Donald's Camera

Donald Duck is a nature lover is this cartoon short and decides to take photos of wood critters with his trusty camera. However, he doesn't take one snapshot of any animals, despite plenty of opportunities to do so! The biggest annoyance comes when a woodpecker makes the day difficult for Donald. That woodpecker was just an arrogant creature - wished Donald would have gotten the best of it.

Not a very funny cartoon with lesser classic Donald humor and action. There are a flicker of funny Donald expressions, but, overall, it's not the best Donald cartoons I've seen.

Grade D-

A Walt Disney DONALD DUCK Cartoon.

DONALD'S CAMERA gets him into trouble in the forest when he attempts photographing a stubborn woodpecker.

This unremarkable little film features a routine story & animation, but the Duck is always enjoyable to watch. The climax, where Donald discards his ruined camera and gets a gun instead is sometimes censored. 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 decides to ditch hunting in favor of nature photography. A noble choice indeed. But when he heads out into the wilderness he is crestfallen when he discovers that most animals don't want their picture taken. Moreso when he finds out that they are all laughing at him behind his back. Annoyed with the lack of cooperation from the woodland creatures, Donald focuses (pun intended) on a red-headed wood-pecker. The usual game of out-witting each other begins. Can you guess who wins and who ends up with their new camera broken? When Donald rushes out to buy a shotgun the cartoon fades out, so we never see if he finally got his prey. Elmer Fudd never did.

It's not a very ambitious or original cartoon but it still has its laughs.

Donald Duck is one of the most iconic animation characters and certainly one of my personal favourites. So maybe I am at a risk of being biased in finding Donald's Camera wonderful. The animation is crisply detailed and vibrantly coloured, and the whole short is beautifully scored, which also succeeds brilliantly in enhancing the action. The story is not the most original there is, but the energy and the constant sense of fun more than compensates, while Donald's asides continue to delight and the gags, especially the easy but classic one where the woodpecker lures Donald off the end of the branch, are at least imaginative. The ending with Donald in a more hunter's role than that of a nature lover rounds things off more than satisfactorily without it ever feeling mean-spirited. The part where the camera falls into the pond I did find somewhat moving, which is sort of a little thing that I picked up on repeat viewings. Donald is just great here, helped by the humour and the fact that Donald's Camera takes good advantage of what he does best, which is how he reacts to an initially innocent turned into frustrating scenario. The chipmunk is a cute if minor annoyance to Donald, but the foil for Donald here is the woodpecker, and here is an example of an adversary that is Donald's equal rather than one that either means well or just wants to have some fun. Clarence Nash's vocals impress as ever. All in all, wonderful. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Donald decides to take up photography. He realizes that conventional hunting is inhumane. Unfortunately for him, the critters he tries to photography go after him with a vengeance (of course, he contributes mightily to their furor). There is an appearance by a chipmunk but he predates Chip and Dale. Then he does battle with a woodpecker. Pretty routine stuff.