Donald, Geister und Gespenster

A Walt Disney DONALD DUCK Cartoon.

Donald learns the true meaning of TRICK OR TREAT when he infuriates a wee witch on Halloween.

This funny little film is probably Donald's best cartoon of the 1950's. The animation, music & characterizations are all first rate. June Foray has a fine time voicing Witch Hazel, who unfortunately makes her only appearance in a Disney film here. Clarence Nash provides the unique voices for the Duck and his Nephews.

For the record, Witch Hazel's recipe for the magic brew consists of eye of needle, tongue of shoe, hand of clock, neck of bottle, tail of pout (a type of fish) and whiskers from a billy goat.

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 storm of naysayers, 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 always pay off.

After Donald Duck plays a cruel Halloween prank on his pants-hating nephews, the three team-up with Witch Hazel and her broom to teach him a lesson about 'tricks and treats.' As of this writing (2017), this short is now 65 years old. And it holds up 100%, both for its animation and its music. Far too many movies or cartoons become dated, but this one is truly timeless. In a mere eight minutes, Disney found a way to show us the spirit of Halloween, and throw in a real witch just for fun.

If there is anything at all dated about the short (and this is a big maybe), it is the use of the devil costume. Although Halloween has probably gotten more gory and creepy since this cartoon came out, I feel like actual devil imagery has decreased and perhaps become even taboo.

There are a lot of Halloween cartoons I love, "Pluto's Judgement Day" and "Broom-Stick Bunny" being two of a great many but I personally think your Halloween is incomplete without "Trick or Treat". This Silly Symphony-all of which are cute, funny and endearing- is brilliant in every way, from the astounding visual effects to the stunning animation which hasn't dated at all it is a delight to the eyes. Also the music is wonderful it provides just the right amount of chills and thrills, as is the voice acting. Our favourite cantankerous quack is voiced to perfection by the incomparable Clarence "Ducky" Nash, while it is June Foray who steals the show as Witch Hazel. Scary and funny(especially with Donald's treatment of his nephews), this is a must see.

10/10 Bethany Cox

On Halloween night, a witch is seen getting into the Halloween spirit, scaring things, but is scared of a jack-o-lantern. Hiding, she observes Huey, Dewey, and Louie, in costume, trick-or-treating. However, the house they go to is their Uncle Donald's, who decides to hoard all the candy he has for himself and play mean tricks on his own nephews, like giving them firecrackers and pouring water on the poor lads (and this was back when kids watching these short cartoon knew better than to do the slapstick they see on them). Thankfully, the witch, Hazel, feels bad about what she witnessed and meets the three ducklings and happy to see they believe in witches, befriends them and decides to help them get back at their uncle, as Hazel and the three team up to pull the greatest trick on Donald.

This is a neat classic Donald Duck cartoon. This is one of the few that actually has the witch as the hero instead of a bad guy like most literature and media poses them as. Also, the short has a good song to go with it "Trick Or Treat For Halloween" which explains the moral the episode teaches about not being stingy, especially with trick-or-treaters, as if you are going to trick them, you better be prepared to be tricked back.

With it being that time of year, I thought it was a perfect night to watch this Donald Duck cartoon taking place on Halloween. He sees his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie knocking on his door and saying, "Trick or treat" but instead of giving them candy, he gives them firecrackers which explode and has a pail above pour water on them! So a Witch Hazel appears to them and offers her services to exact revenge. And does she ever! It's often funny seeing Donald get his comeuppance and this short was no exception, that's for sure! By the way, while there was also a Witch Hazel in a couple of Bugs Bunny cartoons, obviously that one's not the same as this one here though both were voiced by June Foray in the same cadence. Happy Halloween, everybody!