Inventos modernos

"Modern Inventions" is a cartoon inspired by World's Fairs...such as the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition. This is because at the various fairs, all sorts of modern and futuristic inventions were showcased in the various pavilions...much like the place Donald goes to when the cartoon begins. There, he finds all sorts of robotics--as folks in 1937 apparently thought robots would become our butlers and do a lot of other time-saving things for mankind. Unfortunately, Donald is a nasty jerk and each time the robots try to help, Donald loses his temper...and he clearly deserves all the bad things that happen to him. Still, despite Donald being a total jerk (or perhaps because of it), it's very enjoyable and well made...nicely animated and funny.

A Walt Disney DONALD DUCK Cartoon.

A marvelous collection of MODERN INVENTIONS contrive to give Donald a very bad day.

This is a wonderful little film, full of good humor & topnotch animation. The robotic butler (voiced by Billy Bletcher) and its penchant for appropriating headgear is especially funny. This was Donald's first solo star assignment and it also marked the arrival of the legendary Carl Barks as a story writer for the Duck's films. For the record, Donald runs foul of four inventions in the Museum Of Modern Marvels (the Hitch-Hiker's Aid, the Automatic Bundle-Wrapper, the Robot Nurse Maid and the hilarious Barber Chair - voiced by Cliff Edwards) while being deprived of six various hats (his sailor's cap, a silk top hat, a Napoleon cocked hat, a Civil War military cap, a baby bonnet and a derby) Clarence "Ducky" Nash supplies Donald's unique voice.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by 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 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 simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.

Donald Duck visits a modern inventions museum, where he runs into a wide range of unique machines, including a robotic butler, an automatic baby carriage and a mechanized barber and shoe-shiner. However, Donald realized that he has gotten more than he bargained for in visiting the place when the butler starts taking every hat Donald wears, the baby carriage feeds Donald too much milk and the barber doesn't quite cut Donald's hair like it was supposed to. Donald doesn't quite following directions like the "do not touch" signs at the museum and the butler taking every single hat he has hidden in his clothes; he would stick he should leave his hat off while inside the museum.

This cartoon consists of classic Donald humor, from his quacky voice to his frustrated innuendos. It's just funny seeing everything going wrong for him at the museum as the resulting mishaps pile on one after the other.

It's obvious that Donald is prone to bad luck, but they are just hilariously portrayed here!

Grade A-

Donald Duck in his first single appearance. He visits a museum of modern inventions. He is not supposed to touch anything but of course he does. The use of the modern inventions are quite funny. The most funny thing is a robot who keeps asking Donald for his hat. Donald put on a new one and there the robot is again. Very funny. 7/10.

We might interpret Disney's "Modern Inventions" as society's idea of what the future would be. Back in the '30s, people were probably hoping for a future of conveniences, continuously reducing our physical exertion. Obviously some of the novelties that did come about in the ensuing decades were nothing like those depicted in the cartoon; I doubt that the average person in 1937 could've envisioned artificial intelligence, let alone a handheld device that can access all the world knowledge.

I'm probably over-analyzing. It's an OK cartoon. I've always preferred the Looney Tunes over the Disney cartoons.