The Ducktators

World War II cartoon spoofing Adolf Hitler and his companions. One day, a duck is born in an animal town, and when it comes out of the egg it immediately resembles Hitler, mustache and all. His first words: Sieg Heil!

Also introduced is Mussolini as a gullible goose before the film turns a bit more serious with a peace dove wondering what has happened to his town ('have they forgot it's love that's bright, and not is gained by show of might'). I love it when 'Hitler' uses the shredder on 'sacred pledges'; the 'treaty tearer upper'. It reminds me of Seinfeld language :)

The peace dove can't take it no more in the end and decides to kick some German, Italian and Japanese butt. The ending is somewhat abrupt and the film sometimes a bit lame ('we wish to apologize to the nice ducks and geese in the audience') but overall a pretty good cartoon. Interesting to watch as a time piece: 7/10.

This is one of the best propaganda cartoons made during WWII. This cartoon tells the story of how World War II began, but the world is a barnyard and the Axis powers are all ducks while the Allies are represented by "the Bird of Peace." Some of the gags are dated (mostly the Japanese jokes) and without at least some knowledge of pre-WWII events, some of them might slip by you. If you ever get to see this great cartoon consider yourself very lucky!

Often, in movie theaters, the lead in features were related to news events. Newsreels kept people informed as to what was going on in war (though sadly dated because of time constraints and distribution). These cartoons offered a broader brush. Here, a duck is born from a black egg and rises with a swastika arm band and a famous mustache. Soon the barnyard is being recruited by this figure plus one that looks like Mussolini and another being Hirohito. So what transpires is that peace efforts fail and soon the peaceful must rise to the occasion. This is well done and I am sure bolstered some people's hopefulness.

More a historical source than an animation itself, it gives the spirit of a period, reminds "Animal Farm" and propose a short lesson about democracy. All more than precise and amusing. The good thing - it remains a warning. In same measure, not ignoring the year of apparition, it reflects the entire effort of Allies in the WWII. So, a nice short propaganda film, in Looney Tunes tradition.

In one of the many WWII-themed Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons, Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito are portrayed as ducks taking over a barnyard. One thing that I noticed that the cartoon does is show a sign apologizing to the good ducks and geese about the potentially offensive material. And then they follow it with the Hirohito duck (with giant teeth and slits for eyes). That's wartime for ya.

As can be expected, the Hitler duck is a raving lunatic (his mama done told him), while the Mussolini duck - or goose - is a tub of lard. Given how the cartoon explains that some of the farm animals fell for the Fuhrer's game, we might interpret that as an explanation of how people fall for what these despots propose: they do what they're told.

All in all, a pretty funny cartoon. That looked like Daffy as the Southern German duck.