Rhapsody in Rivets
| Rhapsody in Rivets | |
|---|---|
| Merrie Melodies series | |
 The cartoon's title card | |
| Directed by | Friz Freleng |
| Produced by | Leon Schlesinger |
| Story by | Michael Maltese |
| Music by | Carl Stalling |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 7m 43s |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
Rhapsody in Rivets is a 1941 Merrie Melodies cartoon directed in by Friz Freleng, and produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. It is the first Warner Bros cartoon to feature the "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" by Franz Liszt. It has no dialogue. The cartoon was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1942, but lost to Walt Disney's Lend a Paw.
Plot
At a busy urban construction site, an appreciative crowd of gawkers watches the foreman (an anthropomorphic lion, a caricature of the conductor Leopold Stokowski) use the building plans as his score and conduct the workmen in Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, a symphony of riveting, hammering, sawing, and more. The workmen are anthropomorphic animals in human clothes. Elevators, picks, shovels, and a steam shovel are instruments in music making and construction. As the clock nears 5:00 PM, the crew works furiously, and the building rises toward the clouds. With the pennant planted at the top and the work completed, the foreman takes a bow. One of the workers (a Droopy look-alike) leaves last, closing the door behind him. Due to this, the building (labelled as the "Umpire State") comes crashing down.
Availability
Rhapsody in Rivets is available on Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection.[1]