A Car-Tune Portrait

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A Car-Tune Portrait was an early cartoon by pioneering animator Max Fleischer. Released on June 26th, 1937, it gave an imaginative take on Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in C-sharp Minor.

The cartoon features a lion dressed up as a musical conductor, attempting to keep his orchestra of animal musicians in order as they half-play, half-fight their way through the piece. Memorable moments include a Dachshund playing the xylophone using his back legs while the rest of him sleeps, a group of monkeys using a flute as a pea-shooter to fire at their fellow musicians, and a horse trombonist who attempts to swat a fly using his instrument but who only succeeds in hitting the dog trumpeter in front of him.

In keeping with the building frenzy of Liszt's rhapsody, the animals become more and more violent, playing pranks on each other and generally wreaking havoc; but still the piece goes on. The final scenes see the lion conductor smashed over the head with a giant bass drum, at which point he gives in, the music finishes and the cartoon ends.