16 April 2016

In Der Führer's Face (1943 Disney)

War History Online has some nearly-forgotten Disney history:

Der Führer’s Face (originally titled Donald Duck in Nutzi Land) is a 1943 American animated propaganda short film, produced by Walt Disney Productions and released in 1943 by RKO Radio Pictures. The cartoon (above), which features Donald Duck in a nightmare setting, working at a factory in Nazi Germany, was made in an effort to sell war bonds, and is an example of American propaganda during World War Two.
The film was directed by Jack Kinney and written by Joe Grant and Dick Huemer, from the original music by Oliver Wallace. The film is well known for Wallace’s original song Der Führer’s Face, which was actually released earlier by Spike Jones.
Der Führer’s Face won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the fifteenth Academy Awards; the only Donald Duck film to receive the honor. In 1994, it was voted one of the Fifty Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field.
However, because of the propagandistic nature of the short, and the depiction of Donald Duck as a Nazi (albeit a reluctant one), Disney kept the film out of general circulation after its original release. Its first home video release came in 2004, with the release of the third wave of the Walt Disney Treasures DVD sets.
Rico says those were different times; Disney wouldn't do that now...

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