Mission Canard

Easily one of the worst soldiers the Army has ever seen (judging by his previous cartoon hijinks), Donald is dropped out of an airplane and right into enemy territory. That's somewhere in the Japan jungle actually.

The air is ripe for typical wartime xenophobia as things go wrong for poor old ducky right from the start. He sniped at by stereotyped Japanese soldiers and runs for his feathered life. The funny thing is, while running he tries to escape on a rubber raft. But the raft gets caught under a waterfall and fills up with river water. Soon it becomes a massive waterballoon and Donald running for his life once more, tho not from the 'Japs' but from the impending doom of a mile high water balloon.

It's very funny and highly inventive. Definitely one of Donald's better wartime efforts.

"Commando Duck" is a cartoon I can almost guarantee you won't see on television. This is because it's a WWII propaganda cartoon and nowadays the cartoon wouldn't make a lot of sense. Plus, it offers some stereotypes of the Japanese that probably make the Disney folks nervous. But it WAS WWII and the Japanese military machine was evil--so it isn't like the cartoon takes any serious risks! If you do want to see it, you can find it either at archive.org or on the set "Walt Disney Treasures - The Chronological Donald, Volume Two"--though in the latter case, it's a bit buried on the DVD so you have to look carefully.

I actually used to show this cartoon as well as the stupendous "Der Fuehrer's Face" because they took a humorous look at the war and offer insight into the times. "Commando Duck" finds Donald about to be parachuted in behind enemy lines*. His job is to destroy the Japanese airfield--all by himself. While this seems like an insane task, our heroic duck accepts the challenge. What's to become of poor Donald? While this is a not a great Donald Duck cartoon, it is very well animated and delivers a propaganda message in a fun and enjoyable manner.

This short is great.Donald as a commando is effective in a way no other Disney character could be.The Japanese have quite a sence of humor.They also have dialogs that cause me to burst in laughter such as in a moment in which one of them sees a shoots the rope from which Donald is hanging he shouts"I did it!Just like the Lone Ranger!".The condition of the airfield in the end is reminding me of Surrealistic paintings.Probably one of Disney's best shorts,

Disney and Donald Duck are a perfect combination when it comes to animation. Commando Duck is simply wonderful, and one of Disney's best World War 2 shorts. True it does stereotype the Japanese and in a way that not everybody is going to find gratifying. But actually I wasn't offended by the stereotyping and I love their sense of humour, their one-liners are a definite highlight of Commando Duck. Donald is a great and charismatic lead character, one who you feel for and understand his frustration and predicament. The animation is beautifully done, with colourful backgrounds and I loved how the washed down air-planes look like something from a Salvador Dali painting. The music is rousing and nimbly orchestrated, while the one-liners and gags, mainly from Donald accomplishing his goals quite by accident, make for great and very inventive(especially the solution to how Donald will destroy the base).

All in all, one of the best Disney WW2 shorts and extremely entertaining. 9/10 Bethany Cox

This Disney propaganda film made towards the end of World War II was designed to raise morale amongst the American troops.

A scared Donald Duck accidentally lands in a Japanese jungle and takes on the troops. You don't see much fighting more the aftermath of broken planes. There's loads of silly and amusing slapstick moments. As you would expect from a film from this time, there are some crass Japanese stereotypes. This is elevated above many of the Disney propaganda films of the time due to excellent animation and some amusing antics from Donald Duck.

The film appears on out of print and fairly expensive On the Front Lines collection and it's one of the best on there. The picture quality is decent, but not amazing. Unless a HD upgrade is released it's as good as you can expect.