Der Fuehrer's Face

Now I know that I've talked about this short before in the past but I haven't given it the proper review treatment that I feel it deserves.  Also  I've wanted to delve into some of the shorts that deal with more topical issues, mainly the WWII shorts. That's why the next 2 Classic Shorts Showcase are Chicken Little and Education For Death.  For those of you wondering why, I'm not including this on Showcase, well that's goes back to the Mickey Rule.   In order for a short featuring Mickey and the gang to appear on Showcase, it must be an adaption.  You could argue that with my Wise Little Hen review but that was an adaption. Anyways with that out of the way, let's get to this short.  Just as with many shorts produced during this time, it was meant to lift spirits and one way to do that was to paint,  the enemy in a comical light such as they did with Hitler and the much more serious and not at all comedic short, Education For Death. For this review, I'll be breaking it down into Plot, Character,   Music, Images, and My Final Thoughts.

The Plot

The basic plot of this short is that Donald has had a dream that he lives in a land ruled by Nazis and we get to see what his life would be like under control of The Third Reich.   The plot is simple but effective,  true, this short is comedic in nature but they made the right decision in using Donald for this short because Mickey wouldn't gel with what they were trying to do and Goofy would just feel out of place.   Donald works for this short because he is the most relatable out of the main cast and seeing someone like him go through, I think gives the audience a better connection to the events taking place.  

Character

Donald Duck voiced by Clarence "Ducky" Nash

This   image right here is perhaps the least tame in the images that we see.  Again as explained,  Donald in this short has a nightmare that he lives in a world run by The Nazis.  It was an interesting take on this idea and again,  I like the use of  Donald to show what life would have been like if he lived in this world.  It would be a very grim and dark life for him.   

Music

Der Furher's Face

Folks, I gotta be honest here.  I don't know what to make of this song.  I get that it's a parody of Hitler and  his regime.  It's good and I'll take it over that other Nazi song, I talked about.  It's not bad and it was a hit during the time and I can see why but I just kinda find it to be meh.  

Images

Now I have two images that I want to talk about are coming up.

Now ,   this is just one of many images that appear that can get my mind going.   This one here is pretty funny though because the conveyor belt keeps on coming out with pictures of Hitler and Donald has keep on doing the Heil  Hitler.

Now this scene may be covered in too much patriotism but I love it because it's a reminder that while the USA may have it bad, it could always be worse.

My Final Thoughts

This is probably isn't the strongest WWII short but it takes a different approach at handling the subject and it works well.  If your someone who is interested in this period of either Disney's or just history in general, track down this short.