Der Fuehrer's Face (1942)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Jack Kinney

Writers:

Joe Grant (written by)
Dick Huemer (written by)

Release Date:

1 January 1943 (USA)

Genre:

Family | Short | War | Animation | Comedy

Tagline:

The picture from which the song sensation was taken!

Plot:

Donald Duck has a nightmare that he lives in Germany slaving under the Nazi regime.

Plot Keywords:

Famous Song | USA | It Was All A Dream | Nazi Germany | Donald Duck

Awards:

Won Oscar.

Cast

Clarence Nash

...

Donald Duck (voice)

Also Known As:

Donald Duck in Nutzi Land (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

8 min

Country:

USA

Language:

German | English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved | UK:U

Company:

Walt Disney Pictures

Trivia:

Released on the "Disney Treasures On The Front Lines" DVD for the first time since 1942.

Quotes:

Nazi: Ist we not der super men?
Japanese soldier: Aryan pure super men?
Soldier: Ja, we ist der super men!
Singers: [Prissy voice] Super-duper super men!
Nazi: Ist dis Nazi Land so good? Would you leave it if you could?
Singers: Ja, dis Nazi Land ist good!
Italian soldier: We would leave if we could.
Soldier: We bring the world's new order.
[toots flute]
Japanese soldier: [waves small Japanese flag] Heil Hitler's New World Order.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in Pearl Harbor (2001)

Soundtrack:

Der Fuehrer's Face

Donald Duck in "Nutzi Land"

Der Fuehrer's Face is both interesting in its historical context and hilarious in its imaginative content. Winning the Academy Award for "Best Short Subject (Cartoons)," this little animated gem is arguably one of the most entertaining piece of propaganda ever produced. Released on January 1, 1943, the United States was only in its first year of World War II and needed all the morale it could get - and Walt Disney Pictures delivered that with this short film. With the Spike Jones and His City Slickers version of Oliver Wallace's song "Der Fuehrer's Face" playing over the film, the audience is introduced to "Nutzi Land" via a marching band made up of Hitler's stooges: Goebbels, Hirohito, Goering, Mussolini, etc. The picture slowly pans to this little shack of a house where Donald Duck is sleeping soundly until he's woken by a loud alarm clock, Aryan cuckoo clock, and a rude poke of a bayonet. From there we see him suffering the poor living conditions of Nazi Germany as portrayed by the film (eating poorly, getting Mein Kampf shoved in his face, and having to yell out a "Heil Hitler!" at the sight of a picture of der Fuehrer) and over-working himself in an ammunition factory.

Oh man, is this little film ever funny. The lyrics to the song "Der Fuehrer's Face" and the presentation of this "Nutzi Land" are funny enough, but Donald Duck is also up to his usual antics here in Der Fuehrer's Face: speaking in his hilarious way, having some of his unforgettably funny Donald Duck freak-outs, being sarcastic as all get out, and going on the worst head trip he'd see until The Three Caballeros.

The propaganda side to this film is obvious and very interesting considering the times and the film's purpose. As the German propaganda displayed the Nazi Aryan race as a mighty and envious people living in a powerful nation, Der Fuehrer's Face shows Hitler's Germany as a desolate and thoroughly unlikable place and displays der Fuehrer and his cronies as parodies of themselves (Emperor Hirohito in a particularly racist way as he cheerfully yells "Aryan-pure supermen!"). Being American made for propaganda reasons, this film has very obvious anti-Axis and pro-US themes clearly seen through the way Donald is living in the film's bleak but over-the-top version of Nazi Germany.

Der Fuehrer's Face remains a fantastic and hilarious short film long after 1943, interesting as a piece of history and entertaining as a humorous Donald Duck animated short.