Le visage du Führer

In this marvelously surreal and funny short, Donald Duck is a subject of Nazi Germany, forced to make munitions for the Reich. He has to endure abysmal food rations (wooden bread, Aroma of Bacon and Eggs, and coffee brewed from a single bean), superhuman workloads, 30 seconds of forced calisthenics for his "vacation", and an unrelenting barrage of Hitler portraits which he must hail unfailingly - or else! It's all too much for Donald, who has a nervous breakdown, and the film disintegrates into a bizarre phantasmagoria of dancing missiles and stomping boots. Thankfully, it was all just a bad dream, and Donald is relieved to see that the hailing shadow on the wall is cast by his Statue of Liberty on the window sill. As he kisses it he proclaims, wearing his star-spangled jammies, "Am I glad to be a citizen of the United States of America." This cartoon, perhaps the most savagely satirical Disney ever made, was a sensation in its day, winning the Oscar and spawning a hit song. After the war, however, it was shelved and kept out of public circulation - and not without reason. Now it has been released on DVD as part of the excellent Walt Disney Treasures collection, "Walt Disney on the Front Lines", for discerning film buffs to enjoy. Many will find it disquieting to see a beloved American icon wearing a brownshirt uniform with swastika armband, hailing pictures of Hitler, and goose stepping to work; but then, Donald doesn't seem too thrilled about it, either. In no way does this cartoon promote Nazism. Instead, it punctures its pretensions of superiority by reducing its brutality to absurd slapstick, turning its Ubermensch into buffoonish caricatures. (Bear in mind that at the time of this cartoon the true extent of Hitler's inhumanity was unknown to the Allied countries.) As Mel Brooks has noted, the best way to deal with monsters like Hitler is to laugh at them. So go ahead and laugh, laugh, right at Der Fuehrer's Face.

In World War II, a marching band playing "Der Fuehrer's Face" passes by Donald Duck's house. He awakes, has a poor breakfast with stale bread. Then he goes to an army factory where he works in the production of ammunition brainwashed by the Nazi propaganda. Donald Duck has a nervous breakdown with the stressed situation but when he awakes, he finds that he had a nightmare and he actually lives in United States of America.

The historical cartoon "Der Fuehrer's Face" is an effective and caustic propaganda in times of war. Despite being dated in 2009, the despair of Donald Duck is still a hilarious fun against the Nazism and tyranny of Hitler. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

This is one of the most underrated Disney shorts ever made during WW2.

It's been banned since the end of WW2. Due to it having Nazis and the over use of the quote "Heil Hitler".

Donald finds himself a Nazi in a Nazi-Land where everything is a Neo Swiss Symbol from telephone posts to trees.

Donald gets a wake up call by a marching band of Nazis.

Donald then gets drag all the way to a Bomb Shell factory where he has to screw in every single War Head that comes out of the factory.

Not only that but he also has to say Heil Hitler when he's told to or when he sees a picture of Hitler.

This whole thing drives him mad. This reality he's in is too good to be true.

I really liked this short. The "Der Furher's Face" theme will get stuck in your head after watching it. It's also one of the few Disney shorts that poke fun into the Nazis more than the other ones.

So if you like Donald Duck and WW2 theme cartoons then you'll surely like this one.

You're able to see it on the "Disney Treasures Front Line" Box Set.

Der Fueher's Face is a masterpiece of a cartoon and It's my favorite cartoon from Donald Duck. It shows how crazy the Nazi invasion was by showing what happens to a duck in that situation. Not only is it well done, it gives kids a look into the craziness that was World War 2. One of the best cartoon's ever made.

Curiosity brought me to this Disney cartoon since of all the things you probably don't expect to see in them is a reference to Hitler in the title. Within a few seconds that list of "things you don't expect in a Disney cartoon" got a brand new #1 as I saw the sight of Donald Duck wearing the swastika and living in Nazi Germany! Yes this film is a piece of propaganda based around a Mel Brooks-esque song which spoofs the Nazi party anthem. The plot sees Donald living in Germany, working in an ammunition factory and struggling with the demands from his bosses, the limited rations and other conditions.

Watching this film years later is an odd experience because it is a very basic and crude affair if you watch it today; it blasts stereotypes and uses nationalistic and racist caricatures in its animations while all the time the visual humor is very much limited to "look at these suckers" style humor (which is reconfirmed at the end). However it isn't really possible to watch it without the context that this is a propaganda film and this is not only to be expected but is actually the whole point. In this regard it does work and I did find parts of it funny and quite imaginative while the song itself is very good. I can understand why Disney kept it out of circulation for so long, since it could have damaged Donald as a character to be seen dressed as a Nazi (albeit to make a point).

The thing that surprised me the most is reading that it won the Academy Award that year for best animated short – I am now really curious as to what the other nominees were because I struggle with the idea that this was the best the year had to offer. Of course voting is always political in these things and I guess there is no more worthy political cause to vote with at the Oscars than defeating Nazism – but for sure this is why the short won, not just off the quality.