets under the wolf's nightgown. We see Bugs's silhouette as the pass in front of a fire. Bugs uses tongs to grab a hot piece of coal, backs off, and burns the wolf with it. As the wolf jumps into the air, Bugs puts a shovel full of the red hot coals underneath him. The wolf lands with one leg on each side of the coal, furniture suspending him about two feet over the heat. Bugs piles an anvil, chairs, lamps, barbells, and everything he can find into the wolf's arms. He's just about to put a feather on top of the whole pile when Red bursts back in.
"Hey, Grandma!" she yells, irritating Bugs to no end.
"I’ll do it," he tells us, "but I’ll probably hate myself in the morning."
He climbs down the ladder, offscreen. The pile of objects begins moving. Bugs has rescued the wolf and put Red in his place above the fire. Bugs and the wolf share a carrot.