The Lion and the Hare
About The Lion and the Hare
In an oasis the animals find that a well mirrors them. A monkey nearly dies picking a fight with her own reflection. A lion hunts, runs down an adult zebra, and kills her. The others comfort the cub. On a snake's advice the lion orders the animals to deliver themselves as dinner. A draw picks the cub. They will not send him. An ostrich offers to go instead. The hare has another plan. He tells the lion that a second lion stole a boar he was bringing. He leads the lion to the well. The lion threatens his reflection, hears the echo answer, jumps in, and drowns. The animals celebrate.
Cast & crew
More about The Lion and the Hare
Gennady Filippov and Boris Dyozhkin directed. Elena Petrova was cinematographer and Yuri Levitin composed the score. Sergei Martinson and Leonid Pirogov are the credited voices. Soyuzmultfilm released it in 1949.
Themes
Making
Filippov and Dyozhkin draw the fable as a short chain of gags, from the mirror-well to the lion's dive.
Look
Elena Petrova shot the drawn oasis, the well, and the lion's jump.
Music
Yuri Levitin wrote the score.
Preservation
A print of the short survives.
Notes
- The Russian title is Lev i zayats.
- The draw is among a giraffe, an ostrich, a kangaroo, the monkey, the hare, and the zebra cub.
- The echo in the well answers the lion's threats before he jumps.
- The monkey's fight with her reflection comes before the lion's hunt.
- The ending is the old well trick: the rival is the lion's own face in the water.
Scenes
- The monkey attacks her reflection and nearly falls in.
- The lot falls on the zebra cub, and the ostrich volunteers.
- The lion leaps at the face in the water and drowns.