Russian Rhapsody

Russian Rhapsody is a 1944 Merrie Melodies short directed by Bob Clampett.
== Plot ==
Once upon a time, way back in 1941, a string of German planes have gone missing while flying into Russian airspace. Furious over this, Adolf Hitler gives a rousing speech (mostly consisting of mock German gibberish and a few random words inserted in) about the Russian bombing campaign, then tells the crowd he will send the world's best pilot to bomb Moscow: himself. 
As Hitler flies from Germany to Russia, a bunch of gremlins (most of which are caricatures of the Termite Terrace crew, such as Friz Freleng, Chuck Jones, Melvin "Tubby" Millar, Art Davis, Henry Binder, Ray Katz, Leon Schlesinger, and even director Bob Clampett himself) invade his plane and sing a song (to the tune of the "Song of the Volga Boat Men") about themselves while trashing the plane. 
Eventually one of them pokes Hitler in the butt with a pin attached to his head he leaps out of his chair screaming, when he lands on of the ground he comes face to face with one of the smallest ones he declares "Ack, a gremlin from the Kremlin!" and it replies "How do you do?" and bops him on the nose with a mallet somehow knocking him out, the others stick his nose into an electrical socket causing him to transform into various things during the electrocution including a swastika, a skunk, and a jackass, after Hitler recovers from this he chases them with a knife until one of them puts on a Joseph Stalin mask causing him to scream like a little girl, they then knock him out and saw the platform around him causing him to fall out of the plane, they chase him with the plane as he falls and shred the seat of his pants, he hides under a tree for cover and they drop the plane on top of him causing a massive explosion the tail of the plane marking his tombstone, they then sing about their victory. When a disheveled Hitler suddenly pops up out of the ground doing a Lew Lehr impression saying, "Nazis is the cwaziest peoples!" one of them pounds him into the ground with a mallet burying him.
== Caricatures ==
* Adolf Hitler
* Artie Auerbach - "Who else?"
* Billy Gray - "I'm only three-and-a-half years old"
* Bert Gordon
* Joseph Stalin
* Lew Lehr - "Nutzies is the cwaziest peoples!"
* Jerry Colonna - as a gremlin
* Friz Freleng, Bob Clampett, Chuck Jones, Leon Schlesinger, and many other "Termite Terrace" employees appear as gremlins.
== Availability ==
Cartoon Moviestars 2.jpg|(1989) VHS Cartoon Moviestars: Bugs and Daffy: The Wartime Cartoons
LT Laserdisc 2.jpg|(1989) LaserDisc Cartoon Moviestars: Bugs and Daffy: The Wartime Cartoons
Golden-Age-of-Looney-Tunes-3-F.jpg|(1992) LaserDisc The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 3, Side 6: Tashlin/Clampett
Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 6.jpg|(2008) DVD Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 6, Disc 2 (with optional audio commentary by Mark Kausler)
Lt tcm errol.jpg|(2010) DVD TCM Spotlight: Errol Flynn Adventures: Uncertain Glory (USA dubbed version)https://www.amazon.com/TCM-Spotlight-Adventures-Desperate-Uncertain/dp/B00005JO4Dhttps://my.mail.ru/mail/troyboy/video/901/996.html
LTPC VOL 2 Blu Ray.jpg|(2012) Blu-ray Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2, Disc 2
LTPC VOL 2 DVD.jpg|(2012) DVD Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2, Disc 2
== Censorship ==
* Due to the short's heavy World War II themes, including the depiction of Adolf Hitler, this short is almost never shown on American television, though it has aired on Cartoon Network's The Bob Clampett Show, a two-hour weekend installment of The Acme Hour, and on the ToonHeads special about World War II-era cartoons.
* There may or may not be a lost scene or sequence near the end where the scene cuts from Hitler screaming in terror over the Josef Stalin mask to Hitler already passed out as the gremlins saw a hole through the floor of the plane and drop him.
== Notes ==
* The working title was "Gremlins from the Kremlin".https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/those-warner-bros-gremlin-cartoons/
* The production code is unusual, as many cartoons in 1944 ended with -13, but this one ended with the number 26-12.
* The notable subjects mentioned in Hitler's opening speech include the names of Warner Brothers staff Friz Freleng and Henry Binder, the 1944 Merrie Melodie "What's Cookin' Doc?", the famous 1941 song "Chattanooga Choo Choo", and the "Irish" General Tim O'Schenko, a pun of Russian Marshal Timoshenko.
* The gremlins would later appear in an episode of The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries titled "Moscow Side Story" where they steal a belt.
* The gremlin song was written by Bob Clampett.
* The USA and EU Turner "dubbed" prints have the 1937-1938 dubbed ending card. The USA "dubbed" print keeps the 1941-1955 MWRA ending theme, while the EU "dubbed" print replaces the 1941-1955 MWRA ending theme with the 1938-1941 MWRA ending theme.
* Hitler's jackass transformation is reused from "Falling Hare", albeit colored pink and including his hair and mustache.
* A blue version of the gremlin from "Falling Hare" can be seen during the first scene of the gremlins wrecking the plane.
* The line in the newspaper, "H-m-m-m, could be!", is a reference to the famous catchphrase of Artie Auerbach's character, Mr. Kitzel, from the Al Pearce radio show.
==Gallery==
RussianRhapsodyCredits.png
Russian-rhapsody.jpg|Lobby card
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File:Vlcsnap-2021-08-30-21h54m30s293.png|Gremlin caricature of Michael Maltese
File:Vlcsnap-2021-08-30-21h54m34s289.png|Gremlin caricature of Tedd Pierce (below Michael Maltese)
File:Russian Rhapsody (1944) - Gremlins.jpg
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Bandicam 2019-04-02 16-19-07-968.jpg|Gremlin caricatures of Bob Clampett (holding a pickaxe), Friz Freleng (holding a blowtorch), Michael Sasanoff (left of Friz), and Henry Binder (below Friz)
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Bandicam 2019-04-02 16-15-36-035.jpg|Gremlin caricatures of Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng
Bandicam 2019-04-02 16-24-23-209.jpg|A gremlin caricature of Leon Schlesinger
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Bandicam 2019-04-02 16-24-31-990.jpg|Gremlin Leon Schlesinger with a gremlin caricature of Ray Katz
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Bandicam 2019-04-02 16-29-03-693.jpg|A gremlin caricature of Melvin Millar
Bandicam 2019-04-02 16-29-06-693.jpg|A gremlin caricature of Johnny Burton
Bandicam 2019-04-02 16-30-23-860.jpg|A gremlin caricature of Henry Binder
File:Vlcsnap-2021-08-30-21h55m34s403.png|Gremlin caricature of Robert Cannon
File:Vlcsnap-2021-08-30-21h58m59s426.png|Gremlin caricature of Michael Sasanoff
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Bandicam 2019-04-02 16-30-56-612.jpg
Bandicam 2019-04-02 16-31-08-794.jpg|Gremlin caricatures of Henry Binder, Arthur Davis, and Friz Freleng
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Tumblr o533n3CcwR1vqnzpgo1 400.gif
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Bandicam 2019-04-02 16-32-03-292.jpg|"Nazis is the cwaziest peoples!"
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File:Screenshot 2024-02-03 111337.png
File:Screenshot 2024-02-03 111342.png
==References==
 
Category:Looney Tunes Shorts
Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts
Category:Cartoons directed by Bob Clampett
Category:1944
Category:Shorts
Category:Wartime Shorts
Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Robert C. Bruce
Category:Cartoons produced by Leon Schlesinger
Category:Caricatures of real people
Category:Cartoons in a.a.p. package
Category:One-Shot Cartoons