Donald Gets Drafted

Hello & welcome back.  For a while I've been itching to go back to the WWII shorts and I found that lighthearted in nature compared to the others for review that of Donald Gets Drafted. Join me as I take a look at it.  

The Plot

For plot, see title. Seriously, the plot of this short can be summed by looking at the title. Donald goes to join the army and after a physical he is drafted. We see him in training and his superior is none other than Sgt. Pete. A nice touch I must say and it's clear that Pete that won't put up with Donald's antics and sees him as a screw up and he decides to give Donald a special training.   He tells Donald to stand at attention but unfortunately Donald is standing on top of red ant hole and they start climbing his body and Donald is having a hard time standing still.   Now Donald Gets Drafted was penned by Carl Barks and reflects some military sentiments.  I'll just use this quote to explain that.   

The satirical humor in Donald Gets Drafted reflects an anti-military sentiment felt in particular by Carl Barks, one of the writers of the film. (He had written the lyrics to the theme song, scripted the film, and also drew the recruitment posters which Donald passes on his way to the draft board.) Barks himself was a pacifist who was against America's involvement in the war. He once said "When I saw how little we accomplished with World War I, I thought, why in the devil kill off another whole generation of young men to accomplish the same result?" In Donald Gets Drafted Barks ridicules military recruitment, in particular its deceptive propaganda. 

Now even though I do see this, I think it also does a good job of showing a Disney character in a military setting. 

Opening Images

Before I get to the characters, I wish to talk about the opening image or the character head shot if you will.  Now majority of Disney shorts that star the characters usually open with a head shot. Now just as with Mickey's Christmas Carol in how that one showed Mickey wearing a scarf and hat.  Here we see Donald wearing an Army hat or top, I don't know what the proper wording.  I apologize for any soldiers that may read this for not using the proper wording. Still, I find it a nice touch and it helps distinguishes this short and other Donald Duck shorts.

Characters

Donald voiced by Clarence "Ducky" Nash

It's funny to see how Donald's attitude changes before and after he joins the Army.  Before he joins,  he sees as glamorous and almost as if it'd be fun and a way to meet girls.  That can be seen here as Donald pictures himself in this poster.  

Though in reality, that isn't the case as seen in the first Donald picture.   The military life is hard and not glamorous as Donald thought as a civilian.   This is best shown at the end when Donald is shown peeling potatoes. 

Sgt. Pete voiced by Billy Bletecher 

The casting of Pete as an Army Sgt.  was just brilliant.   Now this is one time where he wasn't a villain but rather just gruff and tough and very stern.  The way he yelled at Donald to stand at Attention was brilliant and Pete in this role was just so believable.  I think this is one of the best casting decisions for this character. It was just perfect.  

My Final Thoughts

This is a great short and a great look back at the shorts of this time.  Donald was the perfect character to use for this subject material.  That made the short much more enjoyable and  it works because Donald out of all the characters of The Fab Five  is the most logical character to use for this because Donald represents the everyman and has the most realistic personality akin to that of real world people.  This short shows that even though something may look glamorous doesn't mean it is.   Although I say that does not diminish the service of men and women in the military.