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makemerainbows · 1 year

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Let’s go December!

Toy Tinkers (1949).

#december #donald duck #animation #my gifs #1940s cartoon #cartoon #toy tinkers #snowy landscape #Vintage cartoon #walt disney #christmas #christmas is coming #winter landscape #winter

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masked-marauder · 2 months

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THE OLD ARMY GAME (1943)

Director: Jack King

Story: Carl Barks, Jack Hannah

Animation: N/A

Release Date: November 5, 1943

TW: The mention of suicide.

Out of all of the cartoons in the "Donald Duck Goes to War" saga, The Old Army Game has ALWAYS been my favorite. It has such a wonderful mix of slapstick, visual gags, morbid humor, actual drama, and even some good audio gags. I'd even go as far as to argue that this is one of Donald's best outings! Sadly, due to how dark it is, it probably will never be re-released nowadays. While it may be stuck in the Disney Vault, it's also stuck in my brain, so let's see what makes it such a good Donald Duck.

Our story begins with Pete, depicted as the sergeant, inspecting the camp. He goes through the cabins, making sure all of the men are sleeping.

Suddenly, he hears an odd snoring sound coming from one of them. He goes to check it, only to figure out everyone inside of it is just a dummy, including our "hero", Private Duck, and the snoring is coming from a broken record. Why... he's gone AWOL! Oh, that Donald, such a devilish little bastard!

Why, would you speak of the duck!

In a clever visual gag, he sneaks back onto the base after fluffing up his tail and bringing his arms up in the air, making a silhouette of a rabbit. Clever little fella, ain't he?

However, Pete knows that Donald is coming back, so he props himself onto Donald's bed, tricking the tired duck into using his arm as a pillow, providing us with some great expressions from both of them.

Donald himself even states as he drifts off to sleep "Boy, we sure pulled one over on the sarge." Observant as ever, Donald!

However, Donald soon realizes that Pete is right there next to him, so he makes a run for it.

As Pete chases him, he gets an idea, sliding into one of three randomly placed boxes outside.

This is where the cartoon gets its name from as Donald begins spinning the boxes around, similar to the famous shell game. Pete keeps flipping the boxes, trying to find him.

As Donald continues to slip the boxes around, Pete gives up the search, ragequitting by kicking the middle box over the fence while doing a Curly-like wince, not knowing that Donald is IN it. The sharp fence cuts it in half.

Despite falling into the sand, covering his legs, Donald believes his legs have been CUT OFF by the fence. Just a classic little misunderstanding, right?

Donald gets Pete to believe this as well, with both of them now teary-eyed, as Donald is in clinical depression and Pete believes he caused the accident to occur.

Now, I know what you're thinking: Jeez, pretty dark, even for a 1940s Donald cartoon. And while that is true, it gets even MORE twisted. As Pete turns, still sobbing, Donald notices the gun in his pocket. He takes it as he points it against his temple, losing the will to live as he contemplates over whether or not he should do it. That's right. DONALD DUCK IS CONTEMPLATING WHETHER OR NOT HE SHOULD COMMIT SUICIDE. Just another fun Disney cartoon for kids, amirite?

This one frame in particular has always haunted me, with him staring at the screen with his eyes squinted and his teeth showing, as I remember seeing it on a Youtube Thumbnail when I was REALLY little and it absolutely scared the piss outta me.

Instead of trying to stop him, Pete simply nods as he sobs, telling Donald to "do it behind the bushes". As Donald nods, he crawls off, the gun still pointed at his head. It is that this moment Pete realizes that Donald STILL has his legs, and has been bluffing this entire time. This leads to a hilarious visual of Donald crawling off in absolute distraught, complete with dramatic music accompanying it.

As Pete plucks one of Donald's tailfeathers, Donald realizes that his legs are still there! Hooray! Now all of his troubles are over!

Aren't you glad that he's safe, Sergeant Pete? Clearly not, as we get a great visual gag of his eyes turning into literal daggers as they clash against each other. Looks like Donald would be a dead duck either way.

As the two chase off into the night, they come across a sign, saying "National Speed Limit: 35 Miles". Well, they HAVE to follow it! And so the cartoon ends, with Donald and Pete running in slow motion off into the moon. (This also provides a neat little gag where as the music flares up, the drums sound off exactly whenever Pete's feet hit the ground.) The old army game indeed.

All in all, The Old Army Game is an INCREDIBLE cartoon, perfectly mixing comedy with a bit of psychological horror. The voice talents provided by Clarence Nash and Billy Bletcher greatly compliment the amazing expressions. Not to mention the beautiful, picturesque backgrounds, which provide a nice little contrast compared to all the chaos that they're near. While I doubt it'll ever happen, a full on Donald in the Army DVD/Blu-ray collection similar to the Private Snafu one would be incredible, of course with a disclaimer for the depictions of the Japanese present in Commando Duck. You can view this cartoon here!

Oh, and an extra note: All of the gifs used in this review are provided by adventurelandia.tumblr.com. Go check them out!

#donald duck #1940s #1940s cartoon #disney #donald duck in the army #donald gets drafted #dark toons #kinda funny how my first two reviews are both about cartoon characters in the army #disney cartoons

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bishplz · 2 years

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