Donalds Schneeballschlacht

A Walt Disney DONALD DUCK Cartoon.

DONALD'S SNOW FIGHT begins when he destroys his Nephews' snowman - and quickly escalates into the Duck's wintry Waterloo.

Huey, Dewey & Louie once again completely trounce their belligerent Uncle in this amusing little film. This cartoon was released during America's first full year of involvement in World War Two - there may be some hidden symbolism in the story of innocent forces beating a bully. Clarence Nash provides the entire Duck clan with their unique voices.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew comic figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work will always pay off.

This is a true classic among Disney's Donald shorts. It includes a sadistic but utterly hilarious snow fight (more like war) between Donald and his nephews. In my opinion, the nephews usually bring these films to another level, and this is certainly no exception. Donald's Snow Fight is warfare depicted as entertaining and harmless. As long as it is in a cartoon, that is quite OK.

Rating: 9/10

Instead of having fun in the snow, Donald feels the need to destroy the snowman his nephews have built. It escalates into some fierce attacks by the band of brothers on their nasty uncle. It is non stop. If there's a criticism it would be the sheer cruelty engaged in. Still, it's quite a hoot. Donald never seems to learn.

This is another classic Walt Disney cartoon, this time starring Donald Duck and his nephews-Huey, Dewey, and Louie, that I first saw on "The Wonderful World of Disney" on Christmas Day in 1977 in the all-animated episode "From All of Us to All of You". Here with the first day of snow, the duck in the sailor suit puts on his overcoat and slides down hill on his sled wreaking his nephews' snowman on the way. Those boys wow revenge by having their next one looking like their uncle which gives Donald a big surprise when he knocks it down! Two of my favorite gags here comes when the big duck becomes a rhinoceros when snow falls on him and when the nephews become bowling pins which the uncle knocks down with a snow bowling ball. Quite as hilarious then as now with Donald, as always, getting his comeuppance. So for that, I highly recommend Donald's Snow Fight.

Donald's Snow Fight (1942)

**** (out of 4)

Terrific short has Donald going out to have some fun in the snow when he notices Huey, Dewey and Louie building a snowman. Always the trouble maker, Donald knocks down the snowman and it's an all out battle between the two sides. DONALD'S SNOW FIGHT has been entertaining people for over six decades now and you have to say that it will continue doing so. This is without question one of the best animated shorts ever made. Not only do you get several very funny moments but what really stuck out to me this time is how imaginative the animation is. There's one scene where Donald knocks the three down and they turn into bowling pins so he grabs a snowball and turns it into a bowling ball. There's another scene where the boys shoot some fire arrows at the place Donald is staying and it melts the snow down into a skull-like shape. Of course, there's plenty of hilarious moments as the 7-minutes are action packed with one great sequence after another. There's a certain pleasure that comes from watching this older Disney shorts and by viewing this one it's clear that they were at the top of their game.