Donald's Gold Mine

While Donald's Gold Mine is not one of my favourites, it is one short that I like quite a bit. It does however not see Donald at his best, he is always fun to watch but, while I can understand why they did it this way(an attempt somewhat to do something different) the way he reacts to what is happening to him in the latter part of the short and towards his donkey counterpoint is I feel too understated for Donald. Whereas his trademark was his temperament and how he reacted so much to even the smallest thing, while he was clearly annoyed this is not him all hopping mad as he usually is. While the contortions in the scene that Donald did were interestingly funny, the pick segment just didn't have the impact it could have done because of his understated personality. However the gags and action are very funny, especially in the very adventurous latter part of the short. The animation is wonderful, full of detail and vibrant colouring, and the music is beautifully orchestrated and energetic. The donkey is an amusing enough counterpoint to Donald in a role that is like what an audience would be like, and Clarence Nash's vocals and delivery of his asides are spot on. Overall, Donald's Gold Mine is a good short but Donald is not at his best. A friend who saw it with me who's also a Disney fan reckoned that Goofy would have been a better character in this particular situation, and as much as I love Donald I'm afraid I have to agree. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Donald is digging for gold. He has a little burro whom he abuses for no reason. When Donald has some success, instead of enjoying it, he goes into more of his tirades. He turns into a devil when he finally lucks onto a rich vein. I know it's a cartoon, but even those made a point. There seems to be little happiness.

A Walt Disney DONALD DUCK Cartoon.

DONALD'S GOLD MINE looks as though it may suddenly become very profitable - if only he can control his temper for awhile and treat his faithful burro with decency.

This is an enjoyable little Duck film, with much of the fun coming from Donald's elaborate punishment delivered by the mine's own mechanism. Clarence "Ducky" Nash supplied 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 is digging in his gold mine and gets into one mishap after the other, including getting into a little spout with his burro and getting stuck in his own pickax. Then, the beauty comes when Donald finds pure gold and fills them in his cart, only to find himself accidentally taking off in the cart and into a crusher. What results is one hilarious mishap after the other.

This cartoon consists of classic Donald humor, from slapstick gags to his frustrated innuendos, trying to getting himself out of every difficult situation. The laughs pile on and on (with the burro enjoy the laughs as well) as poor Donald lets the bad luck get the best of him. His facial expressions are humorous and the background music adds onto the tense moment of Donald's attempted escape with the machine.

Another one of the most hilarious cartoons I've seen featuring Donald!

Grade A